Monotheism the Gateway to Atheism:
In many ways The Church was proto-atheism.
Anima / Spirit aren't detached from us, nature, or the divine.
To deny these spirits is a form of atheism.
Monotheism progressively becomes atheistic as it initially was Henotheistic just demanding worship of "one" but not denying the others.
That "one" had divine messangers, saints, and holy heroes as well as semi divine creatures who were revered and venerated.
Over time other Gods were demonized in order to deny other approaches to the divine.
But then even the other hosts in heaven were made to only be emanations.
They too are slowly denied reverence and the progression starts to even deny the existence of those it demonized.
After a while certain heroes and Saints are no longer venerated and ultimately removed.
Then the spiritual or divine extentions of their one "true" God are made into mindless slaves or rarely mentioned.
God too is no longer felt as an energy or essence everywhere and within man, but a singluar judging being in a domain watching over judging only.
They are left with only God, maybe his incarnate offspring, and a formless concept of evil.
The only step left is to shed themsleves of God as well and the evolution into atheism is completely.
No anima, spirit, no Gods, no essences, no heroes, devils, no inner divine potential. Nihilism and hopelessness.
Unnatural, disconnected, and meaningless.
Something I found really insightful in Graham Harvey’s animism book…
🧵
People come into the world seeing souls everywhere, seeing things others can’t (or won’t) perceive, talking to trees, animals, and seemingly inanimate objects as though they understand and might respond.