By Monk Moses the Athonite
It is needless to stress the fact that the denial of the existence of God is everyone's right. God gave us unlimited freedom, so that even if we wanted to we could deny Him.
I will not attempt to prove at all the existence of God. I believe His existence cannot be proved by reason, but He is only experienced in the depth of the heart. Therefore, anyone is free to profess whatever they want. However, we do not need at all for an atheist to mock a believer and of course the opposite.
Allow me to say that the atheist tries in agony to convince himself that God does not exist, not leaving a space for Him in his heart and living in the enjoyment of matter, which fails to give joy to the spirit. Nietzsche hit the nail on the head when he says: "Loathsome man, you do not tolerate the one who has seen your depths, and for this you want to take revenge." Too much reason leads to atheism. Not that faith is irrational, but cold rationality only looks to the earth for answers. Moreover, materialism leaves no room for God. Naturalistic pantheism, according to Schopenhauer, leads to a noble atheism.
Several newer philosophical theories have plenty of atheistic elements, such as positivism, dialectical or historical materialism, pansexualism, certain forms of existentialism and several others. Religiosity is considered a figment of the imagination. Nietzsche, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, speaks of the "Übermensch" and proclaims that no other God exists except one's self and that God is dead. According to Marx, God is not an ontological reality but the alleged object of nature. Sartre and Camus eventually deify man.
I think the opinion of K. Joel is quite interesting: "Genuine philosophers of atheism did not exist, just as genuine materialists and those who deny the soul did not exist. Those who at times were considered atheists were not actually such. They did not deny the divine, but they denied a view of God or a particular way of knowing God. The few philosophers who in recent years actually were characterized as atheists, were essentially anti-theists." Giaspers, who studied Nietzsche well, said that anti-theism contains religious nostalgia. Anti-theism and materialism bring nihilism, that does not give peace to the soul of man, but melancholy and loneliness.
In the Bible, atheism is characterized as foolish. The religious drive of man is so rich and great that atheists create a substitute for religion, bringing to the empty throne of God, according to Professor Nicholas Louvardis, various idols: the golden calf, nature, magic, science, the state, technology, fate, free love. Contemporary professors, intellectuals and journalists, in modern Greece and elsewhere, worship the denial of God and ridicule all those who worship the true God. There is a psychological interpretation to this fact. Some feign atheism to justify their opaque behavior and disorderly life. This is why they enjoy and take pleasure in various factual or non-factual ecclesiastical scandals.
Atheism is also related to imperfect knowledge, pride and as we said an unsettled life. So we can comfortably say that atheism is not based on an objective cause but on an underlying cause. Progressivism has long been associated with fierce anti-theism, anti-ecclesiasticism, anti-monasticism and anti-christianism. This prevails among psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and even magicians, soothsayers, spiritualists, horoscopists, and futurists.
We will close with the words of the amazing Alexandros Papadiamantis: "An Englishman or German or Frenchman may be a cosmopolitan an anarchist an atheist or anything. He did his patriotic duty, and built a great country. Now he is free to profess, for the sake of luxury, unbelief and pessimism. But Greeklings of today who want to make public the atheist and the cosmopolitan, are like the upright dwarf who by the tips of his nails stretches to reach height and appears to be a giant. The Greek nation, the slave, but nonetheless free, has and will always have need for their religion."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
