Atheism

== History ==

{{Main|History of atheism}}

=== Early Indian religions ===

{{Main|Atheism in Hinduism}}

Ideas that would be recognized today as atheistic are documented from the [[Vedic period]]<ref name="Pandian 1996 64">{{cite book |last=Pandian |title=India, that is, sidd |publisher=Allied Publishers |year=1996 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B90uj14NHjMC&pg=PA64 |isbn=978-81-7023-561-3 |access-date=April 9, 2011}}</ref> and the [[classical antiquity]].<ref name="GraftonMostSettis">{{cite book |date=2010 |last=Mulsow |first=Martin |chapter=Atheism |title=The Classical Tradition |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbqF8z2bq3sC&q=devil+poseidon+pan&pg=PA264 |editor1-last=Grafton |editor1-first=Anthony |editor1-link=Anthony Grafton |editor2-last=Most |editor2-first=Glenn W. |editor2-link=Glenn W. Most |editor3-last=Settis |editor3-first=Salvatore |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts and London |isbn=978-0-674-03572-0 |pages=96–97 |access-date=February 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206135820/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LbqF8z2bq3sC&pg=PA264&dq=devil+poseidon+pan#v=onepage&q=devil%20poseidon%20pan&f=false |archive-date=December 6, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> Atheistic schools are found in early Indian thought and have existed from the times of the [[historical Vedic religion]].<ref name="Pandian 1996 64"/> Among the six [[Astika and Nastika|orthodox]] schools of Hindu philosophy, [[Samkhya]], the oldest philosophical school of thought, does not accept God, and the early [[Mimamsa]] also rejected the notion of God.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dasgupta |first=Surendranath |title=A history of Indian philosophy, Volume 1 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1992 |page=258 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoaMFmS1_lEC&pg=PA258 |isbn=978-81-208-0412-8}}</ref>

The thoroughly materialistic and anti-theistic philosophical [[Charvaka|Chārvāka]] (or ''Lokāyata'') school that originated in [[India]] around the 6th century BCE is probably the most explicitly atheistic school of philosophy in India, similar to the Greek [[Cyrenaic school]]. This branch of Indian philosophy is classified as [[nastika|heterodox]] due to its rejection of the authority of [[Vedas]] and hence is not considered part of the six orthodox schools of [[Indian philosophy]]. It is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement in ancient India.<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 3, 2019|title=The ancient connections between atheism, buddhism and Hinduism|url=https://qz.com/india/1585631/the-ancient-connections-between-atheism-buddhism-and-hinduism/|url-status=live|website=Quartz.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403094858/https://qz.com/india/1585631/the-ancient-connections-between-atheism-buddhism-and-hinduism/ |archive-date=April 3, 2019 }}</ref><ref>Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore. ''A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy''. (Princeton University Press: 1957, Twelfth Princeton Paperback printing 1989) pp. 227–249. {{ISBN|0-691-01958-4}}.</ref>

Satischandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta explain in ''An Introduction to Indian Philosophy'' that our understanding of Chārvāka philosophy is fragmentary, based largely on criticism of the ideas by other schools:<ref>Satischandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta. ''An Introduction to Indian Philosophy''. Eighth Reprint Edition. (University of Calcutta: 1984). p. 55.</ref> "Though [[materialism]] in some form or other has always been present in India, and occasional references are found in the Vedas, the Buddhistic literature, the Epics, as well as in the later philosophical works we do not find any systematic work on materialism, nor any organized school of followers as the other philosophical schools possess. But almost every work of the other schools states, for refutation, the materialistic views. Our knowledge of Indian materialism is chiefly based on these."

Other Indian philosophies generally regarded as atheistic include [[Samkhya|Classical Samkhya]] and [[Mimamsa|Purva Mimamsa]]. The rejection of a personal creator "God" is also seen in [[Jainism]] and [[Buddhism]] in India.<ref name="Joshi">{{cite journal |last=Joshi |first=L.R. |year=1966 |title=A New Interpretation of Indian Atheism |journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=16 |issue=3/4 |pages=189–206 |doi=10.2307/1397540 |jstor=1397540}}</ref>

