Anti-religious forces

This page summarizes some of the main historical forces that have the antagonized organized, established religions, especially monotheistic Western ones such as Christianity and Islam.

Contents:

Secularisation Theory: Modern society will continue to reject religion

1. Anti-religious forces, including:
   • Communism
   • Intelligence
   • Ancient Greeks
   • Science
   • Individualism
   • Multiculturalism
   • Human Rights
   • Christian Intolerance for Magic and Gods
2. People, including Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Max Weber
3. Blows to religion according to Moojan Momen

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1. Anti-religious forces

Disclaimer: Most of these are forces that have challenged and threatened organized religious groups. This is not automatically the same as saying the basic beliefs of those groups are wrong, but merely that institutionalized practices and corporate vested interests corrupt all organized thought, so that truth and science can themselves threaten the organisations that cannot adopt quickly, whereas the individual believers frequently can.

Communism

The anti-religious forces of Communism, and the sociology of Karl Marx, implemented a picture of social conformity where all people were equal, and, like the Buddha aimed, suffering was reduced. However, historically religion has been a destabilizing force, and also one that has prompted people to rebellion, setting up constricting and unhealthy theocracies which historically have been some of the most oppressive (just look at the dark ages). Communism suppressed all form of religion, wholesale, and considered the common good as the only valid holy thing. Communist countries were completely secular and even after communism have remained largely unreligious places although over time Christianity, especially evangelical and fundamentalist branches, have expended lots of money and effort in proselytizing with some success. Nonetheless, large portions of the world were de-religionized by the forces of Communism.

Intelligence

In so far as the most intelligent people are the ones who doubt most, all religions have been challenged from within and without, by intelligent people. Education and intelligence as a whole are contradictory to faith and belief. Intelligent philosophers, over thousands of years, and others, have been recorded voicing their questions, doubts and concerns over the beliefs of popular religion. Such heretics and unwholesome people have been, largely, murdered, silenced and imprisoned but thankfully in many countries since the enlightenment this has ceased. Intelligence causes doubt of facts, as assumptions are the child of stupidity, and assumptions and faith are also two of the prime intellectual "qualities" of "intellectual" religious belief. Emotional belief is a different issue, so that intelligent people can also be compelled for social or emotional reasons to remain religious. Freud, Weber, Nietzsche, some others listed below and many others present theories as to why people are religious.

Ancient Greeks

All early records of debates about God and religion are between the Greeks, like, the "problem of evil" was brought up 2500 years ago by the Greeks as an indicator that God didn't exist. There hasn't been many new fundamental theological arguments since the Greeks, so although they did embrace quite a lot of bizarre religions and cults, Greek philosophy provides the basis for modern scientific analytical thought and most anti-religious arguments were first written down (but not necessarily created by) the Greeks.

Science

Some important sciences and institutions have been religious. Egyptian astrologers were deeply religious but their calculations were scientific and Pythagoras, who aside from being a maths genius was also a Mystic and pagan leader. But in the modern era, science has been the deadly bane of monotheistic religions. It less a threat to polytheism, which has tended to be science-friendly. Even basic scientific observations such as the Earth going around the Sun (Copernicus) were anti-religious forces. Other theories such as the Big Bang, natural cause and effect, philosophy, theory of evolution, biology, ancient history, geology, archaeology, tectonics and physics have been serious thorns in the side of religion. It appears that each major advance of science reduces the assumed power of god, so that God has become what is called "God of the gaps".

English education was in part, ironically, founded by scholarly Christians and monks. But despite apperances, many of these were Christian in name only as a result of forced conversions and social forces compelled most people to call themselves Christian. The legacy of powerful Christian-Roman forces and then the Inquisition were not to be openly reckoned against. Many scientists and thinkers operating under Christian educational institutions were coerced by the Church to only produce material with which the Church already agreed, and much of science was done in spite of the Church's wishes rather than in accordance with them. The lives of many intellectuals, Christian or not, are dotted with imprisonments, torture and oppression as a result of their discoveries as the Church leaders did not want the public coming to any knowledge that undermined the Church. The history of science is a history of struggling against determined religious believers, who frequently were better armed and hardened, we can only wonder at how science would have progressed if only the Greeks, Egyptians or Chinese had remained economically viable and survived, or if the Arabs hadn't also succumbed to religion over science!

