TürkçeTHE UNBELIEVABLE OBSTACLE OF ANTI-FAITH
Adnan Bülent BALOĞLU*
There are symbolic names of belief denial or opposition. It is necessary to listen to the life stories of these symbolic names, to infiltrate their world of ideas, and to scrutinize their social and cultural environments in order to break the smoke screen behind this denialism and hear the volcanic eruptions in their depths.
This is necessary in order to be able to analyze the spirit of these symbolic personalities whose belief in Him has almost zeroed in their hearts, even if they cannot get the idea of God out of their minds. We will not deal with that in this article, as such an effort would require the volume of a book.
However, we must admit that the works and ideas of these symbolic names were not limited to their own geographies and ages, but also left devastating effects and influence on the generations. The effects and destructions of the elements that make life meaningful and keep identity in stability and balance have been more devastating in geographies where the function, meaning and importance are on the verge of evaporation. Quite rich in terms of existential threats; it is not difficult to predict that the impact and destructive power of these symbolic names will be much higher in modern societies, which are stacked with historical accumulation and have a high risk of melting the meaning stocks that are vital for keeping the masses alive. Parallel to this, if the problem solving or crisis prevention skills of these societies have atrophied, it is not far from the young generations, in particular, to detach from their natural climate, social environment and, of course, their values.
Symbolized in Pure Denialism.
The open or covert attacks on the concept of religion, on the whole of the meaning it contains and evokes, have a wide variety of purposes. The most obvious target of these attacks is to completely erase all traces, associations and concepts of religion from the public's memory. It will be necessary to say that the targets of these attacks are all institutions and structures related to religion, and even a whole historical-cultural heritage. Disabling and ultimately disabling the relevant institutions and structures, humiliating and ignoring the historical and cultural heritage are part of the usual agenda of such attacks.
The idea and act of breaking all ties with religion, which is one of the most vital elements that keep social life and culture alive and sustaining, nurturing, preserving its wealth and grace, is an indispensable passion for religion and belief deniers and their opponents. It is possible to summarize the landscape that will emerge if they succeed in this task: corrupt relations; a barren social and cultural life; Generations deprived of their truest and most solid shelter in the face of the formidable challenges of the modern world. (Baloğlu 2020: 180-81).
One of the symbols of denialism or anti-belief is undoubtedly the French writer Jean Meslier, who wrote the Catechism of Atheism. After losing his trust in the clergy, the French philosopher and priest Meslier, who entered into a sharp criticism of religion and finally decided on atheism,
* Prof. Dr., Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Faculty of Islamic Sciences.
raised the flag of rebellion not only against his own religion, but against all religions, including the god of Christianity. The materialist Abdullah Cevdet, who translated the work in question into Turkish and is the representative of the Westernism movement, introduces him as "a priest
who had a great fire of rebellion in his heart, against lies and superstition that do not even provide animal comfort to people". (Meslier 2018: 51). Let's remind Cevdet's statement, "To improve and strengthen our generation, we need to bring breeding males from Europe and America", which aroused great anger and hatred, in order to show a little bit the dangerous dimension that denialism and materialism can reach. Anyway, according to Voltaire, Meslier was a complete anti-religion, anti-Christian, Bible and anti-Church. According to him, religion and belief could not have a solid foundation and therefore no value. Religion was a foundationless building, a product of ignorance, a raw ball of illusions and contradictions. The French Meslier had to deal with God in his own way, because the idea and belief of God was doing countless harm to the earth. For Meslier, whose ideas we find the most "toxic" seeds of today's denialism, religion was a cause of moral depravity in society, a means of dragging people into ignorance and captivity, and dulling their talents. According to him, religion was the real source of all kinds of tyranny, moral corruption, misery and disasters in which tribes fell. Priests (and of course all clergy) who invented religions for their own benefit, covered up their own mistakes, corrupt morals, abuses, and wrong laws by attributing these calamities and misfortunes to the immaturity of people, to the anger and wrath of God.
If people are in bad sprit and shape, it is because of their superstitious thoughts. The duty of man is to lower his eyes to the earth instead of staring at the sky; is to cling to the visible generosity and material blessings of nature instead of the so-called promises of God. (Meslier 2018: 70-73).
