| The Movement Toward Religious Morality The facts given above clearly show that atheism is undergoing an inevitable collapse. In other words, humanity is-and will be-turning toward God, and not only in the scientific and political communities. From prominent statesmen to movie stars and pop artists, those who influence opinion in the West are far more religious than they used to be. Many people have seen the truth and come to believe in God after having lived for years as atheists. (Patrick Glynn, from whose book we have quoted, is one of these ex-atheists.) Interestingly, the developments contributing to this result also began in the second half of the 1970s. The anthropic principle first appeared in the 1970s, and scientific criticism of Darwinism started to be loudly voiced at the same time. The turning point against Freud's atheist dogma was M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled. For this reason, Glynn, in the 1997 edition of his book, writes that "over the past twenty years, a significant body of evidence has emerged, shattering the foundations of the long-dominant modern secular worldview."37 Surely, the fact that the atheist worldview has been shaken means that another worldview is rising, which is belief in God. Since the end of the 1970s (or, from the beginning of the fourteenth century according to the Muslim calendar), the world has seen a rise in religious values. Like other social processes, because this develops over a long period of time instead of all at once, a majority of people may not notice it. However, those who evaluate the development a little more carefully see that the world is at a major turning point in the realm of ideas. Secular historians try to explain this process according to their own principles. However, given that they are in deep error with regard to God's Existence, they also are greatly mistaken about the course of history. In fact, as the following verse reveals, history moves as God has determined: "You will not find any changing in the pattern of God. You will not find any alteration in the pattern of God." (Qur'an, 35: 43) It follows, then, that history has a purpose and unfolds as God has commanded. And God's command is to perfect His light: They desire to extinguish God's Light with their mouths. But God refuses to do other than perfect His Light, even though the unbelievers detest it. (Qur'an, 9: 32) In other words, God has sent His light to humanity through the religion that He has revealed: Islam. Those who do not believe want to extinguish this light by their "mouths"- intimations, propaganda, and philosophies, but God will finally perfect His light and give dominion to religious values. We are living at an important time. Atheism, which people have tried for hundreds of years to portray as the "way of reason and science," is proving to be mere irrationality and ignorance. Materialist philosophy, which sought to use science for its own ends, has been defeated by science. A world rescuing itself from atheism will turn to God and religion. But, to what religion will it turn? With God's permission, that religion will be Islam. As we will see in subsequent chapters, this process began long ago.
Clearly, Muslims have important duties in this period. They must be aware of this major change in the world's way of thinking, interpret it, make good use of the chances and opportunities provided by globalization, and effectively represent the truth along this road. They must know that the basic conflict of ideas is between atheism and faith. It is not a struggle between East and West, for both of these contain believers and atheists. For this reason, faithful Christians and faithful Jews are allies of Muslims. The main divergence is not between Muslims and the People of the Book (Jews and Christians), but between Muslims and the People of the Book on the one hand, and atheists and pagans on the other. Of course we must not show hostility to such people; rather, we must view them as people who need to be rescued from their error. The time is fast approaching when many people who are living in ignorance with no knowledge of religious morality will be graced by faith in the impending post-atheist world.
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