If occultism refrains from openly declaring all its beliefs, could militant atheism represent the outward expression of a Hermetic faith?
The Epstein Files exposed the allegiance of key neo-atheist figures to the cannibalistic pedophile. Given neo-atheism’s allegiance to Zionism, the connection between observant Jew Jeffrey Epstein and neo-atheism extends beyond mere practical support focused on scientific advancement. Let’s examine some prominent neo-atheist figures.
Emerging in the 2000s, neo-atheism, whether as a formal movement or an online phenomenon, targeted young science enthusiasts. Nearly every science communicator nowadays is at least agnostic. The prototype of such figures is arguably Carl Sagan (1934–1996), a mediocre UFO enthusiast who gained privileged media exposure, portraying himself as a symbol of rationality—combining scientistic atheism with the view that religion stems from human ignorance and fear. Despite this, Sagan enthusiastically supported NASA’s LSD-influenced dolphin language experiments and founded the “Order of the Dolphin,” a secretive scientist society interested in extraterrestrials. Rather than being an aggressive atheist (notable since the US is known for anti-atheist bias), Sagan embraced Spinozan philosophy and quoted Einstein, making him another Jewish atheist.
The main figures
The key milestones of neo-atheism are literary. In 2004, young Californian journalist Sam Harris (b. 1967) released The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, a forceful critique of “organized religion” as the root of evil. The book became a bestseller, partly due to the trauma following the Twin Towers attack. Harris contended that mere religious belief can lead to terrorism. He is ethnically Jewish by Halacha, born to a Quaker father and Jewish mother. Yet Harris deviates from typical science-oriented atheists, embracing esotericism and exploring “spirituality” through drugs and travel, including studying meditation with the pedophile Dalai Lama in Tibet (source). Perhaps his issue is only with “organized religion” and not esoteric, guru-based sects. After gaining fame, Harris earned a neuroscience PhD in 2009, though he did not pursue academia.
The second major figure is Oxford professor Richard Dawkins (b. 1949), a genuine scientist with an independent career apart from atheist activism. Dawkins epitomizes neo-atheism: staunch atheist since youth, a Darwinist who frames science as disproving religion (equating religion with creationism), and one who dismisses religious believers as irrational. Following Harris’s success, his publisher accepted his proposal to publish an anti-religious work. In 2006, The God Delusion appeared, branding belief in God as delusional. Born in British Kenya to Anglican parents, Dawkins popularized the phrase “culturally Christian” or “culturally Anglican” (similar to Pinker’s claim of being “culturally Jewish”)—raising questions about how a supposedly rigorous scientist can embrace cultural delusions.
American philosopher Daniel Dennett (1942–2024) offers a compelling background story. His father held a PhD in Islamic studies and worked in Lebanon for the OSS (precursor to the CIA). Named Daniel Clement Dennett III, he produced three influential books: Consciousness Explained (1991), offering a materialist mind theory equating consciousness with brain activity; Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (1995), grounding morality in Darwinism; and during neo-atheism’s rise, Breaking the Spell (2006), investigating evolutionary reasons for religion. Rather than label himself atheist, he called himself a “bright” and championed The Brights, a movement of “philosophical naturalists” including both radical atheists like Dawkins and nuanced figures such as Einstein.
The final key figure is English journalist Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011), who held left-wing views for most of his life, involved in Labour and Trotskyism, and friendships with anti-Zionists Edward Said, Israel Shahak, and Noam Chomsky. However, his stance shifted post-2001, when he backed the Iraq invasion following the Twin Towers attack. In 2007, amid neo-atheism’s peak, he published God is Not Great, dismissing the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar.” Raised Christian, he learned at 38 that his mother had Jewish ancestry and began identifying as Jewish. According to the obituary in Tablet Mag, Hitchens viewed atheism as a Jewish safeguard against totalitarianism. The article notes his New Age mother committed suicide with her lover, a former pastor who led her into an Indian guru’s sect. Rather than reject such irrationality, Hitchens interpreted his mother’s New Age belief as a dialectical trait of Judaism.