=== Classical antiquity ===

[[File:Epikouros BM 1843.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Epicurus]]]]
Western atheism has its roots in [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic]] [[Greek philosophy]],<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|pp=73–74}}. "Atheism had its origins in Ancient Greece but did not emerge as an overt and avowed belief system until late in the Enlightenment."</ref><ref name="GraftonMostSettis" /> but atheism in the modern sense was extremely rare in ancient Greece.<ref name="Winiarczyk">{{cite book |last1=Winiarczyk |first1=Marek |title=Diagoras of Melos: A Contribution to the History of Ancient Atheism |date=2016|translator-last=Zbirohowski-Kościa|translator-first=Witold |publisher=Walther de Gruyter |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-11-044765-1 |pages=61–68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NryvDAAAQBAJ&q=Diagoras+of+Melos}}</ref><ref name="GraftonMostSettis" /> Pre-Socratic [[Atomism|Atomists]] such as [[Democritus]] attempted to explain the world in a purely [[materialism|materialistic]] way and interpreted religion as a human reaction to natural phenomena,<ref name="Burkert1985">{{cite book |last=Burkert |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Burkert |date=1985 |title=Greek Religion |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-36281-9 |pages=311–317}}</ref> but did not explicitly deny the gods' existence.<ref name="Burkert1985" /><ref name=Vassa>Vassallo, C. (2018). Atomism and the Worship of Gods: On Democritus' 'Rational' Attitude towards Theology. ''Philosophie antique'', 18 105-125.</ref>

[[Anaxagoras]], whom [[Irenaeus]] calls "the atheist",<ref>[[Irenaeus]]. ''[[Against Heresies]]'' II 14, 2 (D. 171) = 59 B 113 DK.</ref> was accused of impiety and condemned for stating that "the sun is a type of incandescent stone", an affirmation with which he tried to deny the divinity of the celestial bodies.<ref>[[Flavius Josephus]]. ''[[Against Apion]]'' II, 265 = 59 A 19 DK; [[Plutarch]]. ''On superstition'' 10 p. 169 F – 170 A; [[Diogenes Laërtius]], II 12-14; [[Olympiodorus the Younger]]. ''Commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology'' p. 17, 19 Stüve = 59 B 19 DK.</ref> In the late fifth century BCE, the Greek lyric poet [[Diagoras of Melos]] was sentenced to death in [[Athens]] under the charge of being a "godless person" (ἄθεος) after he made fun of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], but he fled the city to escape punishment.<ref name="Winiarczyk" /><ref name="Burkert1985" /> In post-classical antiquity, philosophers such as [[Cicero]] and [[Sextus Empiricus]] described Diagoras as an "atheist" who categorically denied the existence of the gods,<ref name=CIC>''...&nbsp;nullos esse omnino Diagoras et Theodorus Cyrenaicus&nbsp;...'' Cicero, Marcus Tullius: ''De natura deorum''. Comments and English text by Richard D. McKirahan. Thomas Library, Bryn Mawr College, 1997, p. 3. {{ISBN|0-929524-89-6}}</ref><ref name=SextEmp>Sext. Emp. ''Pyr''. hyp. 3.218 cf. ''Math''. 10.50–53.</ref> but in modern scholarship Marek Winiarczyk has defended the view that Diagoras was not an atheist in the modern sense, in a view that has proved influential.<ref name="Winiarczyk" /> On the other hand, the verdict has been challenged by [[Tim Whitmarsh]], who argues that Diagoras rejected the gods on the basis of the [[problem of evil]], and this argument was in turn alluded to in Euripides' fragmentary play ''[[Bellerophon (play)|Bellerophon]]''.<ref name=Whit>Whitmarsh, T. (2016). Diagoras, Bellerophon and the Siege of Olympus. ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', 136 182-186.</ref> [[Sisyphus fragment|A fragment]] from a lost Attic drama that featured [[Sisyphus]], which has been attributed to both [[Critias]] and [[Euripides]], claims that a clever man invented "the fear of the gods" in order to frighten people into behaving morally.<ref name=Davi>Davies, M. (1989). Sisyphus and the Invention of Religion (Critias ''TrGF'' 1 (43) F 19 = B 25 DK). ''BICS'' 32, 16-32.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kahn |first=Charles |date=1997 |title=Greek Religion and Philosophy in the Sisyphus Fragment |journal=Phronesis |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=247–262 |jstor=4182561 |doi=10.1163/15685289760518153}}</ref><ref name="Winiarczyk" />

{{Rquote|right|"Does then anyone say there are gods in heaven? There are not, there are not, if a man is willing not to give foolish credence to the ancient story. Consider for yourselves, don't form an opinion on the basis of my words!"|[[Bellerophon]] denying the existence of the gods, from [[Euripides]]' ''[[Bellerophon (play)|Bellerophon]]'' {{circa}} 5th century BCE, fr. 286 ''TrGF'' 1-5<ref name=Coll>Collard, C., and Cropp, M.J. (2008). Euripides, Fragments: Volume VII, Aegeus-Meleager. Cambridge, MA, 298-301.</ref>}}
[[Protagoras]] has sometimes been taken to be an atheist, but rather espoused agnostic views, commenting that "Concerning the gods I am unable to discover whether they exist or not, or what they are like in form; for there are many hindrances to knowledge, the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bremmer |first=Jan |title=Atheism in Antiquity |postscript=,}} in {{harvnb|Martin|2006|pp=12–13}}</ref><ref name="Garland2008">{{cite book |last1=Garland |first1=Robert |title=Ancient Greece: Everyday Life in the Birthplace of Western Civilization |date=2008 |publisher=Sterling |location=New York City |isbn=978-1-4549-0908-8 |page=209}}</ref> The Athenian public associated Socrates ({{circa|470–399 BCE}}) with the trends in pre-Socratic philosophy towards naturalistic inquiry and the rejection of divine explanations for phenomena.<ref name="Burkert1985" /><ref name="Bremmer" /> [[Aristophanes]]' comic play ''[[The Clouds]]'' (performed 423 BCE) portrays Socrates as teaching his students that the traditional Greek deities do not exist.<ref name="Burkert1985" /><ref name="Bremmer" /> Socrates was later tried and executed under the charge of not believing in the gods of the state and instead worshipping foreign gods.<ref name="Burkert1985" /><ref name="Bremmer" /> Socrates himself vehemently denied the charges of atheism at his trial<ref name="Burkert1985" /><ref name="Bremmer">{{cite book |last=Bremmer |first=Jan |title=Atheism in Antiquity |postscript=,}} in {{harvnb|Martin|2006|pp=14–19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Thomas C. |last1=Brickhouse |last2=Smith |first2=Nicholas D. |title=Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Plato and the Trial of Socrates |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-15681-3 |page=112}}</ref> From a survey of these 5th-century BCE philosophers, [[David Sedley]] has concluded that none of them openly defended radical atheism, but since Classical sources clearly attest to radical atheist ideas Athens probably had an "atheist underground".<ref name=Sedl>Sedley, D. (2013). The atheist underground. In Harte and M. Lane (edd.), ''Politeia in Greek and Roman Philosophy''. Cambridge, 329-48.</ref>

Religious skepticism continued into the [[Hellenistic period]], and from this period the most important Greek thinker in the development of atheism was the philosopher [[Epicurus]] ({{circa|300 BCE}}).<ref name="GraftonMostSettis" /> Drawing on the ideas of Democritus and the Atomists, he espoused a materialistic philosophy according to which the universe was governed by the laws of chance without the need for divine intervention (see [[scientific determinism]]).<ref name="EpicStanEncycl">{{cite web |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/ |title=Epicurus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) |website=Plato.stanford.edu |access-date=November 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603100418/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/ |archive-date=June 3, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Although Epicurus still maintained that the gods existed,<ref name="Hickson2014">{{cite book |last=Hickson |first=Michael W. |editor1-last=McBrayer |editor1-first=Justin P. |editor2-last=Howard-Snyder |editor2-first=Daniel |date=2014 |chapter=A Brief History of Problems of Evil |title=The Blackwell Companion to The Problem of Evil |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J0ScAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-118-60797-8 |pages=26–27 |access-date=September 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120231324/https://books.google.com/books?id=J0ScAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 |archive-date=November 20, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="GraftonMostSettis" /><ref name="EpicStanEncycl" /> he believed that they were uninterested in human affairs.<ref name="EpicStanEncycl" /> The aim of the Epicureans was to attain ''[[ataraxia]]'' ("peace of mind") and one important way of doing this was by exposing fear of divine wrath as irrational. The Epicureans also denied the existence of an afterlife and the need to fear divine punishment after death.<ref name="EpicStanEncycl" />