I find it useful to remind here another French Marquis de Sade, who is one of the symbols of hatred towards God and religion. Philosopher and man of letters, de Sade, who was born approximately 11 years after Meslier's death in 1729, exhibits the sharpest attitude of atheism in his work called Discours Contre Dieu. In the work, the obsession with which a world without religion and God would be good in any way is obvious. Another characteristic of this denialism is its ardent advocacy of reason and science. For De Sade, there is nothing to be sad about losing faith in God, since God himself is nothing but a "delusion", a "fairytale" existence; moreover, it is like an “useless, useless, nothingness that is nothing”. (de Sade 2021: 29-30).
De Sade, who accepts man as a "weak" substance of nature just like other substances in nature, says that it is unnecessary to be afraid of death and that man will spring out of nature somehow. In this respect, every human being will be treated “equally” as being born from the bosom of nature; the end and destiny of each person will be the same. (de Sade 2021: 40). De Sade, who also stands out as an existentialist and nihilist, openly challenges God. For de Sade, who draws attention with his extreme style in denial of God, his sharp tongue and blasphemy, God is a ghost that must be cursed and rejected without hesitation. “Imaginary and useless being! (…) If you are, show yourself! A worthless imposter of so-called miracles! Show us a miracle to prove your existence! (…) Go away, disgusting nightmare!” and then Sade exhibits the audacious dimension that God denial can achieve in reality. (de Sade 2021: 21-22).
Undoubtedly, France is one of the countries that suffered greatly from the longest and most destructive religious wars (1618-48) in Europe, which lasted for 30 years without interruption. Another event that ravaged war-weary Europe and naturally France was the senseless witch hunts that started in the 1450s and lasted until about 1750. In France, where calls for human rights, freedom, justice and equality are evident, political and economic crises, violations, abuses, arbitrary practices are at an extreme and the society is rapidly moving towards a Revolution (1789).
Without going into too much detail, the Church and the clergy are also the focus of criticism. In the Church, which had already attracted attention with the extraordinary wealth it had attained, religious duties were sold for money, relatives and close friends were favored, some priests were accused of sleeping with everyone, and monks were called "idle." Another accusation made against the priests was that they did not hesitate to resort to deception, deceit, and cunning in order to expand their authority and influence. The accusations that they multiplied their political power and wealth by taking advantage of the naivety and stupidity of the people were incalculable. As a matter of fact, Voltaire wrote in a letter to a friend in 1752: "I hate priests, I am disgusted with them, and I will hate them until the last Day of Judgment." (Tanilli 2020: 191).
The 1700s are also the century of the Enlightenment for Europe, which was kneaded with internal unrest, turmoil and pain. Although the Enlightenment can be regarded as an anti-Christian and anti-religious movement in the case of France, it is by no means an "anti-sacred" movement in Europe as a whole. For some, however, the Enlightenment was a war against Christianity itself. He was essentially progressive, aiming to disenchant the world and save people from superstitions and unfounded fears, and to establish the dominance of reason and science. (Baloğlu 2020: 150-51). In France, the 18th century was a period in which the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy intensified, and social and political developments triggered ideological fights. This century is also a century in which reason puts itself in the position of judge and judges many concepts and institutions such as God, religion, nature, society, state and regime by bringing them before itself. (Tanilli 2020: 12).
In the midst of this atmosphere, when we go back to those who, like Meslier and Sade, are in sharp opposition to Christianity, God and the Church, we see that they are not alone and that they reflect the sick mood of the society neither in their personalities nor in their works. In their war against "religion(s), dogmas, intolerance and nonsense", the weapon they trust the most will be "reason." Because the age was the age of reason, after all, and the triumph of reason was imminent with the help of ever-advancing science. Mankind has never been closer to eradicating religions and God! In this struggle, they saw themselves as brave warriors marching at the front of the front. Perhaps the most obvious reason behind people like Meslier and Sade, who turned their hatred of the Church into a war against religion and belief, missed the ball of the scale and hurled heavy curses at the sight of the century in which they lived. Who knows!?
