Hot-Headed, Zealous Atheists
I was fascinated by this chronological sequence of quotations from a piece by Don Herzog, "blast from the past (one)" (at Left2Right). Although some of the passionate distrust of atheists like myself has apparently dissipated in the last 200 years (despite the current attempts at a resurgence), hence some of the excitement, I do feel a little safer. Oddly, contrary to Burke's assertion, it is no longer the atheist who "aims at dominion"!
From [Edmund Burke's] Thoughts on French Affairs, 12/1791:
- Of all men, the most dangerous is a warm, hot-headed, zealous atheist. This sort of man aims at dominion, and his means are the words he always has in his mouth, — "L'égalité naturelle des hommes, et la souveraineté du peuple."
There's a nutshell presentation of the view of the great conservative theorist. Atheism is a threat to social order, and atheism gets wrapped up with dangerous talk of natural equality and popular sovereignty. The great liberal John Locke took a similar view in his Letter concerning Toleration (first published in English in 1689):
- those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of a God.
Locke thought atheists couldn't be counted on to be moral, keep their promises, and be upstanding members of society. Why? Because of his wacky theory of moral motivation. Locke thought we maximize pleasure, and what keeps us in line on earth is the threat of divine punishment and the promise of heaven.
By Burke's day, though, liberals had made their peace with unbelief. Here's Thomas Jefferson's Notes on Virginia from 1781-82:
- it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
In: All, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation