Atheism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! {{short description|Absence of belief in the existence of deities; the opposite of theism}} {{redirect|Atheist}} {{distinguish|Atenism}} {{pp-move}} {{pp-semi-indef}} {{Use American English|date=May 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}} {{atheism sidebar}} <!---- Please note: The consensus since April 2007 has been to include all three of the definitions of atheism presented in the first paragraph below. They are the result of extensive debate and searches through existing sources – see, for example, the archived talk page threads [[Talk:Atheism/Archive 27#A survey of definitions for atheism]] and [[Talk:Atheism/Archive 29#List of definitions]] – and formed part of the article when it achieved "Featured Article" status. Please, therefore, do not change the contents of the first paragraph without prior discussion on the talk page ([[Talk:Atheism]]), preferably after consulting at least these two threads. If you do make changes to the paragraph without prior discussion, be prepared to see them reverted as an invitation to a discussion on the talk page (see [[Wikipedia:BRD]]). -----> '''Atheism''', in the broadest sense, is an absence of [[belief]] in the existence of [[Deity|deities]]. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there {{em|are}} no deities. Atheism is contrasted with [[theism]], which in its most general form is the belief that [[Existence of God|at least one deity exists]]. Historically, evidence of atheistic viewpoints can be traced back to classical antiquity and early Indian philosophy. In the Western world, atheism declined as Christianity gained prominence. The 16th century and the [[Age of Enlightenment]] marked the resurgence of atheistic thought in Europe. Atheism achieved a significant position in the 20th century with legislation protecting [[freedom of thought]]. According to 2003 estimates, there are at least [[Demographics of atheism|500 million atheists in the world]].<ref name="CambridgeZuckerman" />{{Update inline|date=January 2024}} Atheist organizations have defended the autonomy of [[science]], [[secular ethics]] and [[secularism]]. Arguments for atheism range from philosophical to social and historical approaches. Rationales for not believing in deities include the lack of [[Existence of God#Empirical arguments|evidence]],<ref name="logical" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://shook.pragmatism.org/skepticismaboutthesupernatural.pdf |title=Skepticism about the Supernatural |last=Shook |first=John R. |access-date=October 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018210402/http://shook.pragmatism.org/skepticismaboutthesupernatural.pdf |archive-date=October 18, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> the [[problem of evil]], the [[argument from inconsistent revelations]], the rejection of concepts that cannot [[Falsifiability|be falsified]], and the [[argument from nonbelief]].<ref name="logical" /><ref name="Drange-1996" /> Nonbelievers contend that atheism is a more [[parsimonious]] position than theism and that everyone is born without beliefs in deities;<ref name="encyc-unbelief-def-issues" /> therefore, they argue that the [[Philosophic burden of proof|burden of proof]] lies not on the atheist to disprove the existence of gods but on the theist to provide a rationale for theism.<ref>{{harvnb|Stenger|2007|pp=17–18}}, citing {{cite book |last=Parsons |first=Keith M. |title=God and the Burden of Proof: Plantinga, Swinburne, and the Analytical Defense of Theism |year=1989 |location=Amherst, New York |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-0-87975-551-5}}</ref> == Definition == Writers disagree on how best to define and classify ''atheism'',<ref name="eb1911-atheism">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Atheism | quote = The term as generally used, however, is highly ambiguous. Its meaning varies (a) according to the various definitions of deity, and especially (b) according as it is (i.) deliberately adopted by a thinker as a description of his own theological standpoint, or (ii.) applied by one set of thinkers to their opponents. As to (a), it is obvious that atheism from the standpoint of the Christian is a very different conception as compared with atheism as understood by a Deist, a Positivist, a follower of Euhemerus or Herbert Spencer, or a Buddhist.}}</ref> contesting what supernatural entities are considered gods, whether atheism is a philosophical position in its own right or merely the absence of one, and whether it requires a conscious, explicit rejection. However the norm is to define atheism in terms of an explicit stance against theism.<ref>{{cite web |author = [[Paul Draper (philosopher)|Paul Draper]] |quote = Departing even more radically from the norm in philosophy, a few philosophers and quite a few non-philosophers claim that "atheism" shouldn't be defined as a proposition at all, even if theism is a proposition. Instead, "atheism" should be defined as a psychological state: the state of not believing in the existence of God |title = Atheism and Agnosticism |publisher = [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |access-date = October 24, 2021 |url = https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism |archive-date = October 25, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211025062002/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/ |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=McCormick |first1=Matt |title=Atheism |quote=It has come to be widely accepted that to be an atheist is to affirm the non-existence of God |publisher=[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |access-date=October 24, 2021 |url=https://iep.utm.edu/atheism/#H1 |archive-date=February 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221061729/https://iep.utm.edu/atheism/#H1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://philosophynow.org/issues/78/Wheres_The_Evidence |publisher = [[Philosophy Now]] |title = Where's The Evidence |author = Michael Anthony |quote = While the word 'atheism' has been used in something like this sense (see for example Antony Flew's article 'The Presumption of Atheism'), it is a highly non-standard use. |access-date = October 24, 2021 |archive-date = September 26, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190926013024/https://philosophynow.org/issues/78/Wheres_The_Evidence |url-status = live }}</ref> Atheism has been regarded as compatible with [[agnosticism]],<ref name="agnosticism-compatible" /><ref name="encyc-unbelief-compatible">{{cite book |last=Holland |first=Aaron |title=Agnosticism |date=April 1882 |publisher=The Journal of Speculative Philosophy |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-25667906 |postscript=,}} in {{harvnb|Flynn|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YR4RAQAAIAAJ&q=%22It+is+important+to+note+that+this+interpretation+of+agnosticism%22 34]}}: "It is important to note that this interpretation of agnosticism is compatible with theism or atheism, since it is only asserted that ''knowledge'' of God's existence is unattainable."</ref><ref name="martin-agnosticism-entails" /><ref name="barker-agnostic-atheism" /> but has also been contrasted with it.<ref name="eb2011-atheism-critique">{{harvnb|Nielsen|2013}}: "atheism, in general, the critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or spiritual beings. As such, it is usually distinguished from theism, which affirms the reality of the divine and often seeks to demonstrate its existence. Atheism is also distinguished from agnosticism, which leaves open the question whether there is a god or not, professing to find the questions unanswered or unanswerable."</ref><ref name="eb2011concise-atheism">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Atheism |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/concise/atheism?show=0&t=1323944845 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Concise |publisher=Merriam Webster |access-date=December 15, 2011 |quote=Critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or divine beings. Unlike agnosticism, which leaves open the question of whether there is a God, atheism is a positive denial. It is rooted in an array of philosophical systems. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121050128/http://www.merriam-webster.com/concise/atheism?show=0&t=1323944845 |archive-date=January 21, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="eb1911-atheism-sceptical">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Atheism | quote = But dogmatic atheism is rare compared with the sceptical type, which is identical with agnosticism in so far as it denies the capacity of the mind of man to form any conception of God, but is different from it in so far as the agnostic merely holds his judgment in suspense, though, in practice, agnosticism is apt to result in an attitude towards religion which is hardly distinguishable from a passive and unaggressive atheism.