The Aten-Aton Connection

I had no idea that the group called the Atonists, to which Hinckle and Hierophant 1 belong, comes from the group of Egyptians who worshiped Aton in the 1300s BC. This was because I've usually seen the name spelled Aten--had the group been called the Atenists, I think it would have been much more obvious.

I think that the most interesting part about this is the reversal of the accepted religions over time. During the time when Ahkenaten was forcing his people to worship Aton as the only God, religions with many gods were more common, and the pantheons of popular gods and goddesses often changed. There were some twenty-nine gods and goddesses in ancient Egypt, and they became more or less popular depending on what the people needed spiritual protection from. When forced to worship Aton, the people rebelled and eventually overthrew Ahkenaten's rule. Later, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism became the most prominent religions, all worshiping essentially the same God, although they called him by different names: God, El, and Allah. Of the 86% of people who consider themselves to be religious, 54% of those define themselves as monotheists, and the some most powerful nations in the world, though often theoretically secular, are built on Christianity and Islam.

As Jes Grew emerges, people are beginning to fight back against the Atonists and their strict rules, just like the Egyptians fougt for their right to worship their many gods. The religion of the Atonists does not, according to Reed, allow them to be close to nature or to sing the right songs or to know the true words. They cannot dance right, just like Set, while the people who are surrendering to Jes Grew are returning to the old ways, to the gods of Egypt and Africa. They are connected to nature and the cycles of the world. This does have basis in the religions; monotheistic gods are usually considered to be watching us from afar, creating everything but not getting involved in it anymore or having feelings, whereas gods from polytheistic religions are more fallible, emotional, and involved in the lives of their believers.

I can definitely see  the connections between the Atonists of Ancient Egypt and the Atonists of the modern world, and it is interesting to see how it could have been carried on through the ages. However, the book does seem to take a very negative view towards the Atonists. This was clear from the beginning, but this connection makes them seem even darker and more misguided. Ahkenaten's rule was a time of great conflict in ancient Egypt, and although monotheistic religions today have caused many problems and wars, they do have more merit that Reed is giving them credit for.