[[Euhemerus]] ({{circa|300 BCE}}) published his view that the gods were only the deified rulers and founders of the past.<ref>Fragments of Euhemerus' work in Ennius' Latin translation have been preserved in [[Church Fathers|Patristic]] writings (e.g. by [[Lactantius]] and [[Eusebius of Caesarea]]), which all rely on earlier fragments in [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]] 5,41–46 & 6.1. Testimonies, especially in the context of polemical criticism, are found e.g. in [[Callimachus]], ''Hymn to Zeus'' 8.</ref> Although not strictly an atheist, Euhemerus was later criticized by [[Plutarch]] for having "spread atheism over the whole inhabited earth by obliterating the gods".<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Moralia—Isis and Osiris'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Isis_and_Osiris*/B.html#23 23]</ref> In the 3rd century BCE, the [[Hellenistic]] philosophers [[Theodorus the Atheist|Theodorus Cyrenaicus]]<ref name=CIC /><ref>Diogenes Laërtius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, ii</ref> and [[Strato of Lampsacus]]<ref>Cicero, ''Lucullus'', 121. in Reale, G., ''A History of Ancient Philosophy''. SUNY Press. (1985).</ref> were also reputed to deny the existence of the gods. The [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonist]] philosopher [[Sextus Empiricus]] ({{circa|200 CE}})<ref>{{cite book |last1=Klauck |first1=Hans-Joseph |editor1-last=van der Watt |editor1-first=Jan G. |title=Identity, Ethics, and Ethos in the New Testament |date=2012 |isbn=978-3-11-018973-5 |page=417 |url=https://www.gos_in_the_Neoogle.com/books/edition/Identity_Ethics_and_Ethw_Tes/Xnmt2z8PonYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA417&printsec=frontcover |access-date=October 9, 2020 |chapter=Moving in and Moving Out |publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}{{Dead link|date=March 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> compiled a large number of ancient arguments against the existence of gods, recommending that one should [[epoche|suspend judgment]] regarding the matter.<ref>[[Sextus Empiricus]], ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'' Book III, Chapter 3</ref> His relatively large volume of surviving works had a lasting influence on later philosophers.<ref name="gordonstein">Stein, Gordon (Ed.) (1980). "[http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990c25.htm The History of Freethought and Atheism] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930024429/http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990c25.htm |date=30 September 2007 }}". ''An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism''. New York: Prometheus. Retrieved 2007-APR-03.</ref>

The meaning of "atheist" changed over the course of classical antiquity.<ref name="Winiarczyk" /> [[Early Christianity|Early Christians]] were widely reviled as "atheists" because they did not believe in the existence of the Graeco-Roman deities.<ref name="CE1913">{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Atheism}}</ref><ref name="Winiarczyk" /><ref name="Ferguson1993">{{cite book |last1=Ferguson |first1=Everett |title=Backgrounds of Early Christianity |date=1993 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |isbn=978-0-8028-0669-7 |pages=556–561 |edition=second}}</ref><ref name="Sherwin">{{cite journal |last1=Sherwin-White |first1=A.N. |title=Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted? – An Amendment |journal=Past and Present |volume=27 |date=April 1964 |issue=1 |pages=23–27 |jstor=649759|doi=10.1093/past/27.1.23 }}</ref> During the [[Roman Empire]], Christians were executed for their rejection of the [[List of Roman deities|Roman gods]] in general and the [[Imperial cult of ancient Rome]] in particular.<ref name="Sherwin" /><ref name="Maycock">Maycock, A.L. and Ronald Knox (2003). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=DmL8CljbqDwC Inquisition from Its Establishment to the Great Schism: An Introductory Study] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030191702/https://books.google.com/books?id=DmL8CljbqDwC |date=October 30, 2015 }}''. {{ISBN|0-7661-7290-2}}.</ref> There was, however, a heavy struggle between Christians and pagans, in which each group accused the other of atheism, for not practicing the religion which they considered correct.<ref name="Duran">{{cite book |last1=Duran |first1=Martin |title=Wondering About God: Impiety, Agnosticism, and Atheism in Ancient Greece |date=2019 |publisher=Independently Published |location=Barcelona |isbn=978-1-08-061240-6 |pages=171–178}}</ref> When Christianity became the state religion of Rome under [[Theodosius I]] in 381, [[Christian heresy|heresy]] became a punishable offense.<ref name="Maycock" />
{{clear}}

=== Early Middle Ages to the Renaissance ===

During the [[Early Middle Ages]], the [[Islamic world]] experienced a [[Islamic Golden Age|Golden Age]]. Along with advances in science and philosophy, Arab and Persian lands produced rationalists who were skeptical about revealed religion, such as [[Muhammad al Warraq]] (fl. 9th century), [[Ibn al-Rawandi]] (827–911), and [[Abu Bakr al-Razi]] ({{circa|865}}–925),<ref>While strongly critical of revealed religion, Abu Bakr al-Razi did accept the existence of God, who was one of his five 'eternal principles' (next to soul, matter, time, and place); see {{harvnb|Adamson|2021}}. Whether Muhammad al Warraq and Ibn al-Rawandi were merely skeptical freethinkers or full-blown atheists is not clear; see {{harvnb|Stroumsa|1999}}.</ref> as well as outspoken atheists such as [[al-Maʿarri]] (973–1058). Al-Ma'arri wrote and taught that religion itself was a "fable invented by the ancients"<ref name="Nicholson318">Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, 1962, ''A Literary History of the Arabs'', p. 318. Routledge</ref> and that humans were "of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains".<ref>[http://www.sdsmt.edu/student-orgs/tfs/reading/freethought/islam.html Freethought Traditions in the Islamic World] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214102422/http://www.sdsmt.edu/student-orgs/tfs/reading/freethought/islam.html |date=February 14, 2012 }} by Fred Whitehead; also quoted in Cyril Glasse, (2001), ''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'', p. 278. Rowman Altamira.</ref> Despite the fact that these authors were relatively prolific writers, little of their work survives, mainly being preserved through quotations and excerpts in later works by Muslim [[Apologetics|apologists]] attempting to refute them.<ref>''Al-Zandaqa Wal Zanadiqa'', by Mohammad Abd-El Hamid Al-Hamad, first edition 1999, Dar Al-Taliaa Al-Jadida, Syria (Arabic)</ref>

