Overcoming Void

The Religion of Dawkins and the Religion of Einstein

Eternal Shining of the Immortal Mind, Faith, and Nihilism

• This essay is dedicated to my daughter, Elizabeth (aka Veida Čūska (lv), i.e., Wise Snake), who profoundly explores faith-related questions.

Faith and Infinity

I grew up in a country known for its “scientific atheism,” an ideology hostile to religion. Throughout the history of the USSR, the state sought to eradicate religion from public life, utilizing the full force of its managerial, propagandistic, financial, and punitive apparatus.

But despite the efforts of the Soviet Leviathan, the successes of this endeavor remained embarrassingly modest. And when the USSR collapsed in 1991, Orthodox Christianity flourished again.

This story, of course, is not unique to Russia. Representatives of various faiths have been persecuted here and there, sometimes with monstrous cruelty (as is currently happening to Uighur Muslims in China or Christians in Afghanistan). Yet, no one has managed to eradicate faith from people’s hearts except by extinguishing the people themselves.

So, why do people tenaciously cling to what many intellectuals consider superstition?