Pope Benedict and the Crusade Against Atheism

By Tracy Dove, Ph.D
Editor, The Russia News Service

November 30, 2007

In a shrinking world of believers, Pope Benedict XVI broke out the big guns of Catholic dogma this week when he buttressed the almighty fortress and issued a Spe Salvi against creeping world atheism. In a surprising twist of logic, the Pope concluded that atheism was responsible for some of the greatest violations of justice in history, obviously overlooking at least 18 centuries of world history in order to single-out such criminals as Sunday school skippers, certain Hollywood producers and every US president but John F Kennedy. With George Bush's War against Islam currently simmering together next to the Papal incense, it is hard to imagine who is still inspired enough to read all 75 pages of the Pope's encyclical. It could be that the Western world has simply tuned out since the demise of Marxism and the passing of the Cold War. For this reason the Pope is here to remind us of the eternal crusade and why God really matters.

If one is to believe Nature magazine, religiosity is on the way out. It seems that the West- and in particular France- is no longer excited about going to church on Sundays, and the Pope has decided to blame this moral decadence on technology and money- which is probably right. The Internet and physical comfort in the 21st century don't lend themselves to mysticism and crucifixion easily, and most of today's upper bourgeoisie prefer to indulge their spirituality in The Oprah Winfrey Show or the newest features on their Blackberry. It didn't used to be so, that the passive non-believers had it so easy; as long as Catholicism reigned supreme in the West, atheism wasn't a lifestyle choice as it is today, but an insult to Man and an invitation to be beheaded.

Without going into any theological matters, it is important to understand that humanity doesn't like to see anyone check out of the club. Much like the social structure of any Mafia, quitting is next to impossible. It is unfair to blame this on Christianity; if we go back to the early German tribes who were plundering the Roman Empire, being a free agent simply wasn't possible. It was necessary to belong to your tribe, and if you did, there was protection, family, and even the chance at happiness. If you belonged to the other tribe and were unlucky enough to be taken prisoner, you had at least a hope for a speedy death- at best a chance at a prisoner exchange. If either tribe found you in the woods claiming independence and indifference, they both would have killed you. This is because the social animal "Man" disdains individualists, and has been struggling against those who swim against the current in search of freedom from the tyranny of the majority.

Perhaps the Germans aren't the best example, so we can move back a bit and further east to discover that Socrates was sentenced to death because he had questioned the divine nature of the state gods of Athens. Organized society- including the ancient Greeks- have always needed the support of some kind of deity for legitimacy, which explains the existence of the royal "we". Once the Universal Church (Catholic) had extinguished individual spirituality it stood side by side with any emperor, king, dictator or democrat who called on God to take a side in human affairs. The short flirtation with state atheism during the French Revolution was not successful, but it did give us secular religion and nationalism in the 19th century.

Since 1848- and especially after 1871- the Papacy as an institution was losing ground- literally- to the Italian liberals who were pruning the limbs of the Catholic Church and the politicians like Bismarck who were nationalizing the schools which had formerly been run by sneaky priests. But the biggest defection came when conservative Russia was overthrown by Lenin and Co. and religion was subsequently wiped out in many geographies of the 20th century in the name of economic determinism. While communism ultimately failed, the Church has struggled to regain ground in much of the post-industrial world. Hence the solemn appeal by Benedict this week, which thanks to the archaic and scholastic language he wrote it in it will probably never be read by those for whom it was meant.

The Pope's message was that man needs God, otherwise there is no hope. This is perhaps true, but certainly not original. There are lots of prolific atheists publishing books and cruising the speech circuit, while few Catholics are making the best-seller list with anything even slightly convincing. The competition for souls is tough in the United States, which is why the Catholic Church has found such fertile ground in Africa, South America and the Far East- of all places. Hope in the religious sense has all but expired in the western world, but it is alive and well where technology and capital are scarce.

Tracy Dove, editor of The Russia News Service, is a Professor of History and Dean of Summer Programs for the Lessing Institute. He also teaches history at the Anglo-American College in Prague.

See all previous articles by Tracy Dove here.