[[File:Titi Lucretii Cari De rerum natura.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|''De rerum natura'' by Lucretius, between 1475 and 1494.]]
In Europe, the espousal of atheistic views was rare during the Early Middle Ages and [[Middle Ages]] (see [[Medieval Inquisition]]).<ref name="Zdybicka 2005 4">{{harvnb|Zdybicka|2005|p=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= The Anthropology of Religion, Witchcraft, and Magic |edition= 2nd|last1= Stein|first1= Rebecca L.|last2=Stein|first2=Phillip L. |year= 2007|publisher= Allyn & Bacon|location= |asin= B004VX3Z6S|page= 219}}</ref> There were, however, movements within this period that furthered heterodox conceptions of the Christian god, including differing views of the nature, transcendence, and knowability of God. [[William of Ockham]] inspired anti-metaphysical tendencies with his [[nominalism|nominalist]] limitation of human knowledge to singular objects, and asserted that the divine [[essence]] could not be intuitively or rationally apprehended by human intellect. Sects deemed heretical such as the [[Waldensians]] were also accused of being atheistic.<ref name="Schultz 2016 p. 39">{{cite book |last=Schultz |first=T. |title=Assault on the Remnant: The Advent Movement The Spirit of Prophecy and Rome's Trojan Horse |publisher=Dog Ear Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4575-4765-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zr1pDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |access-date=2023-03-03 |page=39 |edition=Expanded |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406110524/https://books.google.com/books?id=zr1pDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |url-status=live }}</ref> The resulting division between [[Faith and rationality|faith and reason]] influenced later radical and reformist theologians.<ref name="Zdybicka 2005 4" />

The [[Renaissance]] did much to expand the scope of free thought and skeptical inquiry. Individuals such as [[Leonardo da Vinci]] sought experimentation as a means of explanation, and opposed [[Appeal to authority|arguments from religious authority]]. Other critics of religion and the Church during this time included [[Niccolò Machiavelli]], [[Bonaventure des Périers]], [[Michel de Montaigne]], and [[François Rabelais]].<ref name="gordonstein" />

=== Early modern period ===

Historian [[Geoffrey Blainey]] wrote that the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] had paved the way for atheists by attacking the authority of the Catholic Church, which in turn "quietly inspired other thinkers to attack the authority of the new Protestant churches".<ref>Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Viking; 2011; p. 388</ref> [[Deism]] gained influence in France, Prussia, and England. In 1546, French scholar [[Etienne Dolet]] was executed upon accusation of being an atheist.<ref name="Bryson 2016 p. 40">{{cite book | last=Bryson | first=M.E. | title=The Atheist Milton | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-04095-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6MnOCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT40 | access-date=2022-10-19 | page=40 | archive-date=October 19, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221019010744/https://books.google.com/books?id=6MnOCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT40 | url-status=live }}</ref> The philosopher [[Baruch Spinoza]] was "probably the first well known 'semi-atheist' to announce himself in a Christian land in the modern era", according to Blainey. Spinoza believed that natural laws explained the workings of the universe. In 1661, he published his ''Short Treatise on God''.<ref>Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Viking; 2011; p. 343</ref>

