Christianity as a constant process of atheization
Authors:   Science and Research Centre Koper, Slovenia, Trebežnik Luka 
Published: June 2024

In his Deconstruction of Christianity, the contemporary French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy described Christianity as “the exit from religion and the expansion of the atheist world”. Inspired by this assertion, we will reassess the traces of atheism in Christianity and its secular supplements. We will examine the broad context of Christianity and some seemingly external factors such as the Enlightenment and the development of science. Several features of Christianity, such as the emphasis on spirituality, individual faith, and the deinstitutionalization of religious experience, have prepared the ground for the rise of atheism. First, Christianity, most clearly in the Protestant denominations, places great emphasis on the inner spiritual experience of the believer, the conscience as the inner presence of God. The subjective personal relationship with God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are central tenets of Christian theology. However, this emphasis on individual, private spirituality can inadvertently lead to a devaluation of external religious structures and communal rituals and even pave the way for atheistic isolation. Moreover, throughout its history, Christianity has repeatedly produced its own critics, movements that have challenged institutional authority and hierarchical structures within the church. From the Hussites to the Protestant Reformation to today's movements advocating spiritual autonomy, the goal has always been to decentralize religious authority, separate it from worldly powers (secularization) and empower individual believers. While this deinstitutionalization is certainly meant to promote a more authentic and personal faith that is closer to God's will, it can also create room for doubt and scepticism, which in turn can lead to atheism. Furthermore, Christianity has grappled more than other religions with the tension between faith and reason, two completely different areas of our relationship with reality and the world. This relationship has completely changed with advances in science and philosophy, as traditional religious doctrines and supernatural explanations are increasingly challenged and even rendered obsolete. The struggle to reconcile faith and reason has led some people to the practical solution of rejecting religious faith altogether in favour of a purely secular worldview. We should also mention that even the pervasive influence of Christianity on Western culture may have inadvertently facilitated its own decline. Because Christianity is deeply embedded in societal norms, people who have grown up in Christian cultures may take their faith for granted, not as something out of the ordinary, but as something normal, leading to complacency or indifference toward religious beliefs. Over time, this cultural familiarity with Christianity can erode the foundations of religious belief and eventually contribute to the rise of atheism. Given this internal dynamic, it is clear that Christianity itself has played a crucial role in its own atheization. This paper will highlight some of the key features of Christian atheism and one of its most notorious examples, socialist atheization.