The History of Atheism

Atheism Throughout History

• Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of deities, and in its narrower sense, it is the position that there are no deities and any statements to the contrary are false ones.

• The term 'atheist' was used at least as early as the sixteenth century, and atheistic ideas and their influence have a longer history.

• In the East, a contemplative life not centered on the idea of deities began in the sixth century BCE with the rise of Indian religions such as Jainism, Buddhism, and various sects of Hinduism in ancient India, and of Taoism in ancient China.

• Philosophical atheist thought began to appear in Europe and Asia in the sixth or fifth century BCE.

• The Carvaka (also known as Lokayata) school that originated in India with the Bārhaspatya-sūtras (final centuries BCE) is probably the most explicitly atheist school of philosophy in the region, if not the world.

• Buddhism does not ascribe powers, in the typical Western sense, for creation, salvation, or judgement, to the "gods"; however, praying to enlightened deities is sometimes seen as leading to some degree of spiritual merit.

• Jainism is a dualistic religion with the universe made up of matter and souls. There is no omnipotent creator deity in Jainism.

• In Western Classical Antiquity, any person who did not believe in any deity supported by the state was fair game to accusations of atheism, a capital crime.

• Euhemerus (c. 330–260 BCE) published his view that the gods were only the deified rulers, conquerors, and founders of the past, and that their cults and religions were in essence the continuation of vanished kingdoms and earlier political structures.

• The first fully materialistic philosophy was produced by the atomists Leucippus and Democritus (5th century BCE), who attempted to explain the formation and development of the world in terms of the chance movements of atoms moving in infinite space.

• Socrates was accused of being atheos ("refusing to acknowledge the gods recognized by the state"). He was later tried and executed under the charge of not believing in the gods of the state and instead worshipping foreign gods. Socrates himself vehemently denied the charges of atheism at his trial.

• Early Christians were widely reviled as atheists because they did not participate in the cults of the Greco-Roman gods.A Brief History of Atheism

• Ancient Greek philosophers, such as Strato of Lampsacus and Theodorus the Atheist, espoused atheist views.

• The Sophists questioned traditional assumptions of Greek culture; some, such as Protagoras, expressed agnosticism towards the gods, while others, such as Diagoras of Melos and Critias, denied their existence.

• Epicurus, drawing on the ideas of Democritus and the Atomists, espoused a materialistic philosophy according to which the universe was governed by the laws of chance without the need for divine intervention. While Epicurus believed in the existence of gods, he believed they were uninterested in human affairs and denied the existence of an afterlife.

• Pyrrhonists employed a tactic of conforming to ancestral customs and laws, declaring the gods exist, but declining to commit themselves to their existence in philosophy.

• In pre-Hippocratic times, Greeks believed that gods controlled all aspects of human existence, including health and disease. The anonymous author of On the Sacred Disease argued that epilepsy has a natural cause, and that the idea of its supposed divine origin is based on human inexperience.

• In early Islam, individuals accused of atheism were viewed as heretics rather than proponents of atheism. Freethinkers and outspoken critics of the Islamic religion, such as deists, philosophers, rationalists, and atheists, existed in the medieval Islamic world.

• During the Renaissance and Reformation, criticism of the religious establishment became more frequent in predominantly Christian countries, but did not amount to atheism, per se. The term "atheist" was coined in France in the sixteenth century, and the concept of atheism re-emerged initially as a reaction to the intellectual and religious turmoil of the Age of Enlightenment and the Reformation.

• Deism gained influence in France, Prussia, and England, and proffered belief in a noninterventionist deity. The first explicit atheist known by name was the German-languaged Danish critic of religion Matthias Knutzen. In 1689, the Polish nobleman Kazimierz Łyszczyński, who had denied the existence of God in his philosophical treatise De non-existentia Dei, was condemned to death for atheism and beheaded in Warsaw.

• By the 1770s, atheism in some predominantly Christian countries was evolving into a position openly avowed by some. French Catholic priest Jean Meslier wrote a lengthy philosophical essay rejecting the concept of God, the soul, miracles, and the discipline of theology.Atheism in History: From the Enlightenment to State Atheism in the 20th Century

• Baron d'Holbach's The System of Nature in 1770 was the first open denial of the existence of God and avowal of atheism since classical times.

• David Hume produced a six-volume history of England in 1754 that gave little attention to God and ridiculed miracles.

• The culte de la Raison developed during the uncertain period of the French Revolution in 1792-94 and transformed several Parisian churches into Temples of Reason.

• The Cult of Reason was a creed based on atheism devised during the French Revolution by Jacques Hébert, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, and their supporters.

• The earliest public demonstrations of the Cult of Reason took place outside Paris, notably by Hébertists in Lyon, but took a further radical turn with the Fête de la Liberté at Notre Dame de Paris in 1793.

• The pamphlet Answer to Dr. Priestley's Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever (1782) is considered to be the first published declaration of atheism in Britain.

• The French Revolution of 1789 catapulted atheistic thought into political notability in some Western countries and opened the way for the nineteenth-century movements of Rationalism, Freethought, and Liberalism.

• Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Necessity of Atheism (1811) is considered by scholars as the first atheistic tract published in the English language.

• The freethinker Charles Bradlaugh was repeatedly elected to the British Parliament but was not allowed to take his seat until he was permitted to affirm rather than take the religious oath.

• Karl Marx, an atheistic political economist, wrote in his Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1844) that religion was the opium of the people.

• Nietzsche coined the aphorism "God is dead" and called for a re-evaluation of old values and a creation of new ones, hoping that in doing so humans would achieve a higher state he labeled the Overman (Übermensch).

• Atheist feminism began in the nineteenth century, opposing religion as a main source of female oppression and gender inequality.

• State atheism was embedded as an integral element of national policy in Communist and Fascist regimes in the twentieth century, such as in the Soviet Union, where the Russian Orthodox Church was suppressed, and Albania, which became a formally declared atheist state.Atheism in the Modern Era

• Albania and other Communist regimes repressed religion and promoted atheism.

• The Catholic Church was a forceful opponent of Communist regimes.

• E. V. Ramasami fought against Hinduism and the Brahmins for discriminating and dividing people in India.

• The United States retained Christianity as its popular religion and characterized opponents as "godless communists."

• The twenty-first century has seen secularism, humanism, and atheism promoted in the Western world.

• The rise of "New Atheism" has been led by outspoken critics of theism and religion.

• Atheist feminism has become more prominent in the 2010s.

• The first atheist monument on American government property was unveiled at the Bradford County Courthouse in Florida in 2013.

• Madison, Wisconsin, passed an ordinance protecting atheists in 2015.

• The Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act was amended in 2016 to extend protection to non-theists.

• Non-profit organizations such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Brights movement have promoted the separation of church and state.

• Prominent atheist activists include Vashti McCollum and Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

Test your knowledge of atheism throughout history with this informative quiz. From ancient Greek philosophers to the rise of New Atheism in the modern era, this quiz covers the key events, figures, and ideas that have shaped the atheist movement. Discover how atheism has evolved over time and learn about its impact on religion, politics, and society. Challenge yourself with this thought-provoking quiz and see how much you really know about the history of atheism.