}}</ref> === Implicit vs. explicit === {{Main|Implicit and explicit atheism}} [[File:AtheismImplicitExplicit3.svg|thumb|A diagram showing the relationship between the definitions of [[Weak and strong atheism|weak/strong]] and [[Implicit and explicit atheism|implicit/explicit]] atheism. <br /> Explicit strong/positive/hard atheists (in {{Font color|purple|'''purple'''}} on the '''right''') assert that ''"at least one deity exists"'' is a false statement. <br /> Explicit weak/negative/soft atheists (in {{Font color|blue|'''blue'''}} on the '''right''') reject or eschew belief that any deities exist without actually asserting that ''"at least one deity exists"'' is a false statement. <br /> Implicit weak/negative atheists (in {{Font color|blue|'''blue'''}} on the '''left'''), according to authors such as George H. Smith, would include people (such as young children and some agnostics) who do not believe in a deity but have not explicitly rejected such belief. <br /> (Sizes in the diagram are not meant to indicate relative sizes within a population.)]] Some of the ambiguity involved in defining ''atheism'' arises from the definitions of words like ''deity'' and ''god''. The variety of wildly different [[conceptions of God]] and deities lead to differing ideas regarding atheism's applicability. The ancient Romans accused Christians of being atheists for not worshiping the [[paganism|pagan]] deities. Gradually, this view fell into disfavor as ''theism'' came to be understood as encompassing belief in any divinity.{{sfn|Martin|2006}} With respect to the range of phenomena being rejected, atheism may counter anything from the existence of a deity, to the existence of any [[spirituality|spiritual]], [[supernatural]], or [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendental]] concepts.<ref name="eb2011-Rejection-of-all-religious-beliefs" /> Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist. Atheism has been defined as the absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas. As far back as 1772, [[Baron d'Holbach]] said that "All children are born Atheists; they have no idea of God."<ref>{{cite book |last=d'Holbach |first=P.H.T. |author-link=Baron d'Holbach |title=Good Sense |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7319 |year=1772 |access-date=April 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623131908/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7319 |archive-date=June 23, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, [[George H. Smith]] suggested that: "The man who is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god. This category would also include the child with the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved, but who is still unaware of those issues. The fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist."<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|1979|p=14}}.</ref> ''Implicit atheism'' is "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it" and ''explicit atheism'' is the conscious rejection of belief. It is usual to define atheism in terms of an explicit stance against theism.<ref>{{cite web |author=[[Paul Draper (philosopher)|Paul Draper]] |quote=Departing even more radically from the norm in philosophy, a few philosophers and quite a few non-philosophers claim that "atheism" shouldn't be defined as a proposition at all, even if theism is a proposition. Instead, "atheism" should be defined as a psychological state: the state of not believing in the existence of God |title=Atheism and Agnosticism |publisher=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |access-date=October 24, 2021 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism |archive-date=October 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025062002/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=McCormick |first1=Matt |title=Atheism |quote=It has come to be widely accepted that to be an atheist is to affirm the non-existence of God |publisher=[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |access-date=October 24, 2021 |url=https://iep.utm.edu/atheism/#H1 |archive-date=February 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221061729/https://iep.utm.edu/atheism/#H1 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/78/Wheres_The_Evidence |publisher=[[Philosophy Now]] |title=Where's The Evidence |author=Michael Anthony |quote = While the word 'atheism' has been used in something like this sense (see for example Antony Flew's article 'The Presumption of Atheism'), it is a highly non-standard use. |access-date=October 24, 2021 |archive-date=September 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926013024/https://philosophynow.org/issues/78/Wheres_The_Evidence |url-status=live}}</ref> For the purposes of his paper on "philosophical atheism", [[Ernest Nagel]] contested including the mere absence of theistic belief as a type of atheism.<ref name= Nagel1959>{{cite book |title=Basic Beliefs: The Religious Philosophies of Mankind |chapter=Philosophical Concepts of Atheism |first=Ernest |last=Nagel |author-link=Ernest Nagel |year=1959 |publisher=Sheridan House |quote=I must begin by stating what sense I am attaching to the word 'atheism,' and how I am construing the theme of this paper. I shall understand by 'atheism' a critique and a denial of the major claims of all varieties of theism. ... atheism is not to be identified with sheer unbelief, or with disbelief in some particular creed of a religious group. Thus, a child who has received no religious instruction and has never heard about God is not an atheist – for he is not denying any theistic claims. Similarly in the case of an adult who, if he has withdrawn from the faith of his father without reflection or because of frank indifference to any theological issue, is also not an atheist – for such an adult is not challenging theism and not professing any views on the subject. ... I propose to examine some ''philosophic'' concepts of atheism}} <br />reprinted in ''Critiques of God'', edited by Peter A. Angeles, Prometheus Books, 1997.</ref> [[Graham Oppy]] classifies as ''innocents'' those who never considered the question because they lack any understanding of what a god is, for example one-month-old babies.{{sfn|Oppy|2018|p=4|ps=: Agnostics are distinguished from innocents, who also neither believe that there are gods nor believe that there are no gods, by the fact that they have given consideration to the question of whether there are gods. Innocents are those who have never considered the question of whether there are gods. Typically, innocents have never considered the question of whether there are gods because they are not able to consider that question. How could that be? Well, in order to consider the question of whether there are gods, one must understand what it would mean for something to be a god. That is, one needs to have the concept of a god. Those who lack the concept of a god are not able to entertain the thought that there are gods. Consider, for example, one-month-old babies. It is very plausible that one-month-old babies lack the concept of a god. So it is very plausible that one-month-old babies are innocents. Other plausible cases of innocents include chimpanzees, human beings who have suffered severe traumatic brain injuries, and human beings with advanced dementia}} === Positive vs. negative === {{Main|Negative and positive atheism}} Philosophers such as [[Antony Flew]]<ref name="presumption">{{harvnb|Flew|1976|pp=14ff}}: "In this interpretation, an atheist becomes: not someone who positively asserts the non-existence of God; but someone who is simply not a theist. Let us, for future-ready reference, introduce the labels 'positive atheist' for the former and 'negative atheist' for the latter."</ref> and [[Michael Lou Martin|Michael Martin]]{{sfn|Martin|2006}} have contrasted positive (strong/hard) atheism with negative (weak/soft) atheism. Positive atheism is the explicit affirmation that gods do not exist. Negative atheism includes all other forms of non-theism. According to this categorization, anyone who is not a theist is either a negative or a positive atheist. Michael Martin, for example, asserts that agnosticism [[logical consequence|entails]] negative atheism.<ref name="martin-agnosticism-entails" /><ref name="agnosticism-compatible"/> [[Agnostic atheism]] encompasses both atheism and agnosticism.<ref name="barker-agnostic-atheism"/> However, many agnostics see their view as distinct from atheism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omar-baddar/why-im-not-an-atheist-the-case-for-agnosticism_b_3345544.html |title=Why I'm Not an Atheist: The Case for Agnosticism |date=May 28, 2013 |work=[[Huffington Post]] |access-date=November 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209105433/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omar-baddar/why-im-not-an-atheist-the-case-for-agnosticism_b_3345544.html |archive-date=December 9, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Kenny2006>{{cite book |first=Anthony |last=Kenny |author-link=Anthony Kenny |title=What I believe |chapter=Why I Am Not an Atheist |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-0-8264-8971-5 |quote=The true default position is neither theism nor atheism, but agnosticism ... a claim to knowledge needs to be substantiated; ignorance need only be confessed. |year=2006}}</ref> According to atheists' arguments, unproven [[Faith#Religious faith|religious]] propositions deserve as much disbelief as all other unproven propositions.