@Alther 29 December 2025 more from that month

A World Full of Atheists, or a World That Worships Money? It is often said that the modern world is full of atheists—people who no longer believe in God and believe only in money. The statement sounds harsh, yet it grows from a genuine unease. Before turning it into an accusation, it deserves to be examined slowly, with care rather than outrage. Modernity does not always kill faith outright. It replaces it. Money, in today’s world, is no longer merely a medium of exchange. It has become a symbol of security, a measure of success, and a silent judge of human worth. Those who possess it are praised as successful; those who do not are quietly dismissed, regardless of their integrity or the meaning of their lives. Here lies the paradox. Many people do not call themselves atheists. Some even practice religion diligently. Yet their decisions, priorities, and compromises are governed entirely by financial logic. Time, relationships, principles, and conscience are sacrificed on the altar of efficiency and profit. In practice, money becomes a god more obeyed than the God mentioned in prayer. At the same time, there are people with no formal religion who refuse to place money at the center of their lives. They live modestly, act ethically, and treat others with dignity. This alone reveals the core issue: belief is proven not by labels, but by what one ultimately serves through daily action. Money itself is neutral. It has no morality of its own. It is simply a tool. But when meaning, identity, and purpose are surrendered to it, money becomes a modern idol—unseen, unquestioned, and relentlessly obeyed. History is remarkably consistent on this point. Civilizations rarely collapse because they lack money. They collapse because they lose their moral compass, because greed is normalized, because people forget that there are values that cannot be bought and truths that cannot be negotiated. So perhaps the more honest question is not whether the world is full of atheists, but whether the world has lost the courage to refuse the worship of money. In a fragile and impermanent world, human beings will always seek a center of meaning. If that center is not God, truth, or higher values, money is more than willing to take the throne—without any concern for whether humanity becomes fulfilled or quietly hollow. And there, quietly, lies the true trial of our age. -===-