◈ The Shift from God-Centered to Man-Centered Thought
Modern Western (Enlightenment) discourse systematically rejected theism and gradually promoted humanism and self-worship. This intellectual current began by declaring man as an autonomous and sovereign being, then attempted to derive the concept of God from man himself—thus reversing the order of truth. It moved from portraying God as irrelevant, to removing Him from human life, and ultimately to declaring His very concept meaningless, leading to outright denial.◈ Descartes and the Rise of Humanistic Atheism
René Descartes, one of the founders of modern atheism, laid the foundation of human-centered knowledge through his statement:“I think, therefore I am.”
This declaration established the human self as the source of truth and knowledge, and from here began the path of modern humanistic atheism. Although Descartes tried to rationally prove the existence of God on this basis, his effort ultimately failed.
Philosophers like John Locke, George Berkeley, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau rejected rationalism in favor of empiricism, with Berkeley attempting to argue for God's existence using empirical knowledge. However, David Hume’s skepticism discredited these attempts.
Later, Immanuel Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and empiricism and provide a universal explanation of scientific knowledge, but in doing so, he excluded metaphysics, including the concept of God (which he termed noumenon), from the realm of knowable knowledge.
G.W.F. Hegel went even further, denying the existence of noumenon altogether, claiming that if something lies beyond human cognition, it does not exist.
◈ Religion as Illusion: Freud, Marx, and Others
The discourse continued with figures like Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx, who described religion as a psychological disorder or a social construct, offering materialist and sociological interpretations of religious belief. Thus, what began with Descartes culminated in a complete denial of God, and religion ceased to be a serious topic in modern Western discourse.◈ The Misconception Among Muslim Thinkers
Some Muslim intellectuals are deceived into thinking that the Western scientific or philosophical discourse is religious simply because some scientists like Newton or Einstein professed belief in God. However, this is a grave misunderstanding.These figures believed in a philosophically imagined God, not the one described by revealed scriptures. For instance, some saw God in mathematical formulas, others in the laws of nature, and some referred to God as the divine watchmaker. Yet, such a man-made God has no real value—because the true God is not conceived by man, but introduced by a Prophet. If "I" am the creator of God, then only "I" remain, and as Nietzsche famously declared:
“God is dead.”
◈ The Core Question: The Authority of God
The mere mention of God in any discourse does not make it religious. The real question is:Does this God determine human life and its values?
In modern Western discourse, God—if acknowledged at all—is merely a concept, a symbol of natural laws, and completely subservient to human intellect. In such a worldview, God has no authority, and thus no significance.
In contrast, a truly religious worldview affirms the need for revelation and Prophethood, both of which are categorically rejected by modern atheistic discourse.