[[Criticism of Christianity]] became increasingly frequent in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in France and England. Some Protestant thinkers, such as [[Thomas Hobbes]], espoused a materialist philosophy and skepticism toward supernatural occurrences. By the late 17th century, deism came to be openly espoused by intellectuals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pantheism |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=November 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223113/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pantheism |archive-date=December 2, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first known explicit atheist was the German critic of religion [[Matthias Knutzen]] in his three writings of 1674.<ref>Winfried Schröder, in: Matthias Knutzen: Schriften und Materialien (2010), p. 8. See also Rececca Moore, ''The Heritage of Western Humanism, Scepticism and Freethought'' (2011), calling Knutzen "the first open advocate of a modern atheist perspective" [http://reason.sdsu.edu/germany.html online here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330182416/http://reason.sdsu.edu/germany.html |date=March 30, 2012 }}</ref> He was followed by two other explicit atheist writers, the Polish ex-Jesuit philosopher [[Kazimierz Łyszczyński]] (who most likely authored the world's first treaty on the non-existence of God<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pacholczyk |first1=Natalia |title="Traktatów o istnieniu Boga napisano setki. O nieistnieniu tylko jeden i to w Polsce". Jego autor spłonął na stosie |url=https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114883,30836931,traktatow-o-istnieniu-boga-napisano-setki-o-nieistnieniu-tylko.html#s=BoxMMtCzol3 |publisher=Gazeta,pl |access-date=28 March 2024 |ref=Gazeta}}</ref>) and in the 1720s by the French priest [[Jean Meslier]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nova.wpunj.edu/newpolitics/issue40/Onfray40.htm |title=Michel Onfray on Jean Meslier |publisher=William Paterson University |access-date=November 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112154508/http://nova.wpunj.edu/newpolitics/issue40/Onfray40.htm |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Denis Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Denis Diderot]], atheist and editor of ''[[Encyclopédie]]''.]]
In the course of the 18th century, other openly atheistic thinkers followed, such as [[Baron d'Holbach]], [[Jacques-André Naigeon]], and other [[French materialism|French materialists]].<ref name="Holbach-SoN">{{cite book |last=d'Holbach |first=P.H.T. |author-link=Baron d'Holbach |title=The System of Nature |url=https://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/The-System-of-Nature-Vol-21/ |access-date=April 7, 2011 |year=1770 |volume=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617162007/https://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/The-System-of-Nature-Vol-21/ |archive-date=June 17, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Baron d'Holbach]] was a prominent figure in the [[French Enlightenment]] who is best known for his atheism and for his voluminous writings against religion, the most famous of them being ''[[The System of Nature]]'' (1770) but also ''[[Christianity Unveiled]]''. "The source of man's unhappiness is his ignorance of Nature. The pertinacity with which he clings to blind opinions imbibed in his infancy, which interweave themselves with his existence, the consequent prejudice that warps his mind, that prevents its expansion, that renders him the slave of fiction, appears to doom him to continual error."<ref>Paul Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, ''System of Nature; or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World'' (London, 1797), Vol. 1, p. 25</ref>

Although [[Voltaire]] is widely considered to have strongly contributed to atheistic thinking during the Revolution, he also considered fear of God to have discouraged further disorder, having said "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."<ref>Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Viking; 2011; pp.&nbsp;390–391</ref> The philosopher [[David Hume]] developed a skeptical epistemology grounded in [[empiricism]], and [[Immanuel Kant]]'s philosophy has strongly questioned the very possibility of metaphysical knowledge. Both philosophers undermined the metaphysical basis of natural theology and criticized classical [[arguments for the existence of God]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

One goal of the [[French Revolution]] was a restructuring and subordination of the clergy with respect to the state through the [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy]]. Attempts to enforce it led to [[anticlericalism|anti-clerical]] violence and the expulsion of many clerics from France, lasting until the [[Thermidorian Reaction]]. The radical [[Jacobin Club|Jacobins]] seized power in 1793, ushering in the [[Reign of Terror]]. The Jacobins were deists and introduced the [[Cult of the Supreme Being]] as a new French state religion. Some atheists surrounding [[Jacques Hébert]] instead sought to establish a [[Cult of Reason]], a form of atheistic pseudo-religion with a goddess personifying reason.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In the latter half of the 19th century, atheism rose to prominence under the influence of [[rationalism|rationalistic]] and [[Freethought|freethinking]] philosophers. German philosopher [[Ludwig Feuerbach]] considered God to be a human invention and religious activities to be wish-fulfillment. He influenced philosophers such as [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], who denied the existence of deities and were critical of religion.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKz2FcDrFy0C&pg=PA1 |title=Subjectivity and Irreligion: Atheism and Agnosticism in Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |last=Ray |first=Matthew Alun |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7546-3456-0 |access-date=April 9, 2011}}</ref>