<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|pp=30–34}}. "Who seriously claims we should say 'I neither believe nor disbelieve that the Pope is a robot', or 'As to whether or not eating this piece of chocolate will turn me into an elephant I am completely agnostic'. In the absence of any good reasons to believe these outlandish claims, we rightly disbelieve them, we don't just suspend judgement."</ref> Atheist criticism of agnosticism says that the unprovability of a god's existence does not imply an equal probability of either possibility.<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|p=22}}. "A lack of proof is no grounds for the suspension of belief. This is because when we have a lack of absolute proof we can still have overwhelming evidence or one explanation which is far superior to the alternatives."</ref> Australian philosopher [[J.J.C. Smart]] argues that "sometimes a person who is really an atheist may describe herself, even passionately, as an agnostic because of unreasonable generalized [[philosophical skepticism]] which would preclude us from saying that we know anything whatever, except perhaps the truths of mathematics and formal logic."<ref name="stanford">{{cite web |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/ |title=Atheism and Agnosticism |first=J.C.C. |last=Smart |date=March 9, 2004 |publisher=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205181908/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/ |archive-date=February 5, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Consequently, some atheist authors, such as [[Richard Dawkins]], prefer distinguishing theist, agnostic, and atheist positions along a [[spectrum of theistic probability]]—the likelihood that each assigns to the statement "God exists".{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=50}} Before the 18th century, the existence of God was so accepted in the Western world that even the possibility of true atheism was questioned. This is called ''theistic [[innatism]]''—the notion that all people believe in God from birth; within this view was the connotation that atheists are in denial.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cudworth |first=Ralph |author-link=Ralph Cudworth |title=The True Intellectual System of the Universe: the first part, wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted and its impossibility demonstrated |year=1678}}</ref> Some atheists have challenged the need for the term "atheism". In his book ''[[Letter to a Christian Nation]]'', [[Sam Harris (author)|Sam Harris]] wrote: <blockquote>In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-[[Astrology|astrologer]]" or a "non-[[Alchemy|alchemist]]". We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=51}}</blockquote> == 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 ... 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 ... 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}} == Arguments == === Epistemological arguments === [[Skepticism]], based on the ideas of [[David Hume]], asserts that certainty about anything is impossible, so one can never know for sure whether or not a god exists. Hume, however, held that such unobservable metaphysical concepts should be rejected as "sophistry and illusion".<ref name="hume-metaphysics" /> Michael Martin argues that atheism is a justified and rational true belief, but offers no extended epistemological justification because current theories are in a state of controversy. Martin instead argues for "mid-level principles of justification that are in accord with our ordinary and scientific rational practice."<ref name="Michael Martin">{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Michael |title=Atheism: A Philosophical Justification |date=1992 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=9780877229438 |page=26}}</ref> Other arguments for atheism that can be classified as epistemological or [[ontology|ontological]], assert the meaninglessness or unintelligibility of basic terms such as "God" and statements such as "God is all-powerful." [[Theological noncognitivism]] holds that the statement "God exists" does not express a proposition, but is nonsensical or cognitively meaningless. It has been argued both ways as to whether such individuals can be classified into some form of atheism or agnosticism. Philosophers [[Alfred Ayer|A. J. Ayer]] and [[Theodore M. Drange]] reject both categories, stating that both camps accept "God exists" as a proposition; they instead place noncognitivism in its own category.<ref>[[Theodore Drange|Drange, Theodore M.]] (1998). "[http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/definition.html Atheism, Agnosticism, Noncognitivism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723234754/http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/definition.html |date=23 July 2013 }}". [[Internet Infidels]], ''Secular Web Library''. Retrieved 2007-APR-07.</ref><ref>[[Alfred Ayer|Ayer, A. J.]] (1946). ''Language, Truth and Logic''. Dover. pp. 115–116. In a footnote, Ayer attributes this view to "Professor H.H. Price".</ref> === Ontological arguments === [[File:Light_Bends_from_the_Beyond.jpg|thumb|In his work ''[[De rerum natura]]'', [[Lucretius]] stated that everything consists of atoms moving in infinity.]] Most atheists lean toward ontological [[monism]]: the belief that there is only one kind of fundamental substance. The philosophical [[materialism]] is a view that matter is the fundamental substance in nature. This omits the possibility of a non-material divine being.<ref name="Graham Oppy">{{cite book |last1=Oppy |first1=Graham |title=Atheism: The Basics |year=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1138506916 |edition=First|pages=14, 15}}</ref> According to [[physicalism]], only physical entities exist.<ref name="Graham Oppy"/><ref name="Daniel Stoljar">{{cite web |last1=Stoljar |first1=Daniel |title=Physicalism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=April 14, 2021 |archive-date=November 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103205051/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Philosophies opposed to the materialism or physicalism include [[idealism]], [[Mind–body dualism|dualism]] and other forms of monism.<ref name="Leopold Stubenberg">{{cite web |last1=Stubenberg |first1=Stubenberg |title=Neutral Monism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neutral-monism/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=April 14, 2021 |archive-date=December 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211135615/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neutral-monism/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Zdybicka 2005 19">{{harvnb|Zdybicka|2005|p=19}}.</ref><ref name="D. Gene Witmer">{{cite web |last1=Witmer |first1=D. Gene |title=Physicalism and Metaphysical Naturalism |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396577/obo-9780195396577-0258.xml |website=Oxford Bibliographies |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413141153/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396577/obo-9780195396577-0258.xml |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Naturalism (philosophy)|Naturalism]] is also used to describe the view that everything that exists is fundamentally natural, and that there are no supernatural phenomena.<ref name="Graham Oppy"/> According to naturalist view, science can explain the world with physical laws and through natural phenomena.<ref name="David Papineau">{{cite web |last1=Papineau |first1=David |title=Naturalism |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Stanford University |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism/ |access-date=April 14, 2021 |archive-date=April 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426123419/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Philosopher [[Graham Oppy]] references a PhilPapers survey that says 56.5% of philosophers in academics lean toward physicalism; 49.8% lean toward naturalism.<ref name="Bourget and Chalmers">{{cite web |last1=Bourget |first1=David |last2=Chalmers |first2=David |title=The PhilPapers Surveys |url=https://philpapers.org/surveys/index.html |website=PhilPapers |publisher=The PhilPapers Foundation |access-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-date=July 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723035239/https://philpapers.org/surveys/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Graham Oppy, direct arguments for atheism aim at showing theism fails on its own terms, while indirect arguments are those inferred from direct arguments in favor of something else that is inconsistent with theism. For example, Oppy says arguing for naturalism is an argument for atheism since naturalism and theism "cannot both be true".<ref name="Ruse and Bullivant">{{cite book |last1=Oppy |first1=Graham |editor1-last=Bullivant |editor1-first=Stephen |editor2-last=Ruse |editor2-first=Michael |title=The Oxford Handbook of Atheism |date=2013 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780199644650 |edition=illustrated |chapter=chapter 4}}</ref>{{rp|53}} Fiona Ellis describes the "expansive naturalism" of [[John McDowell]], [[James Griffin (philosopher)|James Griffin]] and [[David Wiggins]] while also asserting there are things in human experience which cannot be explained in such terms, such as the concept of value, leaving room for theism.