Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws

J >> James Buchanan >> Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws

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But, while the grand parent cause of all Atheism--whether practical or
speculative, dogmatic or skeptical--is to be found in the disordered
state of our own moral nature, there are other subordinate causes in
operation, which may be regarded either as _incidental occasions_, or as
_plausible pretexts_, for this form of unbelief. The internal causes are
the primary and most powerful; but there are external influences which
cooeperate with these, and serve to stimulate and strengthen them. Among
the incidental occasions of Atheism, we might mention a defective,
because irreligious, education in early life, the influence of ungodly
example and profane converse, and the authority of a few great names in
literature or science which have become associated with the cause of
Infidelity; and among the plausible pretexts for Atheism we might
mention the inconsistencies of professed believers and especially of the
clergy, the divided state of the religious world, as indicated by the
multiplicity of sects, the bitterness of religious controversy, the
supposed opposition of the Church to the progress of science and the
extension of civil and religious liberty, and the gross superstitions
which have been incorporated with Christianity itself in some of the
oldest and most powerful states of Europe. These and similar topics may
be justly said to be the "loci communes of Atheism," and they are often
employed in eloquent declamation or indignant invective, so as to make a
much deeper impression, especially on young and ardent minds, than their
intrinsic weight or real argumentative value can either justify or
explain. Infidel writers have not been slow to avail themselves of these
pretexts for unbelief, in regard alike to Natural and Revealed Religion;
and have artfully identified Religion with Superstition, and
Christianity with Popery, as if there were no consistent or tenable
medium between the two. And, perhaps, of all the incidental occasions or
external inducements to Atheism, none has exerted so much influence over
reflecting minds as the wide-spread prevalence of Superstition; for
never was Atheism more general among the cultivated classes in ancient
times than in the States of Greece, whose hospitable Pantheon enclosed
the gods of all nations, and whose inhabitants were "exceedingly given
to idolatry;" and nowhere, in modern times, has Atheism been more
explicitly avowed or more zealously propagated than in those countries
of Europe which are most thoroughly subjugated to the superstitions of
the Papacy. In the graphic words of Robert Hall, "Infidelity was bred in
the stagnant marshes of corrupted Christianity."[18]

Having described the nature, evinced the reality, and referred to the
permanent and occasional causes of Atheism, we may briefly advert to
_its moral and social influence_. On this point three distinct questions
have been raised: _First_, whether Atheism be conducive to personal
happiness? _Secondly_, whether it be compatible with pure morality and
virtue? and, _thirdly_, whether it be consistent with social well-being,
with the authority of the laws, and the safety or comfort of the
community? In considering these questions, it is necessary to remember
that in no age, and in no region of the world, has Speculative Atheism
been universal, or even so prevalent as to exhibit on a large scale a
full development of its legitimate results. It has always been in a
minority, and has been continually checked, modified and controlled, by
the prevailing beliefs of society; and, whether these beliefs were
purely religious or grossly superstitious, they have exerted a powerful
influence in counteracting the native tendencies of atheistic
speculation. "The effects of Atheism," as Mr. Estlin justly observes,
"we have not yet in any great degree experienced, as the mental habits
of those who hold it in speculation were in general formed, before they
had adopted their present principles, by the imperceptible influence of
that religion which they now traduce."[19] Perhaps the nearest approach
to a state of prevailing Atheism which has ever been exhibited in the
history of the world, is to be found in France at the era of the first
Revolution, when Christianity was publicly abjured, and the goddess of
Reason substituted for the God of the Bible. But that even this fearful
outburst of impiety did not proceed from the universal prevalence of
Speculative Atheism among the great body of the people; that there still
existed in the heart of society some germs of religious feeling, and
certain instinctive or traditionary beliefs which operated as a
restraint and check even during that season of revolutionary frenzy, is
sufficiently evinced by the reaction which speedily occurred in the
public mind, and which restored Catholicism itself, as if by magic, to
its wonted supremacy; while the anti-social tendency of Atheism, in so
far as it did prevail, was strikingly attested by the fact, that the
leading actors in that fearful drama found themselves compelled to
provide for the public safety by restoring at least the forms of
religious worship, and to acknowledge that "if there were no God, it
would be necessary to invent one."--"The true light," says the eloquent
Robert Hall, "in which the French Revolution ought to be contemplated is
that of a grand experiment on human nature." "God permitted the trial to
be made. In one country, and that the centre of Christendom, Revelation
underwent a total eclipse, while Atheism, performing on a darkened
theatre its strange and fearful tragedy, confounded the first elements
of society, blended every age, rank, and sex, in indiscriminate
proscription and massacre, and convulsed all Europe to its centre, that
the imperishable memorial of these events might teach the last
generations of mankind to consider Religion as the pillar of society,
the safeguard of nations, the parent of social order, which alone has
power to curb the fury of the passions, and secure to every one his
rights; to the laborious the reward of their industry, to the rich the
enjoyment of their wealth, to nobles the preservation of their honors,
and to princes the stability of their thrones."[20]

