The modern atheist movement is wrong

Many people, save for perhaps artists, lack the transcendent in their lives, which is precisely the reason they're depressed, anxious and lack direction

Ancient Greek temples were sacred spaces, connecting the physical world with the divine

The sacred is dead in modern life, and with it, something profoundly human has disappeared. We’ve moved from a world where the divine anchored our sense of meaning to one where meaning itself feels cheapened, commodified, or worse, completely empty. It’s sad that a society that prides itself on words like ‘progress,’ in a rush for what’s new and novel, has deprived the majority of people of something essential: transcendence. We’ve dismissed God as an anachronism, but forgot that for most people, this was the thing that kept the void at bay.

In the absence of the sacred, we’ve created what is best described as a wasteland. And this wasteland, devoid of higher purpose, leaves people starved for meaning. You see it everywhere. We’ve become a society of “Disney adults,” whose religious fervor has simply shifted from temples and cathedrals to theme parks and the latest Marvel release. The spectacle has replaced the sacred, and produced corporate devotees, addicted to triviality ahead of real meaning. It’s hard to see something like a Marvel Universe fan and not think of Guy Debord’s critique in The Society of the Spectacle, that these people are now merely spectators, divorced from their own reality, plugged into an endless loop of consumption, pleasure, and distraction.

The secular age prides itself on rationality, science, and progress. But what is progress if it leads to a culture stripped of depth? When you replace religion with cheap consumerism and transcendence with the ephemeral thrill of entertainment and alcohol, people inevitably feel empty. And empty people are easy to manipulate. They cling to idols whether pop stars, Instagram influencers, or politicians because they need something to worship. Or perhaps just seek more money and fame as end goals for themselves. In the absence of God, they’ve chosen idols and values that are far more grotesque than historic religious iconography. And I’m not arguing against purchasing things that improve our life, I actually believe the quality of our goods is made worse without religious beliefs. Without honor and morals, grifting and cutting corners in the short term are what’s worshipped. All this promotes a less sustainable business environment vs one that takes pride in their brand for the long term. Only a Godless world would produce the crisis at Boeing, big food poisoning Americans and the “enshittification” elsewhere.

If you have some time consider reading at least a summary of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. He argues while modernity has freed us from oppressive religious structures, it has also left us lacking any shared moral framework. The result? A kind of collective spiritual amnesia. People have lost the ability to experience the world as charged with meaning beyond the material. What’s left but to retreat into shallow pleasures and superficial identities? Psychedelics could help fix this, by the way, but these are still illegal because they are a type of ‘anti-soma’ and would force people out of this trance we badly wish to keep them in.

It’s tempting for artists, intellectuals, and elites to believe they don’t need God. They experience the transcendental through creation, through art. For them, the sacred hasn’t died, it’s simply shifted form. They have the opportunity to draw meaning from their work as they get to spend time in creative fields. But the vast majority of people are not artists, will never be ‘chosen’ and are simply left aimlessly in the dark, searching for something they can no longer name. Dostoevsky famously said, “If there is no God, everything is permitted.” He wasn’t just speaking of morality; he was pointing to a deeper crisis of meaning. Without a sacred center, there’s no foundation for human life. Everything becomes relative, negotiable and ultimately, disposable.

The modern atheist would argue we’ve evolved beyond the need for God, that human beings are rational creatures capable of crafting their own meaning. But if that were true, why are so many lost, anxious, and desperate for something deeper in this age of supposed enlightenment? Why is the mental health crisis surging alongside technological advancement? You could point at things like scrolling and social media but these are still just symptoms. Many now have fully traded the spiritual for the material, and in doing so, hollowed themselves out.

The truth is, most people do need God. Or at least something that functions like it: something to ground their lives in purpose larger than themselves. Nature could fill this void, perhaps even something like Crossfit (hey, at least you’re getting healthy). Without it, they become unmoored, adrift in a sea of choices that never satisfy. And in this void, we see the rise of false idols such as celebrities, consumerism, shallow political movements worshipped with the same fervor once reserved for the divine.

Go with a friend to something like an AA meeting sometime, you’ll see people who have re-found God. You’ll be welcomed, I promise, it’s anonymous and you don’t have to speak. Sit and listen to the attendees and how serious and meaningful many now take life once again. They’ve given up a material substance they loved or perhaps were just a slave to because they found something larger than themselves. Those interactions are likely more real than anything in some of your day to day lives. Easy to pretend it doesn’t matter until you see the change firsthand, I think this might be more powerful for some of you than going to a church or temple if the dogmatism gets to you.

So yes, the modern atheist movement actively hating on God was wrong. Not in their critique of religious institutions, which can be corrupt and dogmatic, but in their assumption that humans can thrive without something sacred to hold onto. For most, that something needs to be God, or else they’ll find things far worse to worship. And in the end, everyone pays that price.