In the modern world modern religion and science are largely reconciled, with God-believers believing that God (an uncaused organisational force) created the sciences, whereas atheists believe that the rules of the universe itself is an uncaused organisational force. With religious people themselves no longer believing most of what they used to, science has largely won and god has become a much more abstract, non-literal being and the same goes for angels, demons, Satan and the rest of the Western religious pantheon, retreating into a shadowy world of abstract emotional belief where science may never be able to shed light, but psychologists might.

• Assumptions that theists make about God
• Faith: Atheists and theists make similar assumptions about reality

Individualism

In the modern world, everything is global and open. Beliefs and intelligent discussions and debate are available on the Internet and in books, and believing differently to your local culture or secular government is no longer going to get you imprisoned. There is a culture of toleration and moderation, so that people are willing to accept the most extreme differences of belief as personal choice, not moral dilemmas. This individualism allows people to pick and choose their beliefs from all those around them, no longer are strict religious bodies capable of honestly putting forward what is "universally right" and having their believers follow suit... actually, it never was possible to do that, but in today's world it is largely recognized as a result of increased individualism that people are free to believe what they want.

Individualism and relativism has prevented narrow religious sects from making legitimate claims to truth, there is so much access to information that it is well known that many people believe many things, and frequently no amount of intellectual arguing will change some peoples' minds. People have come to accept that beliefs are beliefs, separate from the identity of an individual, and it is the right of no government or religion to impose their beliefs upon us. Empathy towards those who have different beliefs has increased as a result of an increased emphasis given on the values of dignity, choice, intellectual freedom and individualism. Charismatic leaders such as tend to found religions, and evangelical proselytizers are less successful against individualists unless their religion has some evidence or intellectual merit... so that in an intelligent and individualistic society, secular culture prospers, and religious belief-fascism is less tenable.

Multiculturalism

“Not only do modern methods of travel mean that the world's cultures are only a few hours away; but, thanks to radio, television and increased literacy, information about other cultures and religious communities is disseminated widely and rapidly. As a result, people in the modern world are increasingly aware of, influenced by and challenged by the existence of other religions and cultures.

Communities in which people shared the same religious beliefs and morality [...] are rapidly disappearing. [...] In modern societies there are few shared values to which one can appeal. believers are constantly aware that their faith is chosen from a spectrum of beliefs on offer. Consequently, beliefs that were once taken for granted as exclusively and absolutely true seem increasingly implausible.”

"Encyclopedia of New Religions" by Prof. Christopher Partridge, p15, 358

It was easy, during the Crusades, to say that Muslims believed all kinds of evil, corrupt and immoral things. Because no-one actually knew any Muslims. With increased multi-culturalism comes increased compassion and humanitarian behavior towards those who are different. So it happens that when religious groups intermingle, illogical animosity decreases and it is no longer possible for one particular group to claim moral superiority when it becomes manifestly obvious that morals are cultural, and most religious believers are just as moral as anyone else, no matter if they're religious or not, or what denomination or religion they happen to have been born into. Believers will still believe that their religion is "correct", but moral assertions about different religious groups become impossible when such people are your next door neighbours and friends. The sociologist of religion, Steve Bruce, picks up on this theme:

“It is easy to believe that one's religion is absolutely right in every detail when there is no competition. Every increase in competition makes that certainty, that dogmaticism, more and more difficult to maintain. If the competing faith belongs to some subordinate social minority, it can be dismissed as only fitting for that kind of people [... but when] you live and work with these people, it becomes more and more difficult to insist that your own link with God is unique and that the others are all wrong. Gradually, the way in which people hold their beliefs changes so that absolute certainty and intolerance diminish; the result is the denominational position of supposing that all these organizations in their different ways, are doing God's work.”

"Religion in the Modern World: From Cathedrals to Cults" by Steve Bruce, p77

Increased tolerance for different religions, ethnic groups and beliefs is incompatible with fundamentalist beliefs about your own religion, sect or cult being infallible or chosen to the extent that other people don't matter - only their beliefs. Isolated religious groups or areas where a particular religion is overly dominant can regress to this type of behavior though, but multicultaralism and modern freedom of movement and speech hopefully makes this less likely, especially in Europe and the advanced modern East. A surge in cultic isolationsism, ghetto-formation and reactive rejection of the world, unfortunately, means that some people go the opposite way and in pluralistic societies, hardcore groups of extremists can emerge. See my pages on fundamentalism for more on this type of reaction.

