The drastic change in the social and ethnic landscape of Western Europe in the last 50 years can be tied to the corresponding change in their philosophy of religion. Western Europe has all but lost their grounding in Christianity and a serious shift is currently taking place; in the next 50 years Islam will be the dominant religion in the European Union. In this paper I hope to show how the adoption of atheistic and secular philosophy has led to this point.
Many Europeans have adopted an epicurean lifestyle and are living carefree, materialist, and pleasure-filled lives without regard for God, an afterlife, or in some respects the serious things of life. People today have taken Epicurus teaching to an extreme level, following far beyond what even he taught and other philosophers’ teachings whom held his similar views. This problem is not one that can only be observed in Europeans but with an entire generation of young high school and college students who have even less regard for others than that of previous generations of young people. There is a complete disregard for all things related to a holy God and especially one who would be a lord over their lives. This pattern of thought, Christ as Savior but not as Lord, is even bleeding over into many denominations including those most popular in Europe.
In the last few decades with the growth of retailers like Wal-Mart and Target there has been an explosion in the amount of “stuff” available in the marketplace. This growth has lead to an expanding materialism and a desire for more, which is typically Epicurean. If there is nothing after this life as Epicurus taught, then we should not deprive ourselves of any pleasure or thing in this life because it is all we have. Epicurus taught that pleasure is a sign that things are good and pain is bad. This thought pattern is prevalent today and many do all they can to avoid pain and suffering including the extremes of euthanasia and suicide--a concept completely foreign to anything taught in a Christian philosophy which once dominated Europe.
Epicurus suggests:
“Accustom yourself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the morality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after immorality.”[1]
When a person believes this, the only loss that occurs with death is the opportunity for more enjoyment. Also, a person lives their life without fear of death but also without fear of eternal punishment either. The idea of “living life to the max” in many ways comes from this concept. The biblical concept from Matthew, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heave, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”[2] is not an option for a true Epicurean so worldly materialism is the result. The atheist’s heart must be in this world because they do not believe in God. It then makes sense why they would see material possessions of great value.
[1] Linda Zagzebski and Timothy D. Miller, Readings in Philosophy of Religion: Ancient to Contemporary (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 406.
[2] John MacArthur, NASB MacArthur Study Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2006), 1731.