In the case of individuals holding atheistic opinions, but living in the
midst of Christian society, the full influence of these opinions cannot
be felt, nor their effects fully developed, in the presence of those
restraints and checks which are imposed by the religious beliefs and
observances of others. We cannot estimate their influence either on the
personal happiness, or the moral character, or the social welfare of
men, without taking this circumstance into account. To arrive at even a
tolerable approximation to a correct judgment, we must endeavor to
conceive of Atheism as prevailing universally in the community, as
emancipated from all restraint, and free to develop itself without let
or hindrance of any kind, as tolerated by law, and sanctioned by public
opinion, and unopposed by any remaining forms either of domestic piety
or of public worship, as reigning supreme in every heart, and as forming
the creed of every household; and thus conceiving of it as an
inveterate, universal epidemic, we are then to inquire whether, and on
what conditions, society would in such a case be possible, and how far
the prevalence of Atheism might be expected to affect the morals and
welfare of mankind.

The question has been raised whether Atheism might not be more conducive
than religion to _the personal happiness of individuals_; and some, who
have confounded Religion with Superstition, have not hesitated to answer
that question in the affirmative. The conviction that there is no God,
and no moral government, and no state of future retribution, could it
only be steadfastly and invariably maintained, might serve, it has been
thought, to relieve the mind of many forebodings and fears which disturb
its peace, and, if it could not ensure perfect happiness, might act at
least as an opiate or sedative to a restless and uneasy conscience. In
the opinion of Epicurus and Lucretius, tranquillity of mind was the
grand practical benefit of that unbelief which they sought to inculcate
respecting the doctrine of Providence and Immortality. They frequently
affirmed that _fear_ generated superstition, and that superstition, in
its turn, deepened and perpetuated the fear from which it sprung; that
the minds of men must necessarily be overcast with anxiety and gloom as
long as they continued to believe in a moral government and a future
state; and that the only sovereign and effectual antidote to
superstitious terror is the spirit of philosophical unbelief. Similar
views are perpetually repeated in the eloquent but declamatory pages of
"The System of Nature." But the remedy proposed seems to be subject to
grave suspicion, as one that may be utterly powerless, or at the best,
exceedingly precarious; for, first of all, the fears which are supposed
to have generated Religion must have been anterior to it, and must have
arisen from some natural cause, which will continue to operate even
after Religion has been disowned. They spring, in fact, necessarily out
of our present condition as dependent, responsible, and dying creatures;
and they can neither be prevented nor cured by the mere negations of
Atheism; we can only be raised above their depressing influence by a
rational belief and well-grounded trust in the being and character of
God. Again, if the denial of a Providence and of a future state might
serve, were it associated with a full assurance of certainty, to relieve
us from _the fear_ of retribution hereafter, it must equally destroy
_all hope_ of immortality, and reduce us to the dreary prospect of
annihilation at death,--a prospect from which the soul of man
instinctively recoils, and by which his whole life would be embittered
just in proportion as he became more thoughtful and reflective. Unbelief
can operate as a sedative to fear only in so far as it is habitual,
uniform, undisturbed by any inward misgivings or apparent uncertainty;
but, in the case of men not utterly thoughtless or insensible, it is
rarely, if ever, found to possess this character. It is often shaken,
and always liable to be disquieted, by occasional convictions, which no
amount of vigilance can ward off, and no strength of resolution repress.
It is maintained only by a painful and sustained conflict, which is but
ill-concealed by the vehemence of its protestations, and often
significantly indicated by the very extravagance of its zeal. Add to
this, that Atheism itself affords no guarantee against future suffering.
It may deny a Providence here and a judgment hereafter, it may even deny
a future state of conscious existence, and take refuge in the hope of
annihilation that it may escape from the dread prospect of retribution;
but it cannot affirm the _impossibility_, it can only doubt the
_certainty_ of these things; and in their bare possibility there is
enough at once to impose an obligation to serious inquiry, and to
occasion the deepest anxiety, especially in seasons of affliction or
danger, which awaken reflective thought. "_Atheism_," said the acute but
skeptical Bayle, "_does not shelter us from the fear of eternal
suffering_." But, even if it did, what influence would it exert on our
present happiness? Would it not limit our enjoyments, by confining our
views within the narrow range of things seen and temporal? Would it not
deprive us of the loftiest hopes? Would it not repress our highest
aspirations, by interdicting the contemplation of the noblest Object of
thought, the Ideal Standard of truth and excellence, the Moral Glory of
the Universe? Would it not diminish the pleasure which we derive even
from earthly objects, and aggravate the bitterness of every trial? How
wretched must be the condition of those who are "proud of being the
offspring of chance, in love with universal disorder, whose happiness is
involved in the belief of there being no witness to their designs, and
who are at ease only because they suppose themselves _inhabitants of a
forsaken and fatherless world_!"[21] "No one in creation," said Jean
Paul, "is so alone as the denier of God: he mourns, with an orphaned
heart that has lost its great Father, by the corpse of Nature which no
World-Spirit moves and holds together, and which grows in its grave; and
he mourns by that corpse till he himself crumble off from it. The whole
world lies before him, like the Egyptian Sphynx of stone, half-buried in
the sand; and the All is the cold iron mask of a formless Eternity."[22]

