Yet Another Horrible New Atheist: Emma Goldman

[Warren Stupidity]

1869 - 1940
From: The Philosophy of Atheism First published: in February 1916 in the Mother Earth journal.

The philosophy of Atheism expresses the expansion and growth of the human mind. The philosophy of theism, if we can call it philosophy, is static and fixed. Even the mere attempt to pierce these mysteries represents, from the theistic point of view, non-belief in the all-embracing omnipotence, and even a denial of the wisdom of the divine powers outside of man. Fortunately, however, the human mind never was, and never can be, bound by fixities. Hence it is forging ahead in its restless march towards knowledge and life. The human mind is realizing "that the universe is not the result of a creative fiat by some divine intelligence, out of nothing, producing a masterpiece chaotic in perfect operation," but that it is the product of chaotic forces operating through aeons of time, of clashes and cataclysms, of repulsion and attraction crystalizing through the principle of selection into what the theists call, "the universe guided into order and beauty." As Joseph McCabe well points out in his Existence of God: "a law of nature is not a formula drawn up by a legislator, but a mere summary of the observed facts - a 'bundle of facts.' Things do not act in a particular way because there is a law, but we state the 'law' because they act in that way."

The philosophy of Atheism represents a concept of life without any metaphysical Beyond or Divine Regulator. It is the concept of an actual, real world with its liberating, expanding and beautifying possibilities, as against an unreal world, which, with its spirits, oracles, and mean contentment has kept humanity in helpless degradation.

It may seem a wild paradox, and yet it is pathetically true, that this real, visible world and our life should have been so long under the influence of metaphysical speculation, rather than of physical demonstrable forces. Under the lash of the theistic idea, this earth has served no other purpose than as a temporary station to test man's capacity for immolation to the will of God. But the moment man attempted to ascertain the nature of that will, he was told that it was utterly futile for "finite human intelligence" to get beyond the all-powerful infinite will. Under the terrific weight of this omnipotence, man has been bowed into the dust - a will-less creature, broken and sweating in the dark. The triumph of the philosophy of Atheism is to free man from the nightmare of gods; it means the dissolution of the phantoms of the beyond. Again and again the light of reason has dispelled the theistic nightmare, but poverty, misery and fear have recreated the phantoms - though whether old or new, whatever their external form, they differed little in their essence. Atheism, on the other hand, in its philosophic aspect refuses allegiance not merely to a definite concept of God, but it refuses all servitude to the God idea, and opposes the theistic principle as such. Gods in their individual function are not half as pernicious as the principle of theism which represents the belief in a super- natural, or even omnipotent, power to rule the earth and man upon it. It is the absolutism of theism, its pernicious influence upon humanity, its paralyzing effect upon thought and action, which Atheism is fighting with all its power.

The philosophy of Atheism has its root in the earth, in this life; its aim is the emancipation of the human race from all God-heads, be they Judaic, Christian, Mohammedan, Buddhistic, Brahministic, or what not. Mankind has been punished long and heavily for having created its gods; nothing but pain and persecution have been man's lot since gods began. There is but one way out of this blunder: Man must break his fetters which have chained him to the gates of heaven and hell, so that he can begin to fashion out of his reawakened and illumined consciousness a new world upon earth.

Only after the triumph of the Atheistic philosophy in the minds and hearts of man will freedom and beauty be real- ized. Beauty as a gift from heaven has proved useless. It will, however, become the essence and impetus of life when man learns to see in the earth the only heaven fit for man. Atheism is already helping to free man from his dependence upon punishment and reward as the heavenly bargain- counter for the poor in spirit.

