The human mind, like nature, hates a vacuum, and politics rushes in to fill the mental space that religious belief once occupied. In βDover Beach,β Matthew Arnold says:
π¨π ππ£π πππ£π ππ€ π π π πππ£πππππ π‘ππππ
ππ¨ππ‘π₯ π¨ππ₯π ππ πππ¦π€ππ ππππ£ππ€ π π π€π₯π£π¦ππππ πππ ππππππ₯,
ππππ£π ππππ π£πππ₯ ππ£ππππ€ ππππ€π ππͺ πππππ₯.
βWhere ignorant armies clash by nightβ: Is that not a summary of our present sociopolitical situation? America has ceased to be different from the rest of the Western world in remaining religious, with the result that politics is the new religion. It has removed transcendence and salvation from the private and personal sphere to the public realm, where it can lead only to conflict. I say this as someone who has no religious belief.
- Theodore Dalrymple