<ref name="Fiona Ellis">{{cite journal |last1=Ellis |first1=Fiona |title=Theistic naturalism |journal=[[The Philosophers' Magazine]] |date=2016 |volume=1st Quarter |issue=72 |page=45 |doi=10.5840/tpm20167224 |url=https://www.pdcnet.org/tpm/content/tpm_2016_0072_0045_0046 |access-date=May 1, 2021 |archive-date=April 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430232953/https://www.pdcnet.org/tpm/content/tpm_2016_0072_0045_0046 |url-status=live }}</ref> Christopher C. Knight asserts a [[theistic naturalism]].<ref name="Christopher C. Knight">{{cite journal |last1=Knight |first1=Christopher C. |title=Theistic Naturalism and "Special" Divine Providence |journal=Journal of Religion and Science |date=2009 |volume=44 |issue=3 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.01014.x |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.01014.x |publisher=Wylie online library |page=abstract |access-date=May 1, 2021 |archive-date=April 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430090059/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.01014.x |url-status=live }}</ref> Nevertheless, Oppy argues that a strong naturalism favors atheism, though he finds the best direct arguments against theism to be the evidential problem of evil, and arguments concerning the contradictory nature of God were He to exist.<ref name="Ruse and Bullivant"/>{{rp|55–60}} === Logical arguments === {{further|Existence of God#Arguments against the existence of God|l1=Arguments against the existence of God|Problem of evil|Argument from nonbelief|l3=Divine hiddenness}} Some atheists hold the view that the various conceptions of gods, such as the [[personal god]] of Christianity, are ascribed logically inconsistent qualities. Such atheists present [[existence of God#Logical arguments|deductive arguments]] against the existence of God, which assert the incompatibility between certain traits, such as perfection, creator-status, [[immutability (theology)|immutability]], [[omniscience]], [[omnipresence]], [[omnipotence]], [[omnibenevolence]], [[transcendence (philosophy)|transcendence]], personhood (a personal being), non-physicality, [[justice]], and [[mercy]].<ref name=logical>{{cite web |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/nontheism/atheism/logical.html |title=Logical Arguments for Atheism |publisher=[[Internet Infidels]] |website=The Secular Web Library |access-date=October 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121117012714/http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/nontheism/atheism/logical.html |archive-date=November 17, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Theodicy|Theodicean]] atheists believe that the world as they experience it cannot be reconciled with the qualities commonly ascribed to God and gods by theologians. They argue that an [[omniscience|omniscient]], [[omnipotence|omnipotent]], and [[omnibenevolence|omnibenevolent]] God is not compatible with a world where there is [[problem of evil|evil]] and [[suffering]], and where divine love is [[Divine hiddenness|hidden]] from many people.<ref name="Drange-1996">{{cite web |first=Theodore M. |last=Drange |author-link=Theodore Drange |year=1996 |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/aeanb.html |title=The Arguments From Evil and Nonbelief |publisher=[[Internet Infidels]] |website=Secular Web Library |access-date=October 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110135633/http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/aeanb.html |archive-date=January 10, 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Epicurus]] is credited with first expounding the problem of evil. [[David Hume]] in his ''[[Dialogues concerning Natural Religion]]'' (1779) cited Epicurus in stating the argument as a series of questions:{{sfn|Hume|1779}} "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" Similar arguments have been made in [[Buddhist philosophy]].<ref>V.A. Gunasekara, {{cite web |url=http://www.buddhistinformation.com/buddhist_attitude_to_god.htm |title=The Buddhist Attitude to God |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102053643/http://www.buddhistinformation.com/buddhist_attitude_to_god.htm |archive-date=January 2, 2008}} In the Bhuridatta Jataka, "The Buddha argues that the three most commonly given attributes of God, viz. omnipotence, omniscience and benevolence towards humanity cannot all be mutually compatible with the existential fact of dukkha."</ref> [[Vasubandhu]] (4/5th century) outlined [[Creator in Buddhism|numerous Buddhist arguments against God]].<ref>Vasubandhu wrote in his ''Sheath of [[Abhidharma]] ([[Abhidharmakośakārikā|Abhidharmakosha]]): "Besides, do you say that God finds joy in seeing the creatures which he has created in the prey of all the distress of existence, including the tortures of the hells? Homage to this kind of God! The profane stanza expresses it well: "One calls him Rudra because he burns, because he is sharp, fierce, redoubtable, an eater of flesh, blood and marrow." de La Vallee Poussin, Louis (fr. trans.); Sangpo, Gelong Lodro (eng. trans.) (2012) ''Abhidharmakośa-Bhāṣya of Vasubandhu Volume I'', p. 677. Motilal Banarsidass Pubs. ISBN 978-81-208-3608-2</ref> === Reductionary accounts of religion === {{Further|Evolutionary origin of religions|Evolutionary psychology of religion|Psychology of religion}} Philosopher [[Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach|Ludwig Feuerbach]]<ref>Feuerbach, Ludwig (1841) ''[[The Essence of Christianity]]''</ref> and psychoanalyst [[Sigmund Freud]] have argued that God and other religious beliefs are human inventions, created to fulfill various psychological and emotional wants or needs.<ref>Walpola Rahula, ''What the Buddha Taught''. Grove Press, 1974. pp. 51–52.</ref> [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]], influenced by the work of Feuerbach, argued that belief in God and religion are social functions, used by those in power to oppress the working class. According to [[Mikhail Bakunin]], "the idea of God implies the abdication of human reason and justice; it is the most decisive negation of human liberty, and necessarily ends in the enslavement of mankind, in theory, and practice." He reversed [[Voltaire]]'s aphorism that if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him, writing instead that "if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/bakunin/godandstate/godandstate_ch1.html |title=God and the State |last=Bakunin |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Bakunin |year=1916 |publisher=New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521195435/http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bakunin/godandstate/godandstate_ch1.html |archive-date=May 21, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> == Atheism and ethics == === Secular ethics === {{See also|Criticism of atheism|Secular ethics|Secular morality}} Joseph Baker and Buster Smith assert that one of the common themes of atheism is that most atheists "typically construe atheism as more moral than religion".<ref name="Baker and Smith 2015">{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Joseph O. |last2=Smith |first2=Buster G. |title=American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems |date=2015 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9781479896875 |page=100}}</ref> One of the most common [[criticism of atheism|criticisms of atheism]] has been to the contrary: that denying the existence of a god either leads to [[moral relativism]] and leaves one with no moral or ethical foundation,<ref name="misconceptions">{{cite web |url=http://articles.exchristian.net/2006/12/common-misconceptions-about-atheists.html |title=Common Misconceptions About Atheists and Atheism |last=Gleeson |first=David |date=August 10, 2006 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231001241/http://articles.exchristian.net/2006/12/common-misconceptions-about-atheists.html |archive-date=December 31, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> or renders life [[meaning of life (religious)|meaningless]] and miserable.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|1979|p=275}}. "Perhaps the most common criticism of atheism is the claim that it leads inevitably to [[moral bankruptcy]]."</ref> [[Blaise Pascal]] argued this view in his ''[[Pensées]]''.<ref>[[Blaise Pascal|Pascal, Blaise]] (1669). ''[[Pensées]]'', II: "The Misery of Man Without God".</ref> There is also a position claiming that atheists are quick to believe in God in times of crisis, that atheists make [[deathbed conversion]]s, or that "[[there are no atheists in foxholes]]".<ref>See, for example: {{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/ohair090896.htm |title=Atheist Group Moves Ahead Without O'Hair |first=Sue Anne |last=Pressley |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 8, 1996 |access-date=October 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008044601/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/ohair090896.htm |archive-date=October 8, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> There have, however, been examples to the contrary, among them examples of literal "atheists in foxholes".