It makes a difference, what you believe about the Universe, humanity, life, & eternity. Western civilization was built upon principles based on a belief in a Supreme Being, or some kind of Higher Power, over the affairs of men. From that belief, sprang several world & culture changing movements.
1. The Reformation. 'Sola Scriptura' was the cry, as well as the concept of of ALL men being equal, no aristocracy, no divine right of kings, nor a holy priesthood, with special endowments from God. This was humanity's ticket out of the dark ages, & the ideological basis for most of what followed.
2. The Scientific Revolution. Instead of science being a mandate from Religious Professionals, it became a process.. a methodology that was based on the uniformity of nature, & order in the universe. The printing press & a common language in scientific inquiry built a knowledge base, & many added to it. Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, & many others sparked this revolution, which had at its root the concept of an orderly Creator, whose Laws were immutable & consistent.
3. The Age of Reason. This was closely tied with science, & had the same roots. These were the enlightenment philosophers, who promoted the concept of Natural Law, an overriding moral law that was over everyone, & the ruling elite were not exempt. It has been summarized as the right to life, liberty, & property, & was codified as a mission statement for governance in the American declaration of independence.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
These 'movement's were foundational for western civilization, & resulted in an ideology that found its purist expression in the American Experiment in self rule. Natural Law, human equality, and an acknowledgment of a Supreme Being were the foundation upon which America was founded, & were the core beliefs that influenced most of western civilization for over 100 years.
It began in the mid 1500s, when the reformation blew apart the status quo of the religious elite. Concurrently, Copernicus promoted scientific thinking, refuted a geocentric view of the universe, & laid the foundation for further scientific discovery. The ruling elite became fallible, & the illusion of them as 'speaking for God' was shattered. Truth was not a monopoly of the elite, but was a process of discovery. The printing press contributed to this as well, making the knowledge base available to a wider audience, & breaking the monopoly that the elite had over information.
Then, as human minds became free to think, unfettered by superstition & dark ages mandates, the CONSEQUENCES of this scientific enlightenment spread to the philosophical concepts of governance & human freedom. This was the spark that began the abolitionist movement, & from there led to women's suffrage, & even addressed the social evils of intemperate drunkenness.
By the 1800s, aristocracies were ending.. by peaceful or revolutionary means. Slavery was abolished in all of the 'civilized' countries. Women were getting the vote. Morality & human equality were elevated over the decrees of divinely appointed elites. Science was explaining the universe. Technology was building upon the scientific discoveries. Superstition was dying. The former belief in a naturalistic 'cause' for life for centuries, was debunked by Pasteur, as his experiments refuted the notion of 'spontaneous generation'. But at its peak, the winds of ideology began to change. In the late 1800s, 2 major events began a new movement in human ideology. Marx & Darwin represented a new ideological basis for a growing philosophical view:
Naturalistic Atheism
Two major works laid much of the foundation for the growing view of naturalistic atheism.
Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, 1859
Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto, 1848
Darwin laid the foundation for a naturalistic explanation of origins. There was no need for a Creator, as everything happened by some cosmic accident, then evolved to where we are today. Life is constantly evolving, & humans are just advanced animals. Some are more advanced than others, & they should manage & oversee the universe, based on their superior evolved intellect.
Marx had a social elite, and needed an atheistic world view to crush the evils of religious elitism, whom he saw as the opiate of the masses. But he only substituted a different elite, same as the old ones, but with different hats. His was a rule by altruistic elites, who could control the evolution of man, producing a New Man, who would live in harmony in their collective utopia.
So the result of this blend of new ideologies were many fold:
1. Keep the elite. Manifest destiny, eugenics, & a superior ruling class grew from this ideology, based on evolved superiority instead of divine appointment. Human equality can be ignored, as well as Natural Law, for the expediency of 'evolving' a New Man.
2. Science is no longer a process of discovery, or an inquiry into 'what God hath wrought', but became a god itself. The methodology was ignored, & the mandate of elitist superiority took precedence over scientific inquiry. Naturalistic Atheism became a mandated belief, not dispassionate scientific inquiry.
3. Return to dark ages practices of mandates for Truth, instead of open inquiry.
Many movements in the late 19th & early 20th centuries built upon these new foundational ideologies. Russia found itself in a great civil war, & substituted the oppression from the Czars & the ruling aristocracy for oppression from the Bolsheviks & their new ruling aristocracy. Hitler's National Socialism built upon both marxism & darwinism, promoting an elite based on superior evolved strength, intelligence, & state control of everything. American eugenics was foundational in the progressive movement early in the 20th century, & darwinistic beliefs became the monopoly of thought through judicial decree. Other forms of socialism, despotism, & communism, all had at their root a naturalistic atheism basis. It is the foundational belief system for most of the revolutionary movements in the 20th century. Only Islam, with its similar elitist control, provided any competition for an ideological basis for human governance. The American Ideal became corrupted with progressive thought, & seized control of all the institutions in America, distorting the original intent, & slowly morphed the enlightenment principles it was based on, into collectivist elitism, with only an illusion of self rule.
The Great Deception of the 20th century: Naturalism is fact. God is dead.
Naturalistic Atheism is a return to the animal ideal, where the stronger rule over the weak, & power is esteemed over morality. 'Might makes right', is the only rule.
Its foundations are not built on Scientific Truth, but mandated beliefs, just like the dark ages.
It is a move away from the enlightenment principles of human equality, freedom, & Natural Law, & back toward dark ages principles of elitist rule & Truth by Decree.
Indoctrination & propaganda, not open inquiry, are the methods used for imposing the ideology upon the people. Lies & beliefs are presented as proven scientific principles, when there is no scientific methodology to support it.
Information is controlled & censored. Open inquiry is not allowed, but conformity to the ideology is required.
This is the result of naturalistic atheism, as a controlling worldview. It is not based on enlightenment principles of human equality, freedom, & self autonomy, but the dark ages views of control, elitism, & oppression. This is the root of progressive ideology, as it usurps the American Ideal. This ideology is in control of almost all of the institutions in America, & they dominate every facet of governance, law, & justice.
Dark Ages --->>> Oppression, control, elitism, Truth by decree.
Reformation, Enlightenment, Reason, & Science --->>> Freedom, natural law, open inquiry, self rule & autonomy.
Marxist/Darwinist elitism-->>> Elitism, state control, Truth by decree, oppression --->>> Back to the Dark Ages, & the circle is complete.
