Our age has been described by scholars such as Charles Taylor as a secular age. It’s characterized not only by the separation of religion from the public spaces, and relegating the former to the private sphere, but also by people’s turning away from God or believing in God and making the belief in God to be just one option among others. This course examines the history of modern and contemporary atheism putting emphasis on the influence of immanent philosophers. It argues that atheism is not a mere negation of God but is against religion and intends to substitute it. The declining role of religion in modern society due to secularization is also examined as well as the new forms of pluralism. The new atheism and scientism will also be analyzed followed by the examining the errors of modern atheism. Then, basing on philosophers of integral anthropology, it will be argued that religiosity is a human characteristic as human sentiment. Atheism obliges faith to find reason for believing and thus cannot be separated from reason. It should be noted, however, that far from extinction, there is a new ‘revival of religion’ which is sometimes presented in a fundamentalist way.
- Teacher: Peter Rom