<ref>{{cite web |last=Lowder |first=Jeffery Jay |year=1997 |title=Atheism and Society |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jeff_lowder/society.html |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522025011/http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jeff_lowder/society.html |archive-date=May 22, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> There exist [[Normative ethics|normative ethical systems]] that do not require principles and rules to be given by a deity. Some include [[virtue ethics]], [[deontological ethics]] and [[Consequentialism|consequentialist ethics]] such as [[utilitarianism]].{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} [[File:Campolo_Lecture.jpg|thumb|Lecture to the Atheist Community of San Jose in 2017.]] According to Plato's [[Euthyphro dilemma]], the role of the gods in determining right from wrong is either unnecessary or arbitrary. [[Divine command theory|The argument that morality must be derived from God]], and cannot exist without a wise creator, has been a persistent feature of political if not so much philosophical debate.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|1979|p=275}}. "Among the many myths associated with religion, none is more widespread{{sic}} – or more disastrous in its effects — than the myth that moral values cannot be divorced from the belief in a god."</ref><ref>In [[Dostoevsky]]'s ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]'' (Book Eleven: ''Brother Ivan Fyodorovich'', Chapter 4) there is the famous argument that "If there is no God, all things are permitted.": {{"'}}But what will become of men then?' I asked him, 'without God and immortal life? All things are lawful then, they can do what they like?{{'"}}</ref><ref name="Kant CPR A811">For [[Immanuel Kant|Kant]], the presupposition of God, soul, and freedom was a practical concern, for "Morality, by itself, constitutes a system, but happiness does not, unless it is distributed in exact proportion to morality. This, however, is possible in an intelligible world only under a wise author and ruler. Reason compels us to admit such a ruler, together with life in such a world, which we must consider as future life, or else all moral laws are to be considered as idle dreams" (''Critique of Pure Reason'', A811).</ref> Moral precepts such as "murder is wrong" are seen as [[divine law]]s, requiring a divine lawmaker and judge. However, many atheists argue that treating morality legalistically involves a [[false analogy]], and that morality does not depend on a lawmaker in the same way that laws do.<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|p=38}}</ref> Philosophers [[Susan Neiman]]<ref>{{cite video |people=[[Susan Neiman]] |title=Beyond Belief Session 6 |medium=Conference |publisher=The Science Network |location=[[Salk Institute]], La Jolla, California |date=November 6, 2006}}</ref> and [[Julian Baggini]]<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|p=40}}</ref> among others assert that behaving ethically only because of a divine mandate is not true ethical behavior but merely blind obedience. Baggini argues that atheism is a superior basis for ethics, claiming that a moral basis external to religious imperatives is necessary to evaluate the morality of the imperatives themselves—to be able to discern, for example, that "thou shalt steal" is immoral even if one's religion instructs it—and that atheists, therefore, have the advantage of being more inclined to make such evaluations.<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|p=43}}</ref> Sociologist [[Phil Zuckerman]] analyzed previous social science research on secularity and non-belief and concluded that societal well-being is positively correlated with irreligion. He found that there are much lower concentrations of atheism and secularity in poorer, less developed nations (particularly in Africa and South America) than in the richer industrialized democracies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=Pippa |first2=Ronald |last2=Inglehart |year=2004 |title=Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bruce |first=Steve |year=2003 |title=Religion and Politics |location=Cambridge}}</ref> His findings relating specifically to atheism in the US were that compared to religious people in the US, "atheists and secular people" are less [[Nationalism|nationalistic]], [[prejudice]]d, [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]], [[Racism|racist]], [[dogma]]tic, [[Ethnocentrism|ethnocentric]], closed-minded, and authoritarian, and in US states with the highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. In the most religious states, the murder rate is higher than average.<ref name="Zuckerman">{{cite journal |first1=Phil |last1=Zuckerman |year=2009 |title=Atheism, Secularity, and Well-Being: How the Findings of Social Science Counter Negative Stereotypes and Assumptions |url=http://pitweb.pitzer.edu/academics/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2014/12/FAC-Zuckerman-Sociology-Compass.pdf |journal=Sociology Compass |volume=3 |issue=6 |pages=949–971 |doi=10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00247.x |access-date=June 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608173754/http://pitweb.pitzer.edu/academics/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2014/12/FAC-Zuckerman-Sociology-Compass.pdf |archive-date=June 8, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Guardian>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/12/pope-benedict-atheism-secularism |title=Societies without God are more benevolent |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=September 2, 2010 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225221202/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/12/pope-benedict-atheism-secularism |archive-date=February 25, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> === Criticism of religion === {{See also|Criticism of religion}} [[File:JSJoseSaramago.jpg|thumb|Author [[José Saramago]] criticizes religion.]] Some prominent atheists—most recently [[Christopher Hitchens]], [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Sam Harris (author)|Sam Harris]], and [[Richard Dawkins]], and following such thinkers as [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Robert G. Ingersoll]], [[Voltaire]], and novelist [[José Saramago]]—have criticized religions, citing harmful aspects of religious practices and doctrines.<ref>{{harvnb|Harris|2005}}, {{harvnb|Harris|2006}}, {{harvnb|Dawkins|2006}}, {{harvnb|Hitchens|2007}}, {{harvnb|Russell|1957}}</ref> The 19th-century German political theorist and sociologist [[Karl Marx]] called religion "the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the [[opium of the people]]". He goes on to say, "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."<ref>Marx, K. 1976. Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Collected Works, v. 3. New York.</ref> Sam Harris criticizes Western religion's reliance on divine authority as lending itself to [[authoritarianism]] and [[dogma]]tism.{{sfn|Harris|2006a}} There is a correlation between [[religious fundamentalism]] and [[Extrinsic religious orientation|extrinsic religion]] (when religion is held because it serves ulterior interests)<ref name="Moreira-almeida2006">{{cite journal |doi=10.1590/S1516-44462006005000006 |last1=Moreira-almeida |first1=A. |last2=Neto |first2=F. |last3=Koenig |first3=H.G. |year=2006 |title=Religiousness and mental health: a review |journal=Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria |volume=28 |pages=242–250 |pmid=16924349 |issue=3|doi-access=free }}</ref> and authoritarianism, dogmatism, and prejudice.<ref>See for example: {{cite journal |last1=Kahoe |first1=R.D. |date=June 1977 |title=Intrinsic Religion and Authoritarianism: A Differentiated Relationship |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=179–182 |jstor=1385749 |doi=10.2307/1385749}} Also see: {{cite journal |last1=Altemeyer |first1=Bob |first2=Bruce |last2=Hunsberger |year=1992 |title=Authoritarianism, Religious Fundamentalism, Quest, and Prejudice |journal=[[International Journal for the Psychology of Religion]] |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=113–133 |doi=10.1207/s15327582ijpr0202_5}}</ref> These arguments—combined with historical events that are argued to demonstrate the dangers of religion, such as the [[Crusades]], [[inquisition]]s, [[Witch-hunt|witch trials]], and [[Religious terrorism|terrorist attacks]]—have been used in response to claims of beneficial effects of belief in religion.<ref>{{cite web |last=Harris |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Harris (author) |title=An Atheist Manifesto |url=http://www.truthdig.com/dig/print/200512_an_atheist_manifesto |access-date=April 9, 2011 |publisher=[[Truthdig]] |year=2005 |quote=In a world riven by ignorance, only the atheist refuses to deny the obvious: Religious faith promotes human violence to an astonishing degree. |ref=none |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516191405/http://www.truthdig.com/dig/print/200512_an_atheist_manifesto |archive-date=May 16, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Believers counter-argue that some [[state atheism|regimes that espouse atheism]], such as the [[Soviet Union]], have also been guilty of mass murder.