ABSTRACT
Modernism was born as the institution of the Secular, with the great critics of religion-Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud-laying the cornerstones of its philosophy. “Why atheism nowadays?” Nietzsche would have asked, “‘The father’ in God is thoroughly refuted; equally so ‘the judge,’ ‘the rewarder.’” “Criticism of religion is the premise of all criticism,” according to Marx, “the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness.”1 Freud warned us that “civilization runs a greater risk if we maintain our present attitude to religion than if we give it up.”2 The modernist Freud was above all a scientist, investing all authority (all faith) in science: “Scientific work is the only road which can lead us to a knowledge of reality outside ourselves”3-and within ourselves, adds psychoanalysis. Because of his faith in the explanatory power of science, this secular Freud is paradoxically compatible with the onto-theological tradition, with its search for origins, for meaning for purpose, for truth.