In 1842, [[George Holyoake]] was the last person imprisoned in Great Britain due to atheist beliefs. [[Stephen Law]] notes that he may have also been the first imprisoned on such a charge. Law states that Holyoake "first coined the term '[[secularism]]'".<ref>{{cite book |title=Humanism. A Very Short Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xa7KOJvM2MMC |last=Law |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Law |year=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-955364-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VlQFTbHRqZsC&dq=%22In+1842,+G.+J.+Holyoake+(1817-1906)+(who+first+coined+the+term+'secularism')+was+the+last+(and+perhaps+also+the+first)+person+in+Britain+to+be+imprisoned+on+a+charge+of+atheism%22&pg=PA23 23]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Holyoake |first=G.J. |author-link=George Holyoake |year=1896 |title=The Origin and Nature of Secularism. Showing that where Freethought Commonly Ends Secularism Begins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WnxPAAAAYAAJ |location=London |publisher=Watts |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WnxPAAAAYAAJ&q=secularism 41ff.]}}</ref>

=== 20th century ===

[[File:Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bertrand Russell]].]]
Atheism advanced in many societies in the 20th century. Atheistic thought found recognition in a wide variety of other, broader philosophies, such as [[Marxism and religion|Marxism]], [[logical positivism]], [[existentialism]], [[secular humanism|humanism]] and [[Atheist feminism|feminism]],<ref name=feminism>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&q=%22Feminism+and+Atheism%22&pg=PA233 |last=Overall |first=Christine |chapter=Feminism and Atheism |year=2006 |access-date=April 9, 2011 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Atheism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-82739-3}} in {{harvnb|Martin|2006|pp=233–246}}</ref> and the general scientific movement.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&q=%22Feminism+and+Atheism%22&pg=PA233 |last=Overall |first=Christine |chapter=Feminism and Atheism |year=2006 |access-date=April 9, 2011 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Atheism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-82739-3}} in {{harvnb|Martin|2006|p=112}}</ref> 
Proponents of [[naturalism (philosophy)|naturalism]] such as [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[John Dewey]] emphatically rejected belief in God. [[Analytical philosophy|Analytical philosophers]] such as [[John Niemeyer Findlay|J.N. Findlay]] and [[J.J.C. Smart]] argued against the existence of God.<ref name="stanford" /><ref>{{harvnb|Zdybicka|2005|p=16}}</ref>

State atheism emerged in Eastern Europe and Asia, particularly in the Soviet Union under [[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Joseph Stalin]],<ref>Victoria Smolkin, ''A Sacred Space is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism'' (Princeton UP, 2018) [https://hdiplo.org/to/RT21-56 online reviews] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424221605/https://issforum.org/roundtables/PDF/Roundtable-XXI-56.pdf |date=April 24, 2022 }}</ref> and in [[China#Chinese Communist Party|Communist China]] under [[Mao Zedong]]. Atheist and anti-religious policies in the Soviet Union included [[Soviet anti-religious legislation|numerous legislative acts]], the outlawing of religious instruction in the schools, and the emergence of the [[League of Militant Atheists]].<ref>[[Richard Pipes]]; ''Russia under the Bolshevik Regime''; The Harvill Press; 1994; pp. 339–340</ref><ref name="Viking p.494">[[Geoffrey Blainey]]; ''[[A Short History of Christianity]]''; Viking; 2011; p. 494</ref> Stalin softened his opposition to Orthodox church in order to improve public acceptance of his regime during the second world war.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=S.A. |title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-960205-6 |chapter=Religion Under Communism |last=Madsen |first=Richard |page=588 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMd7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA586 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMd7AgAAQBAJ |access-date=August 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151028090400/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMd7AgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=October 28, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1966, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine asked "Is God Dead?"<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19660408,00.html |title=Is God Dead? |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=April 8, 1966 |at=Cover |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209112100/http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19660408,00.html |archive-date=December 9, 2013}}</ref> in response to the [[Death of God theological movement]], citing the estimation that nearly half of all people in the world lived under an anti-religious power, and millions more in Africa, Asia, and South America seemed to lack knowledge of the Christian view of theology.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,835309,00.html |title='Is God Dead?' |magazine=Time |date=April 8, 1966}}</ref>