<ref name="John S. Feinberg, Paul D. Feinberg">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nl-f5SKq9mgC&pg=PA697 |last1=Feinberg |first1=John S. |author-link1=John S. Feinberg |last2=Feinberg |first2=Paul D. |author-link2=Paul D. Feinberg |title=Ethics for a Brave New World |publisher=[[Greg Koukl|Stand To Reason]] |quote=Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' |access-date=October 18, 2007 |isbn=978-1-58134-712-8 |year=2010}}</ref><ref name="Totalitarianism and Atheism">{{cite web |url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/answering-atheists/answering-atheists-arguments.html |title=Answering Atheist's Arguments |publisher=Catholic Education Resource Center |last=D'Souza |first=Dinesh |author-link=Dinesh D'Souza |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028215055/http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/answering-atheists/answering-atheists-arguments.html |archive-date=October 28, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to those claims, atheists such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have stated that Stalin's atrocities were influenced not by atheism but by dogmatic ideology, and that while Stalin and Mao happened to be atheists, they did not do their deeds in the name of atheism.{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=291}}<ref>[http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/harris06/harris06_index.html 10 myths and 10 truths about Atheism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525005256/http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/harris06/harris06_index.html |date=May 25, 2013 }} Sam Harris</ref><ref>"That does not, however, show that the atrocities committed by these totalitarian dictatorships were the result of atheist beliefs, carried out in the name of atheism, or caused primarily by the atheistic aspects of the relevant forms of communism." {{cite book |last1=Blackford |first1=R. |last2=Schüklenk |first2=U. |title=50 great myths about atheism |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-470-67404-8 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ |chapter=Myth 27 Many Atrocities Have Been Committed in the Name of Atheism |page=88 |access-date=August 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030203821/https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=October 30, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> === Atheism, religions and spirituality === {{further|Atheism and religion||Nontheistic religions}} People who self-identify as atheists are often assumed to be [[irreligion|irreligious]], but some sects within major religions reject the existence of a personal, [[creator deity]].<ref name="winston2">{{cite book |editor-last=Winston |editor-first=Robert |title=Human |publisher=New York: DK Publishing, Inc |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7566-1901-5 |page=299 |quote=Nonbelief has existed for centuries. For example, Buddhism and Jainism have been called atheistic religions because they do not advocate belief in gods.}}</ref> It has been said that atheism is not mutually exclusive with respect to some religious and spiritual belief systems, including modern [[Paganism (contemporary religions)|Neopagan]] movements.<ref name="Neopaganism">{{cite book |editor1-last=Claydon |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Harper |editor2-first=Anne C. |editor3-last=Morehead |editor3-first=John W. |display-editors=1 |last1=Johnson |first1=Philip |last2=Clifford |first2=Ross |last3=Lewis |first3=Mark |last4=Madsen |first4=Ole Skjerbaek |last5=Morehead |first5=John W. |last6=Mulholland |first6=Ken |last7=Payne |first7=Simeon |last8=Riecke |first8=Christina |last9=Smulo |first9=John |display-authors=1 |date=2005 |title=Religious and Non-Religious Spirituality in the Western World ("New Age") A New Vision, A New Heart, A Renewed Call |volume=2 |publisher=William Carey Library |isbn=978-0-87808-364-0 |page=194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfGhUW8RdUIC&q=neopaganism+atheism&pg=PA194 |quote=Although Neo-Pagans share common commitments to nature and spirit there is a diversity of beliefs and practices ... Some are atheists, others are polytheists (several gods exist), some are pantheists (all is God) and others are panentheists (all is in God).}}</ref><ref name="Wicca">{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Carol S. |url=https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000matt |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000matt/page/115 115] |title=New Religions |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |quote=There is no universal worldview that all Neo-Pagans/Wiccans hold. One online information source indicates that depending on how the term ''God'' is defined, Neo-Pagans might be classified as monotheists, duotheists (two gods), polytheists, pantheists, or atheists. |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7910-8096-2}}</ref> In recent years, certain religious denominations have accumulated a number of openly atheistic followers, such as [[atheist Jew|atheistic]] or [[humanistic Judaism]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/subdivisions/humanistic.shtml |title=Humanistic Judaism |date=July 20, 2006 |publisher=BBC |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416143510/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/subdivisions/humanistic.shtml |archive-date=April 16, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Levin |first=S. |date=May 1995 |title=Jewish Atheism |journal=New Humanist |volume=110 |issue=2 |pages=13–15|title-link=Jewish atheism}}</ref> and [[Christian atheism|Christian atheists]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/christianatheism.shtml |title=Christian Atheism |date=May 17, 2006 |publisher=BBC |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302051910/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/christianatheism.shtml |archive-date=March 2, 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Altizer |first=Thomas J.J. |author-link=Thomas J. J. Altizer |title=The Gospel of Christian Atheism |url=http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=523 |year=1967 |publisher=London: Collins |pages=102–103 |access-date=April 9, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929171840/http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=523 |archive-date=September 29, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Lyas |first=Colin |date=January 1970 |title=On the Coherence of Christian Atheism |journal=Philosophy |volume=45 |issue=171 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1017/S0031819100009578|s2cid=170899306 }}</ref> Atheism is accepted as a valid philosophical position within some varieties of [[Hinduism]], [[Jainism]], and [[Buddhism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chakravarti |first=Sitansu |title=Hinduism, a way of life |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |year=1991 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_-rASTgw8wC&pg=PA71 |isbn=978-81-208-0899-7 |quote=According to Hinduism, the path of the atheist is very difficult to follow in matters of spirituality, though it is a valid one. |access-date=April 9, 2011}}</ref> == 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>''... nullos esse omnino Diagoras et Theodorus Cyrenaicus ...'' 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. 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> == Demographics == {{Main|Demographics of atheism}} [[File:Countries by percentage of Unaffiliated–Pew Research 2010.svg|thumb|upright=2.5|[[Irreligion by country|Nonreligious population by country]], 2010<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projection-table/|title=Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2050|date=April 2, 2015|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|language=en-US|access-date=April 27, 2020|archive-date=February 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215031743/http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projection-table/|url-status=live}}</ref>]] It is difficult to quantify the number of atheists in the world. Respondents to religious-belief polls may define "atheism" differently or draw different distinctions between ''atheism'', non-religious beliefs, and non-theistic religious and spiritual beliefs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious |title=Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents, Section on accuracy of non-Religious Demographic Data |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422093857/http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html |archive-date=April 22, 2011 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> A 2010 survey published in ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' found that the non-religious made up about 9.6% of the world's population, and atheists about 2.0%. This figure did not include those who follow atheistic religions, such as some Buddhists.<ref name="eb-2010">{{cite web |title=Religion: Year in Review 2010: Worldwide Adherents of All Religions |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1731588/Religion-Year-In-Review-2010/298437/Worldwide-Adherents-of-All-Religions |website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. |access-date=November 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702182310/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1731588/Religion-Year-In-Review-2010/298437/Worldwide-Adherents-of-All-Religions |archive-date=July 2, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> The average annual change for atheism from 2000 to 2010 was −0.17%.