But the malign influence of Atheism on personal happiness will become
more apparent, if we consider its tendency to affect the _moral springs
of action_, on which happiness mainly depends. The question whether
Atheism be compatible with moral virtue, or whether an Atheist may be a
virtuous man, is one of those that can only be answered by
discriminating aright between the different senses of the same term. In
the Christian sense of virtue, which comprehends the duties of both
tables of the Law, and includes the love of God as well as of man, it is
clear that the Atheist cannot be reputed virtuous, since he wants that
which is declared to be the radical principle of obedience, the very
spirit and substance of true morality. But, in the worldly sense of the
term, as denoting the decent observance of _relative_ duty, it is
possible that he may be so far influenced by considerations of prudence
or policy, or even by certain natural instincts and affections, as to be
just in his dealings, faithful to his word, courteous in his manners,
and obedient to the laws. But this secular, prudential morality, is as
precarious in its practical influence as it is defective in its radical
principle. Atheism saps and undermines the very foundation of Ethics.
The only law which it can recognize (if that can be called a law in any
sense which is not conceived of as the expression of a Supreme Will) is,
either the greatest happiness of the individual, or the greatest
happiness of the greatest number; but, whether it assumes the form of
_Felicitarian_ or of _Utilitarian_ calculation, it degenerates into a
process of arithmetic, and is no longer a code of morals. The
fundamental idea of DUTY is awanting, and can only be supplied from a
source which the Atheist ignores. By denying the existence of God, he
robs the universe of its highest glory, obliterates the idea of perfect
wisdom and goodness, and leaves nothing better and holier as an object
of thought than the qualities and relations of earthly things. He
degrades human nature, by doing what he can to sever the tie which binds
man to his Maker, and which connects the earth with Heaven. He
circumscribes his prospects within the narrow range of "things seen and
temporal," and thus removes every stimulus to dignity of sentiment, and
every incentive to elevation of character. His wretched creed (if a
series of cold negations may be called a creed) must be fatal to every
disinterested and heroic virtue; let it prevail, and the spirit of
self-sacrifice will give place to Epicurean indulgence, and the age of
martyrdom will return no more. Substitute Nature, or even Humanity, for
God, and the eternal standard of truth and holiness and goodness being
superseded, every moral sentiment will be blighted and obscured.
Conscience has a relation to God similar to that which a chronometer
bears to the sun. Blot the sun from the sky, and the chronometer is
useless; deny God, and conscience is powerless. And the vices which, if
not subdued, were yet curbed and restrained by the overawing sense of an
unseen omnipresent Power, will burst forth with devastating fury,
snapping asunder the feebler fetters of human law, and overleaping the
barriers of selfish prudence itself; vanity and pride, ambition and
covetousness, sensual indulgence and ferocious cruelty, will rise into
the ascendancy, and establish their dark throne on the ruins of
Religion.

