Yeah, It was a fuzzy, vague little rant, not well-supported. I think when Jonah says "voodoo atheism", he's trying to describe someone within the traditionally Judeo-Christian West actively rejecting the West's concept of "God" as irrational nonsense, a cultural relic"”yet seemingly attracted to a vague pantheism.
And I guess he's stating his suspicion that many Hollywood types are attracted to specific spiritual movements for superficial, self-centered reasons. Cos it's "cool", or "edgy" or socially trendy. Or a perception that it's a way to gain personal power or "self-actualization" or material success or whatever (that mode of thinking comes up in certain strains of Christianity too).
I think he's saying that ideally, he prefers folks who are beginning a spiritual search from an earnest, honest position of truth-seeking for its own sake. Can't quite tell for sure though.
I think the way Jonah confuses the Buffyverse with Joss's personal beliefs is odd. There are dramatic, conceptual reasons for leaving "God" up in the air within the 'verse. It never completely rules God out.
Still, I'm fascinated by what this guy said:
Interesting discussion in The Corner today on Voodoo atheists. Of course, as with everything else in American life, Tocqueville predicted this would happen. Oh, he didn't use the phrase "voodoo atheism" but I think his understanding of pantheism is remarkably similar to the phenomena you describe.
Basically, democratic man encloses "God and the universe in a single whole." We lose our understanding of God as transcendent, beyond the world, and in effect make Him a part of the world. In other words, God can then be found in just about everything! We keep a vague sense of the spiritual while discarding the traditional categories of Judaeo-Christian religion.
Of course, this is because in the democratic age we are fixated on equality and stop thinking in terms of individual persons but generic masses. As Tocqueville put it, the "idea of unity obsesses the mind." Democratic man is pulled towards abstract categories that encompass a variety of diverse objects. The two broadest categories are "Creator" and "created." But even that differentiation is bothersome for the democratic soul! So we collapse even those categories and God and the world, Creator and created, merge into one. We find God in everything "” the Spirit pervades all.
It's an interesting idea, cos I'm wondering if maybe some reject Christianity partially out of a fear of losing autonomy, individuality. They turn to other forms of spirituality that feel more "individualistic" perhaps.
The thing is, theoretically you retain your individual nature within Christianity. In Eastern thought, if I understand, your goal is to essentially lose yourself completely, destroy personhood...not sure about pantheism...
