Atheism vs. idolatry: can anything be worse than a cardinal sin?

I recently had a discussion with a member of this group on the subject of Rambam, idolatry and atheism. Jewish law and prophetic protest both focus strongly on the evils of pagan worship. Does this preoccupation confirm its status as the ultimate biblical sin? Or does it merely reflect the fact that polytheism (as opposed to atheism) represented the primary threat to the monotheism which the Torah was promoting? If the latter is true, how are we to regard the Torah’s respective attitudes to paganism and atheism in a modern world where atheism is widespread and growing?

It occurred to me that the answer to this question may depend on the approach that one takes to Judaism.

One position that I remember being advanced consistently in Yeshiva hashkafa classes emphasises the need for us to recognise that the world is truly run by spiritual forces which are closely impacted by our good and bad deeds. From this mystical outlook, a key component of Judaism is our need to acknowledge the limits of the laws of nature and concentrate instead on the spiritual dynamic which dictates to it.

From this perspective, I remember hearing one rabbi declare, bygone generations were vastly superior to our own. In those heady days, even non-Jews were fully aware that the world truly operates through spiritual forces. All that was left for debate was whether this force was Ba’al, Ra or the true God of Israel. Alas in our sinful days the spiritual dimension is increasingly derided and ignored by people who are focused exclusively on physicality and their worldly aspirations.

When viewed from this perspective it would appear that modern atheism is more distant than idolatry from Jewish beliefs.

[As an aside I remember this being starkly evident on my trip down the Nile 14 years ago. On the East side of the Nile, which housed the major population centres in ancient times, very little remains intact for archaeologists and tourists. The full focus of the Pharaohs was on the Nile’s West Bank, where the sun sets and from where the souls were believed to enter the afterlife. It is here that the magnificent Temples and pyramids, well stocked with mummies and treasures, were built to last for millennia. This, it seems, was the primary focus of the ancient world.]

When we weigh up idolatry and atheism from Rambam’s worldview, however, I’m not convinced that this conclusion holds true.

For Rambam, the problem with paganism is not simply that it represents an incorrect address for one’s prayers. Rather it represents the antithesis of Judaism – a wholly corrupted world view in which competing deities spar with one another over the fate of the world and its inhabitants, and must be appeased through supplication and sacrifice. Aristotle, whose belief came close to what might now be called atheism, was praised by Rambam for his understanding of the physical world – even if he resorted to “conjecture” when it came to the spiritual realm (Guide 2:22).

Would Rambam therefore consider atheism to be closer to Judaism and less damaging than pagan religion? Or perhaps even Rambam would consider bad religion preferable to the sort of denial advanced by Bertrand Russell who argued that:

“[Man’s] origin, his growth, his hope and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling can preserve the body beyond the grave…”

A further consideration is the extent to which the Torah’s campaign against idolatry is tied in with its prophetic vision of the need to establish a just, merciful and righteous society. Particularly since neither atheists nor pagans, in Rambam’s understanding, are likely to receive a share in the world to come, it is important to assess the extent to which they are able to provide a stable society for those who do pursue monotheistic faith. Is paganism assumed to be synonymous with human sacrifice? Is atheism associated with humanitarianism or rather the destructive atheist regimes which defined much of the past century?

A further question which must be addressed is what atheists truly believe regarding the origin of the world. If a person doesn’t believe in a creator-God, does that mean that something else other than God – some unstated force – must have created the world and guided its development?

Certainly there are some atheists who advance complex theories of how the world may have created itself from nothing. Some hold that the world has always been here and is perpetually expanding and contracting; others prefer to push aside the question of the origin of the universe entirely. It may be more accurate to consider that those who fall within the latter category are ignoring the possibility and implications of a creator-God rather than actually holding atheist beliefs. They may have considered the sorts of absurdities and atrocities that religious beliefs have produced through the centuries and concluded that life is better lived without dwelling upon such questions. Could it be that the Torah’s primary protest is against pagan worship rather than simply a lack of pure monotheistic belief?

I would be tempted to conclude, from Rambam’s telling, that atheism certainly is preferable to idolatry. This is because it typically involves a person possessing a broadly correct outlook in terms of the functioning of the physical world – just one that lacks recognition that laws of nature are divinely ordained. While this lacking will hold a person back from appreciating the wisdom and building a relationship with the God who put those laws into place, it avoids the damaging and magical falsehoods propounded by pagan beliefs in multiple competing deities which must be appeased through imagined rituals and sacrifices.

First posted to Facebook 29 June 2022, here.