Random thoughts from a random mind.
Sometimes you find wisdom in the oddest places. One of those today was the comments at Ms. Althouse’s blog, where a discussion had begun regarding atheism and religion.
I believe the term to describe people in the post Christian Western World is Neopagan. Pagans can be polytheists or atheist, religious or nonreligious. One characteristic Pagans all share is that they have no objective moral standard, in other words they have no moral core. What passes for morality among pagans is nothing but a reflection of the current popular culture.
Because Pagans have no objective moral standards, they have no defense against totalitarian leaders such as Hitler, Mao, Stalin etc. Because the leaders dictate the popular culture in which Pagans live, Pagans internalize their leaders whims as moral imperatives. The leaders become their Gods. In Pagan Rome, the common religious experience which tied the empire together was emperor worship. In Germany their god was Hitler, in Russia it was Marx and his disciple Lenin, in China Mao, among pagans in the US many view Obama as God like.
I can’t argue with that at all. I’ve had my own struggles with this question, and have come to my own personal decisions, none of which I care to share here. Let’s just say I feel very sorry for a true atheist.