<ref name="eb-2010" /> Broad estimates of those who have an absence of belief in a god range from 500 million to 1.1 billion people worldwide.<ref name="CambridgeZuckerman"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rQTdki1xyK0C&pg=PA122 |title=Secularization and the World Religions |year=2010 |editor1-first=Hans |editor1-last=Joas |editor2-first=Klaus |editor2-last=Wiegandt |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-84631-187-1 |ol=25285702M |page=122 (footnote 1) |access-date=April 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030194457/https://books.google.com/books?id=rQTdki1xyK0C&pg=PA122 |archive-date=October 30, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> Scholars have indicated that [[Desecularization|global atheism may be in decline]] as a percentage of the global population due to irreligious countries having the lowest birth rates in the world and religious countries generally having higher birth rates.<ref name=":1">[http://www.sneps.net/RD/uploads/1-Shall%20the%20Religious%20Inherit%20the%20Earth.pdf Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623024354/http://www.sneps.net/RD/uploads/1-Shall%20the%20Religious%20Inherit%20the%20Earth.pdf |date=June 23, 2017 }} by [[Eric Kaufmann]], Belfer Center, Harvard University/Birkbeck College, University of London</ref><ref name="CambridgeZuckerman">{{cite book|last=Zuckerman|first=Phil|editor1-last=Martin|editor1-first=Michael|title=The Cambridge Companion to Atheism|date=2006|doi=10.1017/CCOL0521842700.004|pages=47–66|chapter=3 - Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns|isbn=9781139001182}}</ref><ref name=":0">[https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/eric-kaufmann/london-a-rising-island-of-religion_b_2336699.html London: A Rising Island of Religion in a Secular Sea] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213124500/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/eric-kaufmann/london-a-rising-island-of-religion_b_2336699.html |date=December 13, 2021 }} by [[Eric Kaufmann]], ''Huffington Post'', February 20, 2013</ref> According to global [[WIN/GIA|Win-Gallup International]] studies, 13% of respondents were "convinced atheists" in 2012,<ref name="Gallup2012">{{cite web |url=http://www.wingia.com/en/news/win_gallup_international_ae_religiosity_and_atheism_index_ao_reveals_atheists_are_a_small_minority_in_the_early_years_of_21st_century/14/ |title=WIN-Gallup International "Religiosity and Atheism Index" reveals atheists are a small minority in the early years of 21st century |date=August 6, 2012 |access-date=August 28, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825005955/http://www.wingia.com/en/news/win_gallup_international_ae_religiosity_and_atheism_index_ao_reveals_atheists_are_a_small_minority_in_the_early_years_of_21st_century/14 |archive-date=August 25, 2012 }}</ref> 11% were "convinced atheists" in 2015,<ref name="wingia2">{{cite news |author=<!--none specified--> |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/13/399338834/new-survey-shows-the-worlds-most-and-least-religious-places |title=New Survey Shows the World's Most and Least Religious Places |newspaper=[[NPR]] |date=April 13, 2015 |access-date=April 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506110630/http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/13/399338834/new-survey-shows-the-worlds-most-and-least-religious-places |archive-date=May 6, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 2017, 9% were "convinced atheists".<ref name="WINGIA 2017">{{Cite web |url=http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/370/file/370.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114113506/http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/370/file/370.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 14, 2017 |title=Religion prevails in the world |date=November 14, 2017|access-date=February 27, 2018}}</ref> {{as of|2012}}, the top 10 surveyed countries with people who viewed themselves as "convinced atheists" were [[China]] (47%), [[Japan]] (31%), the [[Czech Republic]] (30%), [[France]] (29%), [[South Korea]] (15%), [[Germany]] (15%), [[Netherlands]] (14%), [[Austria]] (10%), [[Iceland]] (10%), [[Australia]] (10%), and [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] (10%).<ref>{{cite web |title=Global Index of Religion and Atheism |url=http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf |publisher=[[Gallup (company)|Gallup]] – [[Red C]] |ref=REDC |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016062403/http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf |archive-date=October 16, 2012}}</ref> A 2012 study by the NORC found that East Germany had the highest percentage of atheists while Czech Republic had the second highest amount.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Tom W. |title=Beliefs about God across Time and Countries |url=https://www.norc.org/PDFs/Beliefs_about_God_Report.pdf |access-date=February 26, 2021 |location=NORC, University of Chicago |page=7 |language=en |date=April 18, 2012 |archive-date=May 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522083304/http://www.norc.org/PDFs/Beliefs_about_God_Report.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The number of atheists per country is strongly correlated with the level of security for both the individual and society, with some exceptions.<ref name="Martin2007">{{cite book |last=Zuckerman |first=Phil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA56 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Atheism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-60367-6 |editor=Martin, Michael T |location=Cambridge |pages=55, 57 |ol=22379448M |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031223718/https://books.google.com/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA56 |archive-date=October 31, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> === Europe === [[File:Europe No Belief enhanced 2010.png|thumb|Percentage of people in various European countries who said: "I don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force." (2010)<ref name=EB2010>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_341_en.pdf |title=Special Eurobarometer: Biotechnology |page=381 |date=October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215001129/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_341_en.pdf |archive-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref>]] According to the 2010 Eurobarometer Poll, the percentage of those polled who agreed with the statement "you don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force" varied from a high percentage in France (40%), Czech Republic (37%), Sweden (34%), Netherlands (30%), and Estonia (29%); medium-high percentage in Germany (27%), Belgium (27%), UK (25%); to very low in Poland (5%), Greece (4%), Cyprus (3%), Malta (2%), and Romania (1%), with the European Union as a whole at 20%.<ref name="EU">{{cite book |title=Social values, Science and Technology |publisher=Directorate General Research, European Union |year=2010 |pages=207 |url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_341_en.pdf |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430163128/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf |archive-date=April 30, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In a 2012 Eurobarometer poll on discrimination in the European Union, 16% of those polled considered themselves non-believers/agnostics, and 7% considered themselves atheists.<ref>{{citation |title=Discrimination in the EU in 2012 |work=[[Eurobarometer|Special Eurobarometer]] |year=2012 |series=383 |page=233 |url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_393_en.pdf |access-date=August 14, 2013 |publisher=[[European Commission]] |location=[[European Union]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202023700/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_393_en.pdf |archive-date=December 2, 2012}} The question asked was "Do you consider yourself to be ...?", with a card showing: Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Other Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist, and non-believer/agnostic. Space was given for Other (Spontaneous) and DK. Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu did not reach the 1% threshold.</ref> According to a [[Pew Research Center]] survey in 2012, about 18% of Europeans are [[Irreligion|religiously unaffiliated]], including agnostics and atheists.<ref name="Religiously Unaffiliated">{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/global-religious-landscape-unaffiliated.aspx |title=Religiously Unaffiliated |date=December 18, 2012 |website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |access-date=November 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730043126/http://www.pewforum.org/global-religious-landscape-unaffiliated.aspx |archive-date=July 30, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the same survey, the religiously unaffiliated are the majority of the population only in two European countries: Czech Republic (75%) and Estonia (60%).