Aside from the generation of small splinter groups of extremists, pluralism can otherwise cause entire religious denominations to rethink their relationship towards those who believe different things. A scholar of comparative religion, M. Momen, states:

“One way of dealing with the problem of modernity and religious pluralism is to withdraw from making any universal and social claims for religion, thus making it a purely personal affair. 'My religion satisfies my needs. It may not satisfy your needs or even anyone else's. All that matters to me is that it satisfies mine.' This then sets up a defensive wall against any possibility that one's religion can be shown to be intellectually faulty, illogical, or inferior to another's.”

"The Phenomenon Of Religion: A Thematic Approach" by Moojan Momen, p489

Multiculturalism takes away from the powers of preachers to reassure the followers that they're inherently better than others, it defangs the aggressive notions that one religion is "better" than others in social terms. As a result of multiculturalism, people live in a world where they can change religion, change beliefs and they are not going against all of society. They know that they are not alone because of all the religions apparent in the nation around them; they know many people who are not the same religion. It makes freedom of choice easier, and finally, it makes it perfectly possible to denounce religion altogether and continue life as a normal person without it.

Related pages:

• Increased empathy as a result of increased communication
• Benefits of multiple cultures / races

Human Rights

Women's rights, gay rights, slave rights, racial equality and many other rights (such as right to change religion) have been viciously fought over between religious denominations. Some of these factors are cultural, so that Islam in some countries and places is not so misogynistic. In the modern world it is only religious groups that oppose most of these basic rights, by far loudest anti-gay rights voice is Christian and Muslim, and the only groups who support female genital mutilation and must-obey-man mentality, are Islam and Christian groups. Slave liberation and many other equal rights frequently caused splits to occur within organized religions, as gay rights are threatening to do now to the Church of England.

Religious groups still pursue many legal reforms that result in a loss of legal equal rights, the Christian Institute successfully lobbied for changes in law to allow Christian managers to fire gay staff on account of their sexuality alone, and many Muslim countries continuing to make apostasy (change of religion) illegal. Muslim countries, especially those who have areas that have adopted Sharia law, have worse human rights records, it is as bad as the Christians were during the dark ages.

Christian Intolerance for Magic and Gods

The sociologist Bryan Wilson puts forward some additional observations in the role that Christianity has played in the abolition of the general mindset that lends itself to religion. Christianity is not pluralistic so does not accept that people can believe in other gods, unlike polytheist cultures, where gods did not claim exclusive right to exist, Christianity has in effect reduced and battled against the general religious mindset, including belief in all kinds of magic except the few bits contained with Christianity (such as prayer, resurrection, afterlife and miracles).

“Those societies most dominated by religious motivations are those in which diverse mysteries, powers, objects and deities are recognized. Paradoxially, considering Christianity's attempt to eliminate magic, alien beliefs and rival theories of deity, religiosity as such is stronger where such multiplicity of ideas prevails. [...] Christianity militated strongly against magical ideas, but in doing so probably eventually - and in the very long run - made acceptance of Christian ideas more difficult. [...] It is no accident that from among the Puritans came a significant impetus in the development of science - the manifestation of a rational spirit. (See Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, Glencoe, Ill., The Free Press, 2nd edn., 1957, pp574-628)”

"Religion in Secular Society" by Bryan Wilson, p44

Misc Feedback on this List of Anti-Religious Forces

I have been asked by various people as to why I do not list certain things on this list. In most cases, such as Satanism, Anarchism, Nihilism, Libertarianism, etc, it is because historically these groups have been very small with little affect on organized religion, or, they have existed within general trends that are on the list (for example, libertarianism flourished under individualism).

2. People

Someone asked me why Darwin wasn't on my list. My response was "I'm not sure... he himself done very little... because if you're including individual scientists, you would include Einstein, Copernicus, Stephen Hawking, etc... when really, it's "science" as a whole that challenges religion. I limited the "people" to those who actively and powerfully spoke out against "religion". Darwin and others didn't, it wasn't their field, it was the science that they created that done the work for them. Maybe I should include other scientists such as Watson and Crick (original geneticists, though, at least one of them was vocally anti-religion.)

