Chapter Guide for "Twilight of Atheism"

What is atheism? Why would someone be an atheist? Why do people fear and dislike atheism? Simply stated, atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods. Granted, atheists are each individuals and undoubtedly each of them prescribe [to] many different philosophies on life, politics and morality as do Christians. However, though atheists may choose to gather collectively for whatever purpose, unlike Christianity, atheism is not a belief system. An individual who identifies himself as an atheist is merely stating that he does not believe in [the existence of] god or gods. Atheism, as indicated by its name, is the opposite of theism which is belief in at least one god; to include polytheism (belief in many or more than one god) and monotheism

As comparing back to the bible, Jesus was represented through the formative symbols and images of Jesus that shows faith within the societies but however due to the new generations, this historical symbols and images were destroyed, such as the young youth of the new generations is use Jesus in the popular culture like TV shows and music, to emulate Jesus in a negative way. Like for example (Forbes, & Mahan, 2017) family guy, there was a character that represented Jesus but was not shown as the depict person, but more shown as a powerless person,

A Christ figure represents the attributes of Christ in the way they live. Foster expands on this idea by arguing a list of characteristics regarding Jesus. As readers, he claims, “while we may not be all that versed in types and archetypes from the Bible, we generally recognize, whatever our religious affiliation, some of the features that make Christ who he is” (Foster 125). If Christ’s attributes reflect themselves in a character, readers can use their knowledge to assume the character is a Christ figure. Likewise, Kingsolver uses Nathan Price as an examples of a Christ figure. Nathan comes to the Congo to redeem an unworthy people, has disciples (his family), and wanders the

Foster’s primary assertion in the chapter is that certain traits possessed by characters of a text qualify them to be considered as Christ figures. While characters do not have to possess every trait to be considered a representation of Christ, they must show some similarity (129). These similarities may be succinct, such as walking on water, or they may be less obvious, such as bearing scars on the hands or the side (126). This list also includes features such as “very forgiving,” “last seen in the company of thieves,” and “in agony” (126).

In chapter fourteen of Thomas Foster’s novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, when telling of Christ in our literature, he makes the all-composing assertion that we live in an overwhelming Christian culture. The common man or woman may not know all there is to understand in Christianity, but our media and minds are affected by it considerably and basic knowledge of its core is known by the majority. The figures of Jesus in literature are abstract and in no way have to be exact to Jesus in gender, morality, or actions. No literary character or real character can be as divine or perfect as Jesus was in the Bible, making it impossible to completely replicate him. Imagination is the largest

How can we tell if a character in a book is a Christ figure? Harrison Bergeron is an appropriate example. He went through and done things that Christ had done such as being persecuted for his faith, carried a beam of wood on his shoulders, and came to rescue the unqualified world. Harrison was taken away from home and went through series of rough treatment. He was terrorized for his beliefs, as with Jesus when He suffered the same way when He was crucified. In addition, the story read that he wore earphones that dulled his intelligence, weights that were strapped him to decrease his strength, wavy glasses that made him half blind, and a wooden beam on his shoulders to cut his mobility. Coincidentally, Jesus had to carry a wooden cross on

Revolutionaries eliminated the guilt of the bloodshed by making their fight against people that are no longer viewed as human. Dechristianization was one of the first big steps in this. Although freedom of religion is a civil liberty, religion to the Catholic French is so deeply personal and spiritual, it is almost inhumane to remove someone’s spiritual side. In November, 1793, began, and churches were closed by the revolutionary government (Document A). Like mentioned above, the Vendée region fought against dechristianization, but the French went to humiliating extremes. One church official in Auxerre said that government representatives, “took a copper crucifix which was on the altar… [and] carried it mockingly, upside down on a cart, offering it to passers-by to spit on. (Document C). Religious people were not only stripped of their religion but humiliated, too. The greatest discrimination was towards the counterrevolutionaries, who were just trying to fight for their rights like anyone else. These people were aristocracies, priests, farmers, and townspeople, but they were regarded as thieves or rabble (Document C). A local government official sent a letter to the National Convention asking for an example to be set for the counterrevolutionaries. He said, “… six patriots have already fallen victim to this rabble, but at least forty of their numbers were killed (Document D).” The same men who vowed to fight for fraternity found comfort in the fact that more of their enemies were killed, even though they share the same French blood, and still they crave more. In October 1793, the revolutionaries set their example in Lyons, where they destroyed 1600 homes and beheaded twelve people in one day (Document C). Of course these revolutionaries felt no remorse, though, because they viewed the lives of these innocent people less important than theirs. Finally, the greatest