If such be the natural and legitimate effect of Atheism on the personal
happiness and moral character of individuals, we can be at no loss to
discover what must be its influence on society at large. For society is
composed of individuals, and its character and welfare depend on the
aggregate sentiments of its constituent members. The question whether
Atheism might not be consistent with social well-being, with the
continued authority of the laws, and the general comfort of the
community, is answered historically by the fact, that in modern France
the Reign of Atheism was the Reign of Terror, and that in ancient Rome
its prevalence was followed by such scenes of proscription,
confiscation, and blood, as were then unparalleled in the history of the
world. The truth is that, wherever Atheism prevails, GOVERNMENT BY LAW
must give place to GOVERNMENT BY FORCE; for law needs some auxiliary
sanction; and if it be deprived of the sanction of Religion, it must
have recourse, for its own preservation, and the prevention of utter
anarchy, to the brute power of the temporal sword. It is worse than
useless to discuss, in this connection, the question, revived by
Bayle,[23] whether Atheism or Superstition should be regarded as the
worst enemy to the Commonwealth, for it has no relevancy to our present
inquiry; we are not contending for either, we are objecting to both; and
we are under no necessity of choosing the least of two evils, when we
have the option of "pure and undefined Religion." But we may observe, in
passing, that, historically it has been found possible to keep society
together, and to maintain the authority of law with a greater or less
measure of civil liberty, where Superstition has been generally
prevalent; whereas there is no instance on record of anything
approaching to national Atheism, in which government by law was not
speedily superseded by anarchy and despotism. And the reason of this
difference may be that in every system of Superstition, whether it be a
corruption of Natural or of Revealed Religion, "some faint embers of
sacred truth remain unextinguished," some convictions which still
connect man with the spiritual and the eternal, and which are
sufficient, if not to enlighten and pacify the conscience, yet to keep
alive a sense of responsibility and a fear of retribution; "certain
sparks," as Hooker calls them, "of the light of truth intermingled with
the darkness of error," which may have served a good purpose in
maintaining civil virtue and social order, although these would have
been far better secured by the prevalence of a purer faith.

There are some circumstances, of a novel and unprecedented nature, which
impart a solemn interest to our present inquiry. At the beginning of the
present century, Robert Hall, referring to the unbelief which preceded
and accompanied the first outburst of the Revolution in France,
mentioned _three_ circumstances which appeared to him to be "equally new
and alarming." He regarded it as the first attempt which had ever been
witnessed on an extensive scale to establish the principles of Atheism,
as the first attempt to popularize these principles by means of a
literature addressed and adapted to the common people, and as the first
systematic attempt to undermine the foundations, and to innovate on the
very substance of Morals.[24] But if we compare the first with the new
Encyclopedie,--the former concocted by Voltaire, D'Alembert and Diderot,
the latter by Pierre Leroux and his associates,--we shall find that
Infidelity has assumed greater hardihood, and has appeared under less
restraint in recent than in former times; while the speculations of
Comte and Crousse are as thoroughly atheistic as those of D'Holbach
himself. For, however irreligious and profane Voltaire and his
associates might be, and however devoted to their avowed object of
crushing Christ and his cause, so significantly indicated by their motto
and watchword, "Ecrasez l'Infame;"[25] yet they continued, as a party,
to advocate Deism, and seemed at least to oppose the bolder speculations
of the author of the "Systeme de la Nature." Both Voltaire and
Frederick the Great wrote in reply to its atheistic tenets.[26] But now,
in France, these tenets are openly avowed and zealously propagated. Nor
is this fatal moral epidemic confined to our continental neighbors:
there is too much reason to fear that it has infected, to some extent,
the artisans of our own manufacturing towns, and even, in some quarters,
the inhabitants of our rural districts. The Communists of France have
their analogues in the Socialists of Britain; and the periodical press,
although for the most part sound, or at least innocuous, has lent its
aid to the dissemination of the grossest infidelity which the Continent
has produced. The "Leader" gives forth Lewes's version of Comte's
Philosophy; and the "Glasgow Mechanics' Journal," a digest of his Law of
Human Progress, which is essentially atheistic.[27] Nor is indigenous
Atheism wanting. Mr. Mackay in his "Progress of the Intellect," Atkinson
and Martineau in their "Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and
Development," and Mr. G. Holyoake in "The Reasoner," have sufficiently
proved that if Atheism be an exotic, it is capable of taking root and
growing up in the land of Bacon, Newton, and Boyle.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] BUDDAEI, "Theses Theologicae de Atheismo et Superstitione," cap. I.

[3] J. C. WOLFIUS, "De Atheismi falso Suspectis."

