Again and again we encounter the signs of an alternative civilization to that built on Christ as “cornerstone”-- a civilization which, even if not explicitly atheist, is at least positivistic and agnostic, since it is built upon the principle of thinking and acting as if God did not exist. This approach can easily be recognized in the modern so-called scientific, or rather, scientist, mentality, and it can be recognized in literature, especially the mass media. To live as if God did not exist means to live outside the parameters of good and evil, outside the context of values derived from God. It is claimed that man himself can decide what it good or bad.
--Pope John Paul II,
Memory and Identity, 2005
