Is Atheism A Myth?

These days, all the cool kids wear crosses as fashion statements, not professions of faith. Yet even if belief in God has declined, that doesn’t mean we’ve abandoned worship altogether. Some of us worship ourselves, touting the doctrine of “self-love” as the ultimate good. Some of us worship other people, venerating celebrities and public figures as if they were saints, holy in their conduct and capable of miracles. Others turn to a godless sort of spirituality, one that asks them to believe in stars and crystals but requires no denial of the self (just think of how often you’ve heard someone say, “I’m spiritual, not religious”). 

But has this religious devotion to anything but religion actually fulfilled us? Or is America’s mask of atheism only disguising the reality that human beings have a natural longing for religion?

Religion’s Modern Substitute

As more and more Americans begin to disassociate themselves from religion, atheists claim that we are now a secular country. This view contrasts with that of Founding Father John Adams, who said, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” References to faith persevere in enduring elements of America’s culture today: the Declaration of Independence established the rights we enjoy today as “endowed by [the] Creator,” we call ourselves “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and we’ve sworn every president from Washington to Biden into office with a Bible. But now that over a third of Gen Z identifies as having no religious affiliation, what does that mean for the future of our country’s customs and principles?

Well, if the spiritual trends plaguing the younger half of our country are any indication, the Pledge of Allegiance might one day rewrite the line “one nation under God” as “one nation under the vague power of the universe.” Even if fewer young people wake up early for church on Sundays than ever, that doesn’t mean religion has been replaced with the hardline, scientific sort of atheism championed by the likes of Stephen Hawking. Instead, many in the West have turned to the same superstitions and rituals that their ancestors abandoned for Christianity.

It takes a great deal of faith to believe that rocks or stars can dictate your destiny. 

There’s no denying that pagan and New Age philosophies are experiencing a renaissance in the West. Tarot card readings dominate TikTok’s For You page, self-described “manifestation experts” are amassing large social media followings, celebrities and gurus tout the healing powers of assorted crystals, and people treat their zodiac signs like tribes. Most who practice this deity-less spirituality refuse to describe it as religion, but what else could it be? It takes a great deal of faith to believe that rocks or stars can dictate your destiny. 

What else takes a great deal of faith? Celebrity worship, in which fans flock to wherever their idols are and abide by every word from their mouths as if they’re preaching gospel. World tours by Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Drake, and the likes now draw the arena-packing crowds that American preacher Billy Graham once did. But rather than turning their audiences toward something greater than mere entertainment like Billy Graham did, celebrities profit from generating attention for themselves. Some stars navigate public attention wisely, but others use their huge influence to encourage fans towards less than constructive behavior. One such example: Emily Ratakjowski telling her TikTok followers that she finds it “chic” to be divorced by 30 years old.

Americans may try to pretend that we’re not religious anymore, but all the same religious framework is still there. The difference is that astrology gurus and provocative celebrities control the pulpit now, instead of pastors and bishops. So, why do we find it so difficult to denounce one form of religion without running into the arms of another? Why can’t we be atheists in practice as much as we are in name?

The Truth We’ve Been Dodging

Perhaps the only logical conclusion is that mankind has an innate desire to worship, and if we decide not to worship God, we’ll inevitably channel that desire toward something else. In the end, few of us are truly atheists. Life is tough, and it’s only natural that we feel the urge to believe in something more powerful than us. How else can we make sense of the fact that so much of our lives is out of our control? How can we live without relentless paranoia when a car could hit us by accident tomorrow, or a friend could betray us on a whim? By having faith in something, of course. All religions, both the ancient kinds and the newly invented ones, promise hope (or at least diversion) in a bleak world.

But have these new faiths actually brought more meaning to our lives? The statistics seem to indicate otherwise. According to NextStep Solutions, 55% of American adults are currently living with at least one mental illness, and in the past few years, 40% of Americans have reported experiencing anxiety and depression. If turning our backs on the Christian roots that allowed Western society to flourish is supposed to make us happier, why is it doing the exact opposite? And why does everyone refuse to admit it?

The doctrines of self-love and personal comfort have become more popular than the doctrines of selflessness and humility.

The cultural shift of the late 20th and early 21st centuries has been all about progress. But in the name of progress, we might have thrown out the baby with the bathwater. In her first televised Christmas broadcast in 1957, Queen Elizabeth II spoke to this very phenomenon: “The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery. They would have religion thrown aside; morality in personal and public life made meaningless; honesty counted as foolishness; and self-interest set up in place of self-restraint.” 

Almost 70 years after that broadcast, Her Majesty’s predictions have come true. The doctrines of self-love and personal comfort have unfortunately become more popular than the doctrines of selflessness and humility. Somewhere in the last several decades, we decided we’d rather make life easier for ourselves than strive toward any higher purpose. It’s no wonder that we feel like life is pointless – we’re the ones who made it that way!

Closing Thoughts

These days, it’s fashionable to believe that anything from the past is too backward to bring into the present. But even though throwing religion to the wind seems revolutionary now, professing Christianity used to be the ultimate act of rebellion. Early Christians were often violently martyred (in Ancient Rome, they were fed to lions and burned alive), but this was a fate they chose over the option of denouncing Christ and walking away. When Christianity became the official religion of Rome and continued to spread throughout the world, gentleness and compassion became the prized virtues of cultures that had once glorified barbarism and greed. 

Have any modern substitutes for religion been able to similarly change the world for the better? Have they changed any individuals for the better? If we’re willing to be honest with ourselves about the answer, we may be able to revive America from the spiritual death that it’s already begun to slip into.

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