For some reason, it is generally accepted that an atheist is a person who does not believe in God. This is partly true, but in fact the denial of the supreme deity does not mean the rejection of faith as such. Like the "Nautilus" of the 80s: "You can believe in the absence of faith." In this regard, the denial of the divine should also lead to other steps: a revision of the value picture of the world and the adoption of a new model.
In fact, what is religion? This is the production of moral values, ethical standards of behavior. However, atheists (by the way, they are mostly Europeans and Americans), while proclaiming themselves as such, remain in the bosom of the Christian code. It turns out a strange thing: the denial of God does not provoke the denial of religion.
The essence of man and his positioning in the world
Let's look into this matter. An atheist is not just a person who denies any manifestations of the supernatural. This, as they say, is not enough. He recognizes nature, the universe, the environmentreality as a self-sufficient and self-developing reality, which is independent of the will of a person or any other being. Cognition of the world is possible only by means of science, and man is recognized as the highest moral value. Thus, an atheist is a person who adheres to ordinary, to some extent liberal views. Moral questions, of course, are of interest to him, but only in the context of protecting his own interests. He can be a cynic, a sycophant, an agnostic, honest, decent - whatever. But this does not mean a denial of those moral principles, thanks to which he lives and is part of the social whole - the circle of the family, the work team, the circle, the professional group, etc. Social habits formed on the basis of the same Christian upbringing (even if indirectly, school), there is no getting away from it. And that means faith, just in a slightly different form, unusual for everyone.
If not a servant of God, then whose servant?
You can often hear that an atheist is someone who hates the phrase "God's servant". On the one hand, this is understandable. For atheism as an ideological trend, it is important to recognize absolute freedom, however, like any liberal ideology. On the other hand, the same moral problem arises: if not a servant of God, then who (or what) then is the highest ideal for such a person? And then a void arises - there are no offers in return for God. A holy place, as you know, is never empty…
Atheist communists
As a result, it turned out that behind atheismthe glory of almost the predecessor of communism was entrenched. Marx and Engels, of course, publicly positioned themselves as atheists, claiming that God exists only in people's imaginations. But, again, this does not mean denying God as a moral ideal. Moreover, classical Marxism did not analyze religion from an institutional point of view, as was done
on the example of the economy, social relations, organization of labor in production. The Bolsheviks fought with all their might against religion, but until the Second World War. Moreover, they fought as a political institution in the form of the Church, but not with a way of thinking, which we call religious consciousness. As a result, we got the Soviet type of faith, the remnants of which we still cannot get rid of.
Famous atheists
The first atheist in the world is the ancient Greek philosopher and poet Diagoras, who claimed the personal essence of the gods, their intervention in the affairs of Athens and, in general, the ability to change the world. A little later, Protagoras proclaimed: “Man is the measure of all things,” which, in principle, was in tune with the “physical” tradition of early Greek philosophy. In the 19th century, they create the theory of human psychogenesis, B. Russell in the 20th century - the thesis of absolute doubt. But this does not mean the denial of gods and religiosity! Simply put, for some reason it is believed that an atheist is a person with a special type of philosophical and scientific mind, which does not directly mean his godlessness. He just doesn't think like everyone else. But is it a crime?
