The Atheist Manifesto
by Michel Onfray
Atheist Manifesto is a book by Michel Onfray that seeks to lay out the case against the worlds three major religions in a sophisticated and compelling manner. Onfray is France’s leading philosopher and the author of over thirty books on philosophy.
The book is laid out in four parts. In the first, Atheology, is the case for atheism. Onfray discusses the search for a name for freethinkers. The origins of the freethinkers are discussed as well as their formation into the atheism we recognize now. This section will delight experienced atheists with its new and intriguing forays into history and discussion of the first atheists. Yet it will also supply the novice with a good handle on those who have come before him/her on the path of atheology.
Onfray asks atheists to face a cold truth, as well. That, “The Western body….is Christian.” “Two thousand years of Christian discourse- anatomy, medicine, physiology, of course, but also philosophy, theology, and aesthetics- have fashioned the body we inhabit.” “Body and law, even (and especially) when they think, believe, and call themselves secular, proceed from Judeo-Christian epistemology.” This is quite a hard pill to swallow, the extent that we have yet to escape theism. He goes on to explain Christian atheism and how, “For too long, and on every point, the atheist has seen himself the reverse of the priestly coin.” I find myself bristling at his charges, yet not really disagreeing with him and always wanting to read on further.
In part Two, Monotheism, Onfray shows how the three seemingly different religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are alike. Students of comparative religion may find themselves a little bored in this part if they are very familiar with the three holy books. For the rest of us though, there is quite a bit to be said for the comparisons Onfray presents. Onfray peels back the outer layers revealing the similarities common to the three religions. He presents them in three sections each of which covers a group of things the three major monotheistic religions have in common. Taboos, a hatred of science and intelligence, seeking the unreal such as an afterlife and more are shown to be common to all three religions.
In part three, Christianity, Onfray focuses his keen eye on the layers of Christianity. Bit by bit exposing their origins and deconstructing Christianity. He starts with the Jesus myth and its evolution. Onfray shows how Jesus was just part of the hysteria of the period. He discusses in this part how in the, “first half of the first century prophets, messiahs, and bearers of good tidings abounded.” He describes how these, “Multitudes of stories describe this Jewish determination to unseat the Roman power with the sole help of religions, mystical, millenarian, and prophetic discourse announcing the good tidings predicted in the Old Testament.” The similarities in stories are striking, even to the well-read atheist. Then there are of course the stories that have been left out, and the inconsistencies. Onfray’s familiarity with the gospel and the Apocryphal texts makes this chapter a pleasure to read. This part also explains a lot about the beliefs of the current church. “Paul the masochist articulates the ideas with which Christianity will one day triumph. These include delight in the joys of submission, obedience, passivity, total subservience to the powerful…” This section ends with an explanation of how Christianity took the “historical stage” and stayed there through legalized violence and totalitarianism.
In part four Onfray deconstructs theocracies and explains how “Theocracy’s cure lies in democracy: the power of the people, the immanent sovereignty of the citizens against the supposed dominance of God.” Onfray charges atheists to “formulate a new ethic and produce the conditions for a true post-Christian morality in the West,” and to “point to the advantages of a guiding principle less obsessed with the death wish than with love of life.
This is truly a book for the new millennium, the next generation of freethinkers. It rounds up the myths of the past and places them in their proper context clearing the way for us to make a new way. I highly recommend it to atheists of all persuasions, and even a few who may need persuading that a new ethic is needed at all.
- Jenni
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