One of the most radical manifestations of the opposition to religion and God is undoubtedly the scientific atheism of the USSR, which is known as the state ideology. When this "mass" atheism movement, the first stage of which started with the Great October Revolution (1917), completed its second stage with the nationwide establishment of socialism, a tough and determined anti-religion and belief propaganda became official. Atheism becomes an essential part of education in schools, hundreds of books are written, the number of which reaches millions. The goal is to destroy the last remnants of religion, to prove that miracles are irrational and unscientific. For this purpose, newspapers are published, movies are made, theaters are prepared, museums are opened. All religious beliefs and ideas are rejected with the aim of building a materialist Marxist atheism in the light of science. The thesis that religion is a "colonial" structure that inhibits the progress of society, "opium" that numbs the people, becomes the main starting point of the religion and worldview of the new Marxist state. (USSR Board of Writers 2019: 170-71, 244). Scientific atheism, in the eyes of its theorists Marx and Engels, is not only a rejection and criticism of religion, but also optimism and a vital teaching that “shapes the scientific materialist worldview of the working masses”, “saves people from social and specific oppression (…), prepares the environment for the multifaceted development of their abilities. (USSR Board of Writers 2019: 174).
Scientific atheism, which blends its denial of all supernatural powers and beings with a pure humanist, scientist, materialist, anti-religion and anti-God denial, lost all its magic when it served as a means of legitimizing the oppression and tyranny of the Marxist state against the people and naturally prepared its own end. It was a tragic end for scientific atheism that the Communist utopia, symbolizing the liberation of the proletarian and oppressed classes from exploitation, oppression, poverty and inequality, ended in a proletarian dictatorship, a totalitarian regime. Of course, it was unthinkable that scientific atheism, which serves as a support for the totalitarian power of Marxism, which is an absolutist ideology, would not take its share of the anger, grudge and hatred of the people. Orthodox Russian Christianity returns stronger than before. Likewise, in the Turkish Republics, Islam comes to life again. Places of worship, whose doors were locked, are reopened. The people fill these places with greater enthusiasm than ever before. When the historical Moscow Central Mosque in the heart of Moscow was restored and opened for worship again in 2015, the interior, courtyard and surroundings of the mosque are filled with thousands of Muslims. So, to put it another way, the date of the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) is also the date of the collapse of scientific state atheism.
Similarly, in Mao Zedong's adventure of Cultural Revolution, especially in China, where hundreds and thousands of mosques, churches and temples were destroyed and millions of people lost their lives between 1966 - 1976, the return of the sacred is witnessed today. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Souls of China, Ian Johnson presents a gripping tale of this comeback that began with Mao's death. These two examples are significant in that they show the catastrophic point of a radical and bigoted state atheism, which has become militant by exaggerating its rational and scientific attitude, and an effort to redesign the history, beliefs and traditions of the society and the individual by force, with rational precautions and methods.
The New Atheism: The New Front of Religious Opposition
Atheism, which functioned as a sharp anti-religious ideology beyond being an attitude of atheism in the hands of Marxism and especially in the hands of communist states in the twentieth century, is under the wings of capitalist liberalism with its new face today. Although its roots go back to Ancient Greece, it is a phenomenon of this century that atheism, which made itself obvious in the 18th century, which was the century of Enlightenment, took on the adjective "New" with a make-up refresh. This type of atheism, which is frequently mentioned due to the striking development of communication and internet technology and especially known for the quartet of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, has an "atheist" or "atheistic" stance and an outward character. In other words, New Atheism describes an attitude that "openly voices denial of god, criticizes people's belief in god, even tries to discourage them, and defames religion for this purpose, and regards it as the main reason for the dramas experienced." (Baloğlu 2021) The concept of “New Atheist” also refers to a person who clearly voices his atheist stance, expresses his disbelief decisively, and does not hesitate to accuse and defame religions and their followers. At the center of this genre is “Religion is an evil!” It has jargon. It should be noted that the philosophical basis it supports in the opposition to god and religion is the same as that of classical atheism. However, new atheists, who use digital technology with great dexterity, make a bigoted critique of religion and god over science, not philosophy. For them, religion is anti-progress, legitimizes hierarchy and inequality, incites terror and wars; It is an institution hostile to reason, logic and science, it is a primitive way of life. After all, "unbelief" is the only antidote to irrational violence. In the final analysis, the concept of “New” is “a dividing line between the atheism of the present and the primitive atheisms of the past.” New atheists, who reject God and religion, position reason and science against these two. Those who stop worshiping God in the temple of faith begin to worship science in the temple of reason. What's going on is just a makeover. (Baloglu 2021).