Do not all theists insist that there can be no morality, no justice, honesty or fidelity without the belief in a Divine Power? Based upon fear and hope, such morality has always been a vile product, imbued partly with self- righteousness, partly with hypocrisy. As to truth, justice, and fidelity, who have been their brave exponents and daring proclaimers? Nearly always the godless ones: the Atheists; they lived, fought, and died for them. They knew that justice, truth, and fidelity are not, conditioned in heaven, but that they are related to and interwoven with the tremendous changes going on in the social and material life of the human race; not fixed and eternal, but fluctuating, even as life itself. To what heights the philosophy of Atheism may yet attain, no one can prophesy. But this much can already be predicted: only by its regenerating fire will human relations be purged from the horrors of the past

Thoughtful people are beginning to realize that moral precepts, imposed upon humanity through religious terror, have become stereotyped and have therefore lost all vitality. A glance at life today, at its disintegrating character, its conflicting interests with their hatreds, crimes, and greed, suffices to prove the sterility of theistic morality.

Man must get back to himself before he can learn his relation to his fellows. Prometheus chained to the Rock of Ages is doomed to remain the prey of the vultures of darkness. Unbind Prometheus, and you dispel the night and its horrors.

Atheism in its negation of gods is at the same time the strongest affirmation of man, and through man, the eternal yea to life, purpose, and beauty.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/goldman/works/1916/atheism.htm

[stone space]

1. If I can't dance, then don't want to be in your revolution. (nt)

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Which she was never documented as actually writing or saying.

[stone space]

4. Come the revolution, I'll buy you a new hat.

Warren Beatty

REDS

[hrmjustin]

5. i am sorry you feel that way but you did break our rules.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. 'sorry'

[rug]

6. Ironically, Ayn Rand would aree with every word.

Where they would differ is the reality of capitalism.

I look forward to your posting the writings of the New Atheist Ayn Rand.

Would you prefer I do it?

[AtheistCrusader]

7. Goldman pre-dates Rand, and is politically opposite, so why dont you bring that shit up in

A totally unrelated thread.

[rug]

9. The only shit I see in this thread is the OP's implication.

Wake up, AC. Atheism does not lead to enlightened thinking. The mere fact of nonbelief does not make anyone more rational, more logical, or more progressive.

The only thing that Goldman and Rand have in common is nonbelief. Beyond that one sliver of their lives, Rand is as far from Goldman as an Oxford salon is to a factory floor.

One dedidicated her life to proletarian revolution; the other was a pig.

That test holds true today as much as it did a hundred years ago.

Here's a test for you: Put the name next to the quote, Dawkins, Goldman, or Rand. Don't let the Oxford quote distract you.

In that world, you'll be able to rise in the morning with the spirit you had known in your childhood: that spirit of eagerness, adventure and certainty which comes from dealing with a rational universe.Ask youself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves--or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.

The good, say the mystics of spirit, is God, a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man's power to conceive- a definition that invalidates man's consciousness and nullifies his concepts of existence...Man's mind, say the mystics of spirit, must be subordinated to the will of God... Man's standard of value, say the mystics of spirit, is the pleasure of God, whose standards are beyond man's power of comprehension and must be accepted on faith....The purpose of man's life...is to become an abject zombie who serves a purpose he does not know, for reasons he is not to question.

For centuries, the mystics of spirit had existed by running a protection racket - by making life on earth unbearable, then charging you for consolation and relief, by forbidding all the virtues that make existence possible, then riding on the shoulders of your guilt, by declaring production and joy to be sins, then collecting blackmail from the sinners.

...if devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.... the alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind.

[AtheistCrusader]

10. I never said atheism leads to enlightened thinking.

One is a consequence of the other. And you know it. You've seen the numbers.

I'm sorry you feel it's a problem.



As for rand, there are other paths one can take to atheism. Some better than others.




And what the hell did a pig ever do to you, anyway?

[AtheistCrusader]

11. By the by.

You know full tucking well what motivated this thread. WS and I have pointed out multiple times that common parlance for atheist, or 'new' atheist focuses only on a small set of mostly anti-theist privileged white men.

Time for some of us to point out some diversity in our ranks.

Goldman was a good egg. As was de Cleyre. I do hope you aren't planning some disingenuous bullshit here, because you already seem to be working pretty hard at misconstruing the op...

[stone space]

12. Whatever the purpose, this thread...

...could use title change.

[edhopper]

13. The title

is the whole point of the thread.

[stone space]

14. Oh. I thought it was about Emma Goldman.

My mistake.

[edhopper]

15. No problem

now you know.