Monotheism vs. Polytheismrnby Alain de BenoistrnCan we still conceive of the revival of pagan sensibility inrnan age so profoundly saturated by Judeo-Christianrnmonotheism and so ardently adhering to the tenets of liberalrndemocracy? In popular parlance the very word “paganism” mayrnincite some to derision and laughter. Who, after all, wants tornbe associated with witches and witchcraft, with sorcery andrnblack magic? Worshiping animals or plants, or chanting hymnsrnto Wotan or Zeus, in an epoch of cable television and “smartrnweapons,” does not augur well for serious intellectual and academicrninquiry. Yet, before we begin to heap scorn on paganism,rnwe should pause for a moment. Paganism is not justrnwitches and witches’ brew; paganism also means a mix of highlyrnspeculative theories and philosophies. Paganism is Senecarnand Tacitus; it is an artistic and cultural movement that sweptrnover Italy under the banner of the Renaissance. Paganism alsornmeans Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Charles Darwin,rnand a host of other thinkers associated with the Westernrncultural heritage. Two thousand years of Judeo-Christianityrnhave not obscured the fact that pagan thought has not yet disappeared,rneven though it has often been blurred, stifled, or persecutedrnby monotheistic religions and their secular offshoots.rnUndoubtedly, many would admit that in the realm of ethics allrnmen and women of the world are the children of Abraham. Indeed,rneven the bolder ones who somewhat self-righteouslyrnclaim to have rejected the Christian or Jewish theologies, andrnwho claim to have replaced them with “secular humanism,”rnfrequently ignore that their self-styled secular beliefs are firmlyrngrounded in Judeo-Christian ethics. Abraham and Moses mayrnbe dethroned today, but their moral edicts and spiritual ordinancesrnare much alive. The global and disenchanted world, accompaniedrnby the litany of human rights, ecumenical society,rnAlain de Benoist is editor of Nouvelle Ecole, an academic journalrnpublished in Paris. Tomislav Sunic serves in the CroatianrnMinistry of Foreign Affairs.rnand the rule of law—are these not principles that can be tracedrndirectly to the Judeo-Christian messianism that resurfaces todayrnin its secular version under the elegant garb of modernrn”progressive” ideologies?rnAnd yet, we should not forget that the Western world didrnnot begin with the birth of Christ. Neither did the religions ofrnancient Europeans see the first light of the day with Moses—inrnthe desert. Nor did our much-vaunted democracy begin withrnthe period of Enlightenment or with the proclamation ofrnAmerican independence. Democracy and independence—allrnof this existed in ancient Creece, albeit in its own unique socialrnand religious context. Our Greco-Roman ancestors, our predecessorsrnwho roamed the woods of central and northern Europe,rnalso believed in honor, justice, and virtue, although they attachedrnto these notions a radically different meaning. Attemptingrnto judge, therefore, ancient European political andrnreligious manifestations through the lens of our ethnocentricrnand reductionist glasses could mean losing sight of how muchrnwe have departed from our ancient heritage, as well as forgettingrnthat modern intellectual epistemology and methodologyrnhave been greatly influenced by the Bible. Just because we professrnhistorical optimism—or believe in the progress of the modernrn”therapeutic state”—does not necessarily mean that our societyrnis indeed the “best of all worlds.” Who knows, with therndeath of communism, with the exhaustion of liberalism, withrnthe visible depletion of the congregations in churches and synagogues,rnwe may be witnessing the dawn of neopaganism, arnnew blossoming of old cultures, a return to the roots that are directlyrntied to our ancient European precursors. Who can disputernthe fact that Athens was the homeland of Europeans beforernJerusalem became their frequently painful edifice?rnGreat lamenting is heard from all quarters of our disenchantedrnand barren world today. Gods seem to have departed,rnas Nietzsche predicted a century ago, ideologies are dead, andrnliberalism hardly seems capable of providing man with endur-rn20/CHRONICLESrnrnrn