This list is merely those who I happen to have read and know about, who spoke up specifically and powerfully against religious beliefs in particular.

Friedrich Nietzsche A modern German philosopher of utmost importance who has unwittingly influenced the rise and fall of nations and provided authoritive critical rapport on all of philosophy, psychology and sociology and created many of the concepts and terminology of modern, practical philosophy. Famous for saying "God is dead", Nietzsche was also rabidly anti-Christian, presenting some of the most psychological and insightful criticisms of the Christian state of mind. More about Nietzsche & book info.		Max Weber The most important sociologist, founding sociology. His theories of religious belief and history are the most respectful, and it is said that it is a "sociologizing" of Nietzsche's "Will to Power" psychology of Human nature, with Charismatic leaders being equivalent to Nietzsche's Overman. All modern sociology theory and practice is based upon Weber, who was also qualified in politics, psychology, various languages and theology.
Sigmund Freud Psychologist of utmost importance who radicalized our ideas about the Human mind, correctly bringing sexuality to the fore and realizing the importance of the subconscious, and founded modern psychiatry. After setting the scene modern psychology has progressed beyond much of his fledgling analysis. Freud presented several compelling psychological analysis of why people believe in god.		Karl Marx A third sociologist who presented theories of religious belief, in terms of economics and politics, he is famous for saying "Religion is the opiate of the masses". His theories of Human behavior were almost infallible, however his Communism is no longer credited with being viable politically.

The above four are powerful intellects, all of whom who are pretty heavy reading and all of whom are authorities in their own right, and all studied and published vaguely similar theories on religious belief - all centering around the psychology of it - which amount to a complete modern understanding of much of religion, with the exception of neuro-chemical biology and chemo-psychology which are recently making further discoveries about some of the specific imagery experienced during religious rituals and ritual drug use.

Of course in addition to these there are many scholars, modern philosophers and atheists who produce many books on the subject of atheist philosophy, including Bertrand Russell, Joachim Kahl and many organisations such as the National Secular Society, but these have yet to show themselves to be more important than general science or education in being anti-religious forces, and much of their arguments are pre-dated by Greek philosophers.

The Links Page Atheism Section links to some sites that will list books and arguments by modern atheists.

3. Blows to religion according to Moojan Momen

"The Phenomenon of Religion" by Moojan Momen

"The first blow to religion came through its increasing loss of social control. In the traditional structure of Hindu, Muslim or even medieval Christian society, religion controlled all aspects of life. Religious institutions were the main pathways for acquiring an education, for obtaining medical treatment, and for the poor to obtain relief. Even such matters as the functioning of craft guilds was to some extent under religious control. Gradually, however, a functional differentiation of society occurred, leading to the increasing autonomy of its different parts. In the last hundred years, in most countries, the modern secular state or other secular institutions have taken over from the religious establishment control of such areas as medicine, education and welfare provisions for the poor.

The second blow to the religious perspective came with the increasing importance given to individualism in the modern world.[...] Today, there is an increasing emphasis on the individual's own point of view. This leads to a loss of the authority of the central institutions of the religion. As a corollary to this individualism came a belief in the beneficial effects of self-interest as the guiding principal of human action, a development that contradicts the teachings of most of the established religions.

The individualism that is characteristic of modern life in the West in reflected in the uncommitted, a la carte approach to spirituality that has become very common. It is typified by individuals who flit from religious group to religious group, continually on the religious quest and never arriving at their goal. Very often such individuals do not join any religious group but attend meetings, read books and search through the Internet, adopting a pot-pourri of religious ideas on their way. This approach to spirituality is almost the exact opposite of the path advocated by traditional religion. According to the latter, spiritual advancement demands a discipline, commitment and obedience. [...]

Thus one has the paradox of modern eclectic spiritual individualists on the one hand reading enthusiastically the works of the great medieval mystics and on the other hand rejecting the spiritual discipline and approach that made the production of such works possible"

"The Phenomenon of Religion" by Moojan Momen p479