[4] BUDDAEI, "Theses Theologicae," cap. III., "De dogmatibus quae cum
Atheismo conjuncta sunt, aut ad eum ducunt," p. 240.

[5] COUSIN, "Introduction Generale a l'Histoire de la Philosophie," I.
169:--"Que toute pensee implique une foi spontanee a Dieu, et qu'il n'y
a pas d'Atheisme naturel. Croit-il qu'il existe, par exemple? S'il croit
cela, cela me suffit,"--"il a donc foi au principe de la pensee;--or la
est Dieu,"--"Selon moi, toute parole prononcee avec confiance, n'est pas
moins qu'une profession de la foi a la pensee,--a la raison en
soi,--c'est a dire a Dieu."

[6] M. HELVETIUS, "Treatise on Man, his Intellectual Faculties and
Education: translated by W. Hooper, M. D.," I. 247.

[7] M. LAMENNAIS, "Esquisse d'une Philosophie," I. 95.

[8] "Spinoza is a God-intoxicated man."--NOVALIS, quoted in T. Carlyle's
Essays, II. 43.

[9] "Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development, by H. G.
ATKINSON and HARRIET MARTINEAU," p. 241.

[10] Psalm 14: 1; 53: 1.

[11] Psalm 10: 4, 11, 13.

[12] Eph. 2: 12, [Greek: Atheoi en to kosmo].

[13] Gal. 4: 8; 2 Tim. 3: 4; Titus 1: 16.

[14] ESTLIN, "Discourse on Atheism," pp. 8, 19, 28. DR. CHALMERS,
"Institutes," I. 375.

[15] DR. CHALMERS, Works, "Natural Theology," I. 58. "The Reasoner,"
edited by HOLYOAKE, XI. 15, 232.

[16] ROBERT HALL'S Works, I. 58.

[17] Romans 1: 21, 28.

[18] HALL'S "Works," I. 128.

[19] ESTLIN'S "Discourse," p. 57.

[20] ROBERT HALL, "Modern Infidelity Considered," I. 38, 67.

[21] ROBERT HALL on Modern Infidelity, I. 70.

[22] T. CARLYLE, "Essays," II. 142.

[23] P. BAYLE, "Pensees diverses Ecrites a un Docteur de Sorbonne a
l'Occasion de la _Comete_," 4 vols. Also his "Reponse aux Questions d'un
Provincial," II. 688, IV. 101, 112.

[24] HALL on Modern Infidelity, I. 59, 64.

[25] ABBE [TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: ORIGINAL HAD "ABBE"] BARRUEL, "Memoires
pour servir a l'Histoire du Jacobinisme," I. 31, 131, 135, 184, 357.

[26] ABBE BARRUEL, "Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire du Jacobinisme,"
I. 22, II. 190, 193.

[27] "The Leader;" a series of articles on Comte's Philosophy, by G. H.
LEWES, April 7, 10, 17, etc., etc., 1852.--"The Glasgow Mechanics'
Journal."

CHAPTER II.

THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT.

There have been various applications of the general principle of
Development, by means of which an attempt has been made to explain the
origin of all things by Natural Laws, so as to exclude the necessity of
any Divine interposition, either for the creation of the world, or for
the introduction and establishment of Christianity itself. It has been
applied, first, to explain the origin of worlds and planetary systems,
by showing that, certain specified conditions being presupposed, there
are fixed mechanical laws which might sufficiently account for the
production of the earth and of the other planets and satellites of our
Solar System, without any special interposition of Divine power at the
commencement of the existing order of things. It has been applied,
secondly, to explain the origin of the various tribes or races of
vegetable and animal life, and especially the production of the human
race, by showing that the existing types may have sprung, by a process
of gradual development, from inferior races previously existing, and
that these again may have been produced by the action of chemical agents
in certain favorable conditions. It has been applied, thirdly, to
explain all the most important phenomena of Human History, and to
illustrate the law which is supposed to determine and regulate the
progressive course of civilization, so as to account, on natural
principles, for the origin and prevalence of the various forms of
Religion, and even for the introduction, in its appointed season, of
Christianity itself, without having recourse to anything so utterly
unphilosophical as the idea of a Divine Revelation, or the supposition
of supernatural agency. And it has been applied, fourthly, to explain
the order, and to vindicate the use, of those additions both to the
doctrines and rites of primitive Christianity, which Protestants have
denounced as _corruptions_, but which Popish and Tractarian writers
defend as _developments_, of the system that was originally deposited,
like a prolific germ or seed, in the bosom of the Catholic Church.

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