Sharing A Foxhole With Atheists?

Last Thursday, the Wall Street Journal had an interesting page one article on the rise of aggressive atheism in Europe (sub req):

Passive indifference to faith has left Europe's churches mostly empty. But debate over religion is more intense and strident than it has been in many decades.

Religion is re-emerging as a big issue in part because of anxiety over Europe's growing and restive Muslim populations and a fear that faith is reasserting itself in politics and public policy. That is all adding up to a growing momentum for a combative brand of atheism, one that confronts rather than merely ignores religion.

Karen Armstrong, a former Catholic nun and prominent British author on religion, calls the trend "missionary secularism." She says it mimics the ardor of Christianity, Islam and Marxism, all of which have at their core an urge to convert nonbelievers to their worldview.

Mr. Onfray argues that atheism faces a "final battle" against "theological hocus-pocus" and must rally its troops. "We can no longer tolerate neutrality and benevolence," he writes in "Traité d'athéologie," or Atheist Manifesto, a best seller in France, Italy and Spain. "The turbulent time we live in suggests that change is at hand and the time has come for a new order."

Talk that it's "time for a new order" in Europe has to make more than a few squirm in their seats.

With 40 minutes to go before show time, the 500-seat Alexis de Tocqueville auditorium was already packed. A fan set up a video camera in the front row. A sound engineer checked the microphones.

The star: Michel Onfray, celebrity philosopher and France's high priest of militant atheism. Dressed entirely in black, he strode onto the stage and looked out at the reverential audience for his weekly two-hour lecture series, "Hedonist Philosophy," which is broadcast on a state radio station. "I could found a religion," he said.

Mr. Onfray, 48 years old and author of 32 books, stands in the vanguard of a curious and increasingly potent phenomenon in Europe: zealous disbelief in God.

Mr. Onfray seems to be filling the need for secular Euros to have their own personal Jesus:

Mr. Onfray's popularity shows no sign of flagging. At a recent lecture, the 100th so far, an adoring audience held aloft lit candles and cigarette lighters in tribute. A middle-aged man took the floor to praise Mr. Onfray for providing "the key to life."

Pierre Andrieu, a 63-year-old former executive with BNP-Paribas, a French bank, travels up to Caen each week from Paris for the lecture show. He makes the trip, he says, because he shares Mr. Onfray's take on faith -- and fears that religion is making a comeback. "It is far more present than before," he says. "This need for religion is very, very strong. Religion is like magic. It is all about tricks."

The main reason for this resurgence in militant atheism (more on that in a moment) is not of course a response to militant Christianity poised to overrun Europe. In fact, it seems that most Europeans would rather just put that whole Christian past well behind them:

Christianity, once the bedrock of Europe's identity, has been losing worshipers on the Continent for at least half a century, though some opinion polls suggest the downward trend has bottomed out. Around three-quarters of Europeans still describe themselves as Christians. But only a small minority go to church. In Western Europe, according to polls, fewer than 20% do.

The number of atheists is hard to pin down. Some surveys put the figure at under 3%, but others say it is much higher.

When the European Union asked citizens to rank values representing Europe, religion came last--far behind "human rights," "democracy," "peace," "individual freedom" and other choices. Only 3% chose religion.

Really bad dance music came in with 5%.

So what's with all the hubbub godless bub?

Alarm over Islam has acted as the prime catalyst for much of the polemic. Europe's Muslim populace, estimated at between 15 million and 20 million people, is growing more numerous, more vocal and, in some cases, more religious. The clash also feeds on a deeper confrontation that dates back to Europe's Enlightenment, the 18th-century intellectual movement that asserted the primacy of reason over superstition.

"The battle over religion is restarting. It is going to be a difficult one," says Terry Sanderson, president of Britain's National Secular Society, an organization that was founded in the 19th century but has now gained a new vibrancy. Membership has doubled in the past four years, to around 7,000, says Mr. Sanderson. For converts from Christianity, the society provides a certificate of "de-baptism." "Make it official!" urges the society's Web site, www.secularism.org.uk2.

Purchase your ticket on the express train to hell today!

The atheist cause won a big-name endorsement late last year when pop star Elton John, in an interview, said organized religion turned people into "hateful lemmings" and should be banned.

You know I wasn't sure about this whole "no God" thing until I heard a man of Elton John's wisdom weigh in. Now, I am convinced.

Somehow, I'm just not convinced that Europe's answer to militant Islam is going to be militant atheism:

The backlash against religiosity has even seeped into Europe's Muslim community. In February, Mina Ahadi, an Iranian-born woman in Cologne, Germany, set up the Continent's first Muslim atheist group: the National Council of Ex-Muslims. She immediately started getting death threats and was put under police protection.

"Our main message is: 'We don't believe,' " says Ms. Ahadi, talking in a coffee shop next to Cologne Cathedral, a towering tribute to faith that took 600 years to complete. A police guard hovered nearby.

It's been proven time and again that trying fight something with nothing is a hopeless cause.

For much more on the past and future of religion and politics in Europe, I highly recommend you read Michael Burleigh's Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror.



Among the many fascinating subjects covered in "Sacred Causes" is the ways that Soviet Communism sought to destroy religion after the Revolution in Russia and after World War II in Eastern Europe. Secularizing the schools, discrediting the clergy, and publicly mocking religious traditions were some of the milder activities undertaken by such groups as the NKVD/KGB and "The League of the Militant Godless." Militant atheism is hardly new to Europe.

Burleigh is a renowned British historian and he will be joining us this Saturday to discuss "Sacred Causes" on the Northern Alliance Radio Network at noon. If you want to join the discussion with him, feel free to give us a call at 651-289-4488. As always, the Northern Alliance Radio Network Volume One can be heard from 11am-1pm on Saturdays on AM1280 WWTC or live on the internet stream. Don't you dare miss it!