Reflections
One striking aspect of neo-atheism is its unconvincing claim that all religious followers are foolish, while atheists alone are scientific and intelligent. Historically, atheism was scarce before the 20th century, with Charles Darwin being the only unequivocal atheist scientist well known. The idea’s proliferation in Isaac Newton’s land is paradoxical, considering Newton was a persistent biblical scholar inclined toward mysticism and a proto-creationist—believing in a mathematically-versed Creator inspiring the Boyle Lectures. It’s arguable that neo-atheism sought to disassociate Christianity from science, turning Christians into unintelligent figures. Contrarily, for Jews, there exists scientific evidence linking IQ to race—a claim notably put forth by James Watson, Nobel laureate and yet another scientist featured in the Epstein Files (source).
Reviewing these brief biographies, only one of the “four horsemen” fits the profile of the uncompromising atheist who despises all others. Founder Sam Harris embraces esotericism and envisions science as a religion substitute providing moral guidance. He could be seen as a Spinozist, equating God with nature. Hitchens regarded atheism as a Jewish virtue tied to his racial religion. Dawkins, a gentile, was the closest to radical atheism; Dennett, also gentile, shares Dawkins’ Darwinian aggression—rejecting the divine in nature’s struggle. Yet, Dennett emphasizes social solidarity as evolutionary advantage over Dawkins’ selfish gene concept and prefers to identify with “brights” as naturalists rather than strict atheists. Except Dawkins, the group lingers in a liminal zone between atheism and deism, accommodating New Age pseudosciences dressed in scientific terms—not unlike Sagan’s LSD-fueled dolphin fascination.
This veneration of nature’s processes could also explain Epstein’s reverence for natural selection, despite being a religious Jew. Calvinism’s link to Darwinism derives from predestination beliefs, yet a Spinozan materialist deism might deify natural selection itself.
An elephant in the room is Zionism. Rationally, atheists opposing “organized religion” should reject Zionism, as Israel is a theocratic state founded on God’s promise to Abraham. Nonetheless, three key neo-atheists focus criticism on Islam instead, acting as though Israel were secular and the conflict solely results from Muslim fanaticism rather than settler theft of Palestinian and Christian lands. Dennett appears silent on Israel, while Hitchens, despite claiming anti-Zionism, practically supported Israel due to his pro-Iraq invasion stance. Jews are portrayed as enlightened rationalists (ignoring religious fanaticism in Israel), with Palestinians cast as backward religious zealots filled with hatred.
As Epstein brings this into focus, it is notable that Dawkins and Dennett traveled on Epstein’s Lolita Express, and Harris received Epstein’s funding for his atheist NGO, the Edge Foundation (Edge.Org).
We have also touched on Epstein’s beliefs in a previous article, where psychic materialism resurfaces: the idea that the soul is a physical brain entity, even if invisible. Dennett supplies the philosophical foundation for this view. Renaissance parallels emerge in the Darwinian concept of morality inherent in nature, echoing De rerum natura—not only biological but also sociopolitical bodies form spontaneously according to order and dissolve when their internal harmony collapses.
Another fascinating subject still unexplored (as I familiarize myself) concerns the Renaissance’s attempt to overcome Western Christianity’s division by founding a new faith on Hermes Trismegistus’ revelations. Hermeticists held that Moses, Pythagoras, and Plato journeyed to Egypt to receive wisdom from Hermes, enabling Christianity to reclaim its authentic roots alongside Judaism, since Hermes allegedly taught Moses. This gave rise to Hermeticism, Christian Kabbalah, and the occult movement’s beginnings.
In conclusion, the question remains: if occultism conceals many of its beliefs, could militant atheism serve as the outward, exoteric form of a Hermetic tradition? Might the advancement of scientism have relegated supernatural or preternatural elements to secretive insiders who attend esoteric rituals on private islands, while public institutions deny any supernatural existence?
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