35 pages in John Gray's "Seven Types of Atheism".

"When they declare themselves unbelievers, atheists are invoking an understanding of religion that has been unthinkingly inherited from monotheism".
Modern Western atheists, and primarily "secular humanists", operate within the same frameworks without even realizing it.

This is an excellent observation: "Taking monotheism as a model for religion is misleading. It is not only animism and polytheism that are left out of the picture. Non-theist religions are ignored as well".

This concept comes naturally who those who's been brought up at the intersection of two or more religions. In my case, it's Buddhism, Shamanism and Orthodox Christianity. You start seeing the bigger picture...

Wittgenstein's ruler strikes again!

There are no universal "atheist" values.

Another observation to complement this: Modern Russia, although increasingly atheistic, is not becoming more "liberal". Nor is it becoming more "tolerant", despite all scientific advancements.

"Much of the Enlightenment was an attempt to demonstrate the superiority of one section of humankind - that of Europe and its colonial outposts - over all the rest".

A little digression: even the modern SJWs seem to operate under the same framework. How else can you explain their naive approach to racial issues?

Back to "Seven Types...". John Gray is quoting Berdyaev who is very much on point about Russia:

"In virtue of their religious-dogmatic quality of spirit, Russians are always apocalyptic or nihilist".

Needless to say, Russia is still healing its wounds from the damages inflicted by the Chekists. Demolition of churches, mosques, datsans and mass repression not only of the Intelligentsia, but also of peasants and industrial workers - all for the ersatz religion of Bolshevism.

"Overcoming mortality demanded that humankind should seize the control of the natural world, and ultimately leave the planet for other worlds. Long before the visionaries of the Silicon Valley, Russian God-Builders promoted a technological project of liberation from death".

Would that explain Soviet obsession with outer space then?

Krasin gives a chilling speech at a funeral of a fellow revolutionary. Now I get where the phrase "Soviet-Harvard delusion" got its roots from... :)