It will be necessary to say that the anti-religious front opened over the Internet is gradually turning into a more systematic and organized structure. It is a fact – albeit sadly – that the intellectual foundations of our domestic internet atheism are fed through the channel of anti-Western Islamists. There are countless young people around the world who are influenced and fed by the ideas of these contemporary 'pioneer' atheists. These young people are members of social media sites such as blogs, weblogs, chat rooms, etc., under pseudonyms. The names they use are suggestive: atheist, irreligious, thinking atheist, unknown, free, nihil, nihilist, agnostic etc. Three features stand out in such domestic sites. First of all, there is a terrible hatred of religion over stereotypes, slogans, jargons. Secondly, in addition to generalizing and reductionist judgments on the topics discussed, a shallow and lack of depth information draws attention. Finally, there is ridicule of religious people and believers and describing them with slang words. The state surrounding these young people is a pessimistic, nihilistic skepticism. The main strategy of the religious debates on the internet is that these opponents of faith, who regard religion as 'bronze age legends' and those with religious beliefs as 'reactionary bigots', harass them with deep grudge and hatred, and make fun of religions. (Baloğlu 2017: 22).
These atheists cannot save people who are not like them and who do not think, from the passion of marginalizing, humiliating, ridiculing and making them hostile. This group of unbelievers, like their Western counterparts, perfectly reflects a general feature of aggressive, militant atheism. This is the negation of religions, or rather, it is a radical anti-religion. (Bukhari 2021: 310-11). The situation of those who not only question their own world of meaning with the state of "false skepticism" they fall into, but eventually abandon their beliefs, corresponds to an "existential relocation". This state of deportation is being thrown away from Islam in feeling, idea, heart, action and discourse; it is a departure from the existential homeland “at a very serious psychological cost”. (Bukhari 2021: 11-20).
According to the understanding that supports a similar view, the situation that happens to the modern individual who gives up his belief at the cost of giving up his privileged place in the hierarchy of existence, together with the loss of truth in the world, "is thrown into the space of resonance." The issue is that the interruption of the art of living has resulted in a loss of tone, the loss of the timbre of existence. There are other losses that come after the loss of the relationship between man and humanity: loss of distance, loss of close, loss of beauty, loss of personality, loss of education, loss of time, loss of tranquility, loss of wisdom, loss of wisdom. (Slim 2021). All these are losses that those who do not know the value of existence have to atone for. “God” is for them “the scariest thing in the world.” The loss of truth of the young people who spent their adolescence in an environment where eroticism, politics and morality are "spoiled" together in a single container is the greatest tragedy of the modern world. In a climate where not only young people but also parents are not interested in God, acting as if he does not exist, the craving for morality has also become worthless. (von Hörvàth 2021: 17, 63, 64, 74, 78). It is becoming more and more impossible to compensate for these losses, because consumerist capitalism has devoted its time to new inventions that will console and distract the youth in order not to allow this compensation.
Among today's youth, those who have lost their faith have various reasons for themselves. Some are agnostic because they cannot prove the existence and non-existence of God. Some are firmly convinced that there is no God. Some are tired of seeking to prove the existence of God. Others find it difficult to accept a God who interferes and punishes people. Definitions of atheism also vary according to the justifications for denialism. Atheism, according to some, is to deny the existence of religions and gods. According to some, it is not believing in a God prescribed by religions, for some others the rejection of a creator with will and consciousness and for some, it is the non-existence of belief in God, while for others, it is that there is no God who designs, interferes with people's affairs, and showers rewards and punishments. And finally, according to some, atheism is the rejection of an intelligent creator. (Korkmaz 2019: 24-29). Regardless of the reasons for losing faith, standing stubbornly against faith, rejecting faith, making a fierce opposition to faith, and the definitions of disbelief, it is essential to be aware of something. While the modern man of the age consumes his energy behind earning, spending, consuming and enjoying, he gives up his most basic human and moral values one by one. The landscape presented by this state is “a deflated consciousness, a collapsed mind, a depleted will, a self-alienated personality, a crushed heart, and a overwhelmed soul. This tragic situation is the heavy one-point bill of lost meaning maps.” (Baloğlu 2020: 89).