[[File:Professor Richard Dawkins - March 2005.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Richard Dawkins]]]]
Leaders like [[Periyar E.V. Ramasamy]], a prominent atheist leader of [[India]], fought against [[Hinduism]] and [[Brahmins]] for discriminating and dividing people in the name of [[caste]] and religion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Michael |first=S.M. |year=1999 |chapter=Dalit Visions of a Just Society |editor-last=Michael |editor-first=S. M. |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |title=Untouchable: Dalits in Modern India |isbn=978-1-55587-697-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/foreignpolicyact0000gins_t2j6/page/31 31–33] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/foreignpolicyact0000gins_t2j6/page/31 }}</ref><ref>"He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." Hiorth, Finngeir (1996). "[http://iheu.org/content/atheism-south-india-2 Atheism in South India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211052228/http://iheu.org/content/atheism-south-india-2 |date=11 December 2013 }}". [[International Humanist and Ethical Union]], ''International Humanist News''. Retrieved November 21, 2013</ref> In the United States, atheist [[Vashti McCollum]] was the plaintiff in a 1948 [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] case that struck down religious education in US public schools.<ref>{{cite web |last=Martin |first=Douglas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/obituaries/26mccullum.html |title=Vashti McCollum, 93, Plaintiff In a Landmark Religion Suit – Obituary |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 26, 2006 |access-date=November 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727150236/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/obituaries/26mccullum.html |archive-date=July 27, 2018 |url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref> [[Madalyn Murray O'Hair]] was one of the most influential American atheists; she brought forth the 1963 Supreme Court case ''[[Murray v. Curlett]]'' which banned compulsory prayer in public schools.<ref>{{cite book |title=Religion on Trial |last=Jurinski |first=James |year=2004 |publisher=AltraMira Press |location=Walnut Creek, California |isbn=978-0-7591-0601-7 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Yq_z5LaCjsC&pg=PA48 |access-date=July 23, 2009}}</ref> The [[Freedom From Religion Foundation]] was co-founded by Anne Nicol Gaylor and her daughter, [[Annie Laurie Gaylor]], in 1976 in the United States. It promotes the [[separation of church and state]].<ref name="aboutCalling">{{cite news |title=The atheists' calling the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking its latest battle to the U.S. Supreme court. It's a milestone for the often-vilified but financially strong group, which has seen its membership grow to an all-time high |url=http://host.madison.com/news/the-atheists-calling-the-madison-based-freedom-from-religion-foundation/article_85a849c9-f26a-50e8-8a04-cf8bc889d8a0.html |date=February 25, 2010 |last=Erickson |first=Doug |newspaper=[[Wisconsin State Journal]] |access-date=June 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625205513/http://host.madison.com/news/the-atheists-calling-the-madison-based-freedom-from-religion-foundation/article_85a849c9-f26a-50e8-8a04-cf8bc889d8a0.html |archive-date=June 25, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://host.madison.com/news/the-atheists-calling-the-madison-based-freedom-from-religion-foundation/article_85a849c9-f26a-50e8-8a04-cf8bc889d8a0.html |title=The Atheists' Calling |publisher=[[Wisconsin State Journal]] |first=Doug |last=Erickson |date=February 25, 2007 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625205513/http://host.madison.com/news/the-atheists-calling-the-madison-based-freedom-from-religion-foundation/article_85a849c9-f26a-50e8-8a04-cf8bc889d8a0.html |archive-date=June 25, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 21st century ===
{{Main|New Atheism}}

"New Atheism" is a movement among some early-21st-century atheist writers who have advocated the view that "religion should not be tolerated but should be countered, criticized, and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/08/atheism.feature/index.html |title=The rise of the New Atheists |publisher=CNN |first=Simon |last=Hooper |access-date=March 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408094135/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/08/atheism.feature/index.html |archive-date=April 8, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><!--- NB: they may also advocate other views---> The movement is commonly associated with [[Sam Harris (author)|Sam Harris]], [[Daniel Dennett]], Richard Dawkins, [[Christopher Hitchens]], and [[Victor J. Stenger]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Preview: The Four Horsemen of New Atheism reunited |first=Alice |last=Gribbin |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/12/richard-dawkins-issue-hitchens |journal=[[New Statesman]] |date=December 22, 2011 |access-date=February 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410071709/http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/12/richard-dawkins-issue-hitchens |archive-date=April 10, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Stenger|2009}} The religiously-motivated terrorist [[September 11 attacks|events of 9/11]] and the partially successful attempts to change the American science curriculum to include [[Creationism|creationist]] ideas, together with support for those ideas from the [[religious conservatism|religious right]], have been cited by "new" atheists as evidence of a need to move toward a more secular society.<ref name="sharedvalues">{{cite journal |last=Garfield |first=Alan E |url=http://lawreview.vermontlaw.edu/files/2012/02/13-Garfield-Book-2-Vol-33.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207172239/http://lawreview.vermontlaw.edu/files/2012/02/13-Garfield-Book-2-Vol-33.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 7, 2013 |journal=Vermont Law Review |volume=33 Book 2 |title=Finding Shared Values in a Diverse Society: Lessons From the Intelligent Design Controversy |access-date=November 21, 2013}}</ref>