Chapter 14 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor discusses how to identify and the significance of Christ figures in literature. According to the book, Christ Figures are prevalent in literature for various reasons including putting emphasis on the sacrifice of the character or deepening the plot with the parallel to Christ. This works because Christ is an important feature in our culture. I believe that literature from dominantly Christian areas will contain many figures resembling Christ simply because the religion is ingrained in the culture. Foster lists many of the qualities that help to indicate the presence of a Christ figure. Some of these include wounds on hand and feet, and struggle in the wilderness, a sacrificing character,

Immortality, the ability to live forever, is a powerful theme addressed throughout history and literature. The Greeks were one of the first to analyze and investigate how one can obtain everlasting life. In Plato’s Apology of Socrates and Crito and Virgil’s Aeneid, fathers reach immortality by passing on lessons to their offspring, but Aeneas acts as a biological father to his son whereas Socrates is a philosophical father and his sons are his followers. These differences in fatherhood ultimately create different kinds of son figures as Aeneas teaches Ascanius to be a leader more like himself whereas Socrates pushes his sons to be philosophers themselves.

As the revolution started, work became more important to people in their lives than anything else. Many of people who were living in countryside started to move into the urbanized city to get jobs. Because they left their homes, not many people were left to care about the churches. Automatically, because of busy life, religion decreased in importance. Consequently, families became more

The people could not pay because it was fairly high. Many people left the church due to this tax demand, and they also were not happy that nobles and priests were exempted from this taxes. The Revolution removed churches tax exemption, seized much of the Church lands and limited religion and the church in education. The revolutionaries went much farther, trying to destroy all the religious art in France, ruined religious books, knocked down and rob all the churches, rape nuns, murder the clergy, dig up graves, desecrate cemeteries. They removed many statues, plates, and other places of worship.

good example. From my chosen work, the Christ was shown as the image of the good

“No face as hideous as my face was ever meant for heaven's light. But suddenly an angel has smiled at me And kissed my cheek without a trace of fright. I dare to dream that she might even care for me as I ring these bells tonight, my cold dark tower seems so bright” (HND). The hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo, struggles to be accepted by his society for a very long time. He was always an outcast in his society. People saw nothing in him, and failed to value him for his kind heart. He was seen as a monster like creature, who would never encounter love. Jesus Christ, although not seen as hideous, was also rejected by members of his society. Both Jesus and Quasimodo had kindness and love ot offer to the world. Jesus, who claimed he was the

Sir Thomas Huxley coined the term “agnostic” in 1869. Popularly the word agnostic is felt to mean that the nature of god cannot be known but that there is a god. Therefore the agnostic is accepted in the community and he is accepted by the church, unlike those labeled or known as “atheists”. Agnosticism is very closely related to the religious doctrine that the ways of god are incomprehensible, that human reason is deceptive and that man requires a

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” (Gay Science, 126) This harsh statement remains among Friedrich Nietzsche’s most powerful and disturbing quotes, spoken by a proclaimed Madman to a crowd of disbelievers. After making this claim, the Madman becomes horrified by his audience’s ignorance, noting that “This tremendous event is still on its way.” This has an effect of suspending the Madman’s message in time, expanding its audience infinitely, for the event of God’s death could still be on its way. Therefore, nearly 150 years after these words were written, we must ask ourselves, does God remain dead, and has our modern society killed him? This is a haunting and disturbing question, but in many ways our society does resemble Nietzsche’s masses. However, it also resembles the Madman himself, due to its inherent individualism.