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In this intriguing but frustrating book, Jon Mills tries to do three things. First, to demonstrate that God does not exist. In this he joins a long line of aggressive atheists, such as Christopher Hitchens (2007), Sam Harris (2004), and Richard Dawkins (2006). Second, Mills (2017) claims that he is not a “vociferous atheist,” and he’s not, but there is no mistaking his position when he refers to “the believing masses [who] cannot accept the fact that we are ultimately alone” (p. 104). The third thing Mills tries to do is construct a defense of a humanistic spirituality. He says much of value about finding “intrinsic worth and meaning in living our lives for the present” (p. 228). While the foundation of this claim was laid down by Camus and Sartre, Mills adds an appreciation of social and economic context. What we believe, and how we believe it, is not just a question for the autonomous individual; it depends on the world we live in. Religion means one thing in a world in which a community of individuals live under constant economic pressure, another in which people have the leisure to cultivate their individuality.
One can make this same point another way. Assume that belief in God and belief in the autonomous individual are both myths. Postmodernism has certainly given us a number of reasons to regard autonomous individuality as a fiction. Which myth prevails will depend on the type of world we live in, and not just the strength of our individuality.
I believe that something like this is what Mills is trying to say when he states:
There is no need to obliterate people’s proclivity for religion let alone deracinate their need to believe, only that we need to understand why humanity is inclined to think this way in order to introduce an intervening reflective level of self-conscious awareness that points toward the truth of being in a world that does not require God to function or give meaning to existence. (p. 10)
The only point I would question is Mills’ reference to