Atheism

== Etymology ==

In early [[ancient Greek]], the adjective {{transliteration|grc|átheos}} ({{lang|grc|[[:wikt:ἄθεος|ἄθεος]]}}, from the [[privative a|privative ἀ-]] + {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:θεός|θεός]]}} "god") meant "godless". It was first used as a term of censure roughly meaning "ungodly" or "impious". In the 5th century BCE, the word began to indicate more deliberate and active godlessness in the sense of "severing relations with the gods" or "denying the gods". The term {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:ἀσεβής|ἀσεβής]]}} ({{transliteration|grc|asebēs}}) then came to be applied against those who impiously denied or disrespected the local gods, even if they believed in other gods. Modern translations of classical texts sometimes render {{transliteration|grc|átheos}} as "atheistic". As an abstract noun, there was also {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:ἀθεότης|ἀθεότης]]}} ({{transliteration|grc|atheotēs}}), "atheism". [[Cicero]] transliterated the Greek word into the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|[[:wikt:atheos#Latin|átheos]]}}. The term found frequent use in the debate between [[early Christianity|early Christians]] and [[Ancient Greek religion|Hellenists]], with each side attributing it, in the pejorative sense, to the other.<ref name=drachmann>{{cite book |last=Drachmann |first=A.B. |title=Atheism in Pagan Antiquity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cguq-yNii_QC&q=Atheism+in+Pagan+Antiquity |publisher=Chicago: Ares Publishers |year=1977 |orig-year=1922 |isbn=978-0-89005-201-3 |quote=Atheism and atheist are words formed from Greek roots and with Greek derivative endings. Nevertheless, they are not Greek; their formation is not consonant with Greek usage. In Greek they said átheos and ''atheotēs''; to these the English words ungodly and ungodliness correspond rather closely. In exactly the same way as ungodly, ''átheos'' was used as an expression of severe censure and moral condemnation; this use is an old one, and the oldest that can be traced. Not till later do we find it employed to denote a certain philosophical creed.}}</ref>

The term ''atheist'' (from the French {{lang|fr|[[wikt:athée|athée]]}}), in the sense of "one who&nbsp;... denies the existence of God or gods",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/atheist |title=atheist |publisher=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |year=2009 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127232035/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/atheist |archive-date=November 27, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> predates ''atheism'' in English, being first found as early as 1566,<ref>{{cite book |series=English recusant literature, 1558–1640 |volume=203 |title=A Replie to Mr Calfhills Blasphemous Answer Made Against the Treatise of the Cross |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20snAQAAIAAJ |first=John |last=Martiall |author-link=John Marshall (priest) |location=Louvain |year=1566 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=20snAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA49 49] |access-date=April 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423154826/https://books.google.com/books?id=20snAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=April 23, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> and again in 1571.<ref>Rendered as ''Atheistes'': {{cite book |last=Golding |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Golding |title=The Psalmes of David and others, with J. Calvin's commentaries |year=1571 |pages=Ep. Ded. 3 |quote=The Atheistes which say&nbsp;... there is no God.|title-link=John Calvin}} Translated from Latin.</ref> ''Atheist'' as a label of practical godlessness was used at least as early as 1577.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hanmer |first=Meredith |author-link=Meredith Hanmer |title=The auncient ecclesiasticall histories of the first six hundred years after Christ, written by Eusebius, Socrates, and Evagrius |publisher=London |year=1577 |page=63 |oclc=55193813 |quote=The opinion which they conceaue of you, to be Atheists, or godlesse men.}}</ref> The term ''atheism'' was derived from the [[French language|French]] {{lang|fr|[[wikt:athéisme|athéisme]]}},<ref name="mw-online">{{citation |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism |title=Merriam-Webster Online:Atheism |quote=First Known Use: 1546 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121224609/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism |archive-date=November 21, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> and appears in English about 1587.<ref name=Golding>Rendered as ''Athisme'': {{cite book |others=Translated from French to English by Arthur Golding & Philip Sidney and published in London, 1587 |author-link=Philippe de Mornay |first=Philippe |last=de Mornay |title=A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion: Against Atheists, Epicures, Paynims, Iewes, Mahumetists, and other infidels |year=1581 |trans-title=De la vérite de la religion chréstienne (1581, Paris) |quote=Athisme, that is to say, vtter godlesnes.}}</ref>

''Atheism'' was first used to describe a self-avowed belief in late 18th-century Europe, specifically denoting disbelief in the [[monotheism|monotheistic]] [[Abrahamic god]].{{efn|In part because of its wide use in monotheistic Western society, ''atheism'' is usually described as "disbelief in God", rather than more generally as "disbelief in deities". A clear distinction is rarely drawn in modern writings between these two definitions, but some archaic uses of ''atheism'' encompassed only disbelief in the singular God, not in [[polytheism|polytheistic]] deities. It is on this basis that the obsolete term ''[[adevism]]'' was coined in the late 19th century to describe an absence of belief in plural deities.}} In the 20th century, [[globalization]] contributed to the expansion of the term to refer to disbelief in all deities, though it remains common in Western society to describe atheism as "disbelief in God".{{sfn|Martin|2006}}