Final Words
We would be wrong to think that anti-belief is only a phenomenon of modern times. The stubborn stance against belief or religion was there yesterday, it exists today and it will exist tomorrow. Today, we cannot ignore that the modern understanding of education has an effect in encouraging this opposition and increasing it quantitatively. Because today's modern understanding of education is based on the basic dynamics of modernity. From ancient wisdom (İnce 2021: 29), which focuses on existence and especially "self-knowledge" and is seen as an "internal/internal" journey, focusing on the "external/external" is based on consuming and exploiting the existing, including one's own body and nature. The “naturalist” education approach has an important role in the rising trend of the said opposition. A capitalist and neoliberal education system, which mobilizes all its resources to produce a person locked in ruthless competition and performance, an immoral waste and consumption, is responsible for this trend. The primary goal of capitalism is to ensure that the mechanical production-consumption wheel turns 24/7, regardless of the circumstances. In this way, he is extremely adept at discovering the means that will prevent matter and hinder the search for meaning that will overshadow it. He looks for ways to break the connection with the Transcendent, in other words, to destroy the relationship between the ephemeral and the eternal, and if this is not possible, he tries to make him forget and suspend it. Since its ultimate goal is to replace the "static and vertical" relationship of ancient wisdom with the "dynamic and horizontal" relationship of capitalist-neoliberalist modernity and to manufacture a derived-human (robot) capable of sustaining life on a mechanical and synthetic plane. (Fine 2021: 29). “I studied astrophysics, I studied biology. Our education (…) was very good, they taught me about evolution.” (Korkmaz 2019: 79) I think the words of an atheist explain what is said here.
Sam Harris, who said that the silence of science in the face of spiritual and moral questions is near to end, and therefore the End of Faith is approaching, was only one of those who made a historical mistake like his counterparts in history. In fact, this is a common feature of anti-believers. Talking about the End of Religion or Faith is their common hobby. The only thing they can do in this regard is to count their hearts to the full. Whenever religion, and especially Islam, is in question, it is another common point of these opponents of faith to identify it with terrorism and to see the source and cause of terrorism. However, they know very well that terror, as Terry Eagleton said, is a dark part of themselves, an illegitimate child that the West denies. (Eagleton 2021: 82). With this stance, the enemies of religion (dark/militant atheists), who deliberately bait Islamophobic racism on the one hand, and portray religion as a "satanic" system that corrupts people, on the other hand, for some reason, do not bring up the evil of capitalism very much. Moreover, they put the deep questions of existence into the hands of young people because they know very well that they are not equipped to come out of it. They keep these questions "popular" with their global media and make them ordinary so that they do not damage the "progress" myth that they talk about on every occasion. For them, progress is the liberal-rationalist translation of "hereafter life." (Eagleton 2021: 84).
It is a great misfortune for the deniers of faith today to abandon the search for Truth, which also means an innate need for a Supreme Creator, and anchor them in a sharp opposition to religion and God as a "safe" harbor in the twilight of instrumental reason and secular knowledge. Why? Although they do not tarnish valor in appearance, they are incapable of quenching the deep undercurrents of the soul. They will substitute the values of modernity for the religion they have revoked, and the sacraments of liberalism for the one they have rejected. The deep undercurrents of the soul are extremely disturbing and unsettling, and it should come as no surprise that they finally knock on the doors of psychiatrists, spiritualists, Kabbalists, and yoga practitioners.
Well, the things they cling to in the name of belief are modern, contemporary, secular or whatever as long as it does not evoke religion and God. As we said at the beginning, anti-belief is loaded with unbearable stubbornness.
His stubbornness is hereditary. Who is his father? Find it yourself...
Sources
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* Prof. Dr., Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Faculty of Islamic Sciences.