I’m getting really tired of the bogus argument “if we dispense with #religion, worse forms of dogmatism arise to fill the void”.

No.

First, a technicality: some of the secular forms of fanaticism that did replace #Christianity in History were themselves religions. #ChristopherHitchens, #SamHarris and others have in insisted in the religious nature of #Nazism (and my reading of #MeinKampf is confirming that); #Communism from #Mao to #PolPot showed all the signs of a faith-based ideology; #JohnMcWhorter has mapped all the tenets of a religion onto wokeism; etc. So in a sense, #JordanPeterson and others are right when they say that often religion gets replaced with worse stuff… but then they should explain what “worse stuff” they fear could replace the religion that we call, eg, #wokeism!

And even then, this argument is tossed around with no supporting evidence: where’s the careful study of enough historical situations to prove that always (or even often) when some form of #monotheism lost ground quickly, nihilistic or destructive atheism took its place?

If one removes broken tiles from the floor, of course there’s the risk that those holes will get filled with mud or dirt. But it does not have to be that way. One is also free to decide to level the floor with new tiles or with other material — or even to board up that entire corner of the house, and never step on it again.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-problem-with-atheism/id1184022695?i=1000547237925