In Hitchens Is Not Great, Karl Reitz responds to Christopher Hitchens’ God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything with “an atheist’s defense of religion”:
Realistically, atheists (and we atheists take pride in only thinking realistically) may only have a choice between living in societies that are traditionally religious or ones that have adopted secularized religions.So, far from “not counting,” secular religions must be taken very seriously, and their implications understood, before we preach the benefits of godless society.
The obvious examples of secularized religions are communism, socialism, and fascism, each of which generally involves worshipping government by slightly different rituals or for slightly different reasons. As these convictions faded, faith in the welfare state, and especially environmental protection, has risen to take their place for reasons government should be worshipped. Environmentalist devotees claim that we will experience
the apocalypsedisasters, for which some people are rebuilding Noah’s Ark. These disasters can be prevented if we take the advice ofprophetspeople who understand, like Al Gore. Of course, if wesinpollute a little too much, well, we can always buyindulgencescarbon offsets.The fundamental difference between traditional religions and these secular religions is that secular religions promise us that perfection (heaven) is possible here, on earth, in present times.