A consensus among theologians is that a religion must have something “holy”, or the ultimate reality and the deepest truth or force in existence. The “holy” can be a God, multiple deities, a primal force, or a state of consciousness (Carroll, 2021). In other words, religions have respect for something in a higher dimension or the “otherness”. Jung viewed the respect of the holy as a non-rational and non-sensory experience. Some people argue that the holy doctrine for atheism is the belief that no Gods exist. However, that doctrine does not fit into the criteria for “holy.”
Modern atheists are mainly analytical philosophers, such as Thomas Nagel and Daniel Dennett. Their atheism is a belief resulting from logical deduction. For example, atheism could result from the deconstruction of religions. Daniel Dennett views religion as an ideological imagination that provides ultimate concerns and functions as a “myth” to unite humans together. It is humans who need the myth that there is an upper being existing, instead of an upper being actually existing.
Moreover, Dennett deconstructs some of the religious beliefs, such as the creator’s proof of God, by stating that nature is the true creator. Dennet is very critical and tends to deconstruct everything as we can see in his argument. How analytic philosophers—new atheists—prove the non-existence of God is by deconstructing the human belief that God exists by logical analysis. This deconstructing rationale of atheism is fundamentally different from the respect for “holy” of a religion. They simply believe that everything can be deconstructed—including the notion that “everything can be deconstructed.” Therefore, it is fundamentally contradictory to the definition of religion.
Works Cited
Carroll, Jill. World Religions : A Beginner’s Guide : Questions and Answers for Humanity’s 7 Oldest and Largest Faiths. Emeryville, California, Rockridge Press, 2021.
Jung, C G. Psychology and Religion. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1992.