<ref name="Religiously Unaffiliated" /> === Asia === There are three countries and [[Special administrative regions of China|one special administrative region of China]] or regions where the religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of the population: [[Irreligion in North Korea|North Korea]] (71%), [[Religion in Japan#Opposition to organised religion|Japan]] (57%), Hong Kong (56%), and China (52%).<ref name="Religiously Unaffiliated" /> === Australasia === According to the [[2021 Australian census|2021 Australian Census]], 38% of Australians have "no religion", a category that includes atheists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2021 Australia, Census All persons QuickStats |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/AUS |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329231159/https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/AUS |url-status=live }}</ref> In a 2018 census, 48.2% of [[New Zealanders]] reported having no religion, up from 30% in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.stats.govt.nz/tools/2018-census-place-summaries/new-zealand#religion |title=Place Summaries {{!}} New Zealand |website=Stats NZ |access-date=Nov 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127073855/https://www.stats.govt.nz/tools/2018-census-place-summaries/new-zealand#religion |archive-date=Nov 27, 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref> === United States === [[File:Atheismsymbol endorsed by AAI.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.6|Symbol of atheism endorsed by the [[Atheist Alliance International]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://atheistzone.com/|title=Atheist Zone|access-date=May 23, 2023|archive-date=May 18, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518005431/https://atheistzone.com/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atheistalliance.org/secular/articles/v12n3_conventionpt5.pdf |title=PDF of the Secular Nation article "A Conventioneer's Delight! Pt 5 of 5" |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121031350/http://atheistalliance.org//secular/articles/v12n3_conventionpt5.pdf |archive-date=2008-11-21}}</ref>]] According to the [[World Values Survey]], 4.4% of Americans self-identified as atheists in 2014.<ref name="WVS">{{cite web |title=WVS Database |url=http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSOnline.jsp |website=World Values Survey |publisher=Institute for Comparative Survey Research |date=March 2015 |access-date=January 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105141038/http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSOnline.jsp |archive-date=January 5, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the same survey showed that 11.1% of all respondents stated "no" when asked if they believed in God.<ref name="WVS" /> According to a 2014 report by the Pew Research Center, 3.1% of the US adult population identify as atheist, up from 1.6% in 2007; and within the religiously unaffiliated (or "no religion") demographic, atheists made up 13.6%.<ref>[http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/ America's Changing Religious Landscape] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410223438/https://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/ |date=April 10, 2019 }}, Pew Research Center, May 12, 2015.</ref> According to the 2015 General Sociological Survey the number of atheists and agnostics in the US has remained relatively flat in the past 23 years since in 1991 only 2% identified as atheist and 4% identified as agnostic and in 2014 only 3% identified as atheists and 5% identified as agnostics.<ref name="GSS 2014">{{cite web |last1=Hout |first1=Michael |last2=Smith |first2=Tom W. |title=Fewer Americans Affiliate with Organized Religions, Belief and Practice Unchanged: Key Findings from the 2014 General Social Survey |url=http://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS_Religion_2014.pdf |website=General Social Survey |publisher=NORC |date=March 2015 |access-date=July 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713122450/http://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS_Religion_2014.pdf |archive-date=July 13, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the American Family Survey, 34% were found to be religiously unaffiliated in 2017 (23% 'nothing in particular', 6% agnostic, 5% atheist).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.christiantoday.com/article/nones-are-now-the-biggest-religious-group-in-the-us-with-families-torn-on-priorities/118935.htm |title='Nones' are now the biggest religious group in the US – with families torn on priorities |website=www.christiantoday.com |date=November 17, 2017 |language=en |access-date=December 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206140155/https://www.christiantoday.com/article/nones-are-now-the-biggest-religious-group-in-the-us-with-families-torn-on-priorities/118935.htm |archive-date=December 6, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.deseretnews.com/american-family-survey/2017 |title=DN American Family Survey 2017 |website=DeseretNews.com |language=en |access-date=December 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206144335/https://www.deseretnews.com/american-family-survey/2017 |archive-date=December 6, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the Pew Research Center, in 2014, 22.8% of the American population does not identify with a religion, including atheists (3.1%) and agnostics (4%).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/ |title=America's Changing Religious Landscape |publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]: Religion & Public Life |date=May 12, 2015 |access-date=May 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410223438/https://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/ |archive-date=April 10, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to a PRRI survey, 24% of the population is unaffiliated. Atheists and agnostics combined make up about a quarter of this unaffiliated demographic.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.prri.org/research/american-religious-landscape-christian-religiously-unaffiliated/ |title=America's Changing Religious Identity |work=PRRI |access-date=December 16, 2017 |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131052457/https://www.prri.org/research/american-religious-landscape-christian-religiously-unaffiliated/ |archive-date=January 31, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to a 2023 [[Pew Research Center]] study, 28% of Americans are religiously unaffiliated.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alper |first=Gregory A. Smith, Patricia Tevington, Justin Nortey, Michael Rotolo, Asta Kallo and Becka A. |date=2024-01-24 |title=Religious ‘Nones’ in America: Who They Are and What They Believe |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/01/24/religious-nones-in-america-who-they-are-and-what-they-believe/ |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |language=en-US}}</ref> === Arab world === In recent years, the profile of atheism has risen substantially in the [[Arab world]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/4898/the-rise-of-arab-atheism |title=The rise of Arab atheism |date=June 29, 2015 |access-date=February 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206085946/https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/4898/the-rise-of-arab-atheism |archive-date=February 6, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> In major cities across the region, such as [[Cairo]], atheists have been organizing in cafés and social media, despite regular crackdowns from authoritarian governments.<ref name="auto" /> A 2012 poll by Gallup International revealed that 5% of Saudis considered themselves to be "convinced atheists".<ref name="auto" /> However, very few young people in the Arab world have atheists in their circle of friends or acquaintances. According to one study, less than 1% did in Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Jordan; only 3% to 7% in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Palestine.<ref name="Tabah2016">[http://mmgsurvey.tabahfoundation.org/downloads/mmgsurvey_full_En_web.pdf Muslim Millennial Attitudes on Religion and Religious Leadership, Arab World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208013343/http://mmgsurvey.tabahfoundation.org/downloads/mmgsurvey_full_En_web.pdf |date=February 8, 2016 }}, Tabah Foundation, Abu Dhabi, 2016</ref> When asked whether they have "seen or heard traces of atheism in [their] locality, community, and society" only about 3% to 8% responded yes in all the countries surveyed. The only exception was the UAE, with a percentage of 51%.<ref name="Tabah2016" /> === Attitudes toward atheism === {{See also|Discrimination against atheists}} Statistically, atheists are held in poor regard across the globe. Non-atheists seem to implicitly view atheists as prone to exhibit immoral behaviors.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gervais |first1=Will M. |last2=Xygalatas |first2=Dimitris |last3=McKay |first3=Ryan T. |last4=van Elk |first4=Michiel |last5=Buchtel |first5=Emma E. |last6=Aveyard |first6=Mark |last7=Schiