ATHEISM, FREETHINKERS, RELIGION, AND DISSONANCE

Is atheism a religion? The late atheist, Christopher Hitchens, had insisted that it isn’t:

·       The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.

While Hitchens had insisted that atheism isn’t a “creed” or religion, everything he wrote following this denial proves that atheism does have a creed that:

·       Death puts an end to the hope of Paradise and the dread of hell”

·       This enables life to be lived with “far more intensity”

·       “There is nothing more” than our passing feelings.

To these unsubstantiated atheistic creeds, can be added many other beliefs: naturalism, materialism, secular humanism, evolution, and moral relativism… In fact, there was a time that atheists gladly accepted the designation of a “religion”:

•       BERTRAND RUSSELL: “The greatest danger in our day comes from new religions, communism and Nazism. To call these religions may perhaps be objectionable both to their friends and enemies, but in fact they have all the characteristics of religions…”

•       THE FIRST HUMANIST MANIFESTO (Paul Kurtz, 1933): “Humanism is a philosophical, religious, and moral point of view.”

•       JOHN DEWEY, WHO SIGNED THE MANIFESTO: “Here are all the elements for a religious faith that shall not be confined to sect, class or race…It remains to make it explicit and militant.”

•       THE US SUPREME COURT (Torasco v. Watkins – 1961): “Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others.”

Does atheism remove the “cognitive dissonance” as Hitchens had claimed? Certainly not! There are many things that atheism cannot explain – consciousness, freewill, fine-tuning of the universe, and origin of our elegant, immutable, universal laws of nature, life, DNA, and the countless examples of design.

As a result, I hear atheists speak in a way that shows they are locked in the jaws of dissonance. For example, while they have no basis to believe in freewill as materialists, they admit that they have to live as if they do have freewill – the height of dissonance. Besides, if we lack freewill, then none are truly guilty, and we should release our prisoners. However, I am not aware of any atheists who champion this cause.

On top of this, atheists arrogantly call themselves “freethinkers” as opposed to the rest of us. However, it seems to me that someone who believes that all of his thoughts are biochemically determined can hardly consider himself a “freethinker.” Perhaps my narrowness results from my not being a freethinker.