6 of 6

Some atheists have argued that the phenomenon of globalization can only advance a secularist agenda, eliminating religion from the public arena. If the world is to have a shared future, it can only be by eliminating what divides its nations and peoples—such as religious beliefs. Yet many have pointed out in response that globalization seems to be resulting in a quite different outcome.

Far from being secularized, the West is experiencing a new interest in religion. Patterns of immigration mean that Islam and Hinduism are now major living presences in the cities of Western Europe and North America. Pentecostalism is a rapidly growing force, strengthened by the arrival of many Asian and African Christians in the West. The future looks nothing like the godless and religionless world so confidently predicted 40 years ago. The atheist agenda, once seen as a positive force for progress, is now seen as disrespectful toward cultural diversity.

Paradoxically, the future of atheism will be determined by its religious rivals. Those atheists looking for a surefire way to increase their appeal need only to hope for harsh, vindictive, and unthinking forms of religion to arise in the West.

In his problematic but fascinating work, The Decline of the West, Oswald Spengler argued that history shows that cultures came into being for religious reasons. As they exhausted the potential of that spirituality, religion gave way to atheism, before a phase of religious renewal gave them a new sense of direction. Might atheism have run its course, and now give way to religious renewal? The tides of cultural shift have, for the time being, left atheism beached on the sands of modernity, while Westerners explore a new postmodern interest in the forbidden fruit of spirituality.

Alister McGrath is professor of historical theology at Oxford University, and author of The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World (Doubleday, 2004), from which this essay was excerpted and condensed.

Copyright © 2005 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The Twilight of Atheism is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

Our March cover story described the renewal of faith in Europe's most secular country, France.

More on atheism includes

Weblog: Atheist No More, Flew Still Rejects Revelation | Antony Flew: Science pretty much proves God's existence (Dec. 10, 2004)

Forced by Logic | It took philosophy and a friend to convince this atheist. (June 13, 2003)

Perestroika of the Spirit | In Russia, the vocabulary of faith needs interpreters. (March 05, 2003)

Albania's journey from atheism to model of religious growth | Albania, which in 1967 became the world's first official atheistic state, is now fast becoming a model of religious growth and an example to the rest of Europe, according to a senior Orthodox official. (Nov. 29, 1999)

Russian Intellectuals Try to Revive Atheism | The Moscow Society of Atheists says its ideology has fallen out of fashion. (Jan. 24, 2001)

More articles on faith and secularism include:

That Other Church | Let's face it: Secularism is a religion. Let's treat it as such. (Dec. 21, 2004)

Misfires in the Tolerance Wars | Separating church and state now means separating belief and action. (Feb. 24, 2004)

One Nation Under Secularism | France's peculiar aversion to public religiosity is rooted in a sordid history of sectarian violence. (Feb. 13, 2004)

The Wages of Secularism | New laws won't prevent another Enron. (June 04, 2002)

Zarathustra Shrugged | What apologetics should look like in a skeptical age. (Sept. 5, 2001)

From Books & Culture's issue on God is not dead:

The Real Story of Secularization | Is Europe a special case? (November/December 2002)

God Is Not Dead | The April 8, 1966, issue of Time magazine (scheduled to coincide with Easter) created a hubbub with the stark cover line, "Is God Dead?" (November/December 2002)

The Renaissance of Religion in Canada | They're not dropping out. They're dropping in. (November/December 2002)

American Gnostic | Harold Bloom's post-Christian nation ten years on (November/December 2002)

first page |  6 of 6

share this page

March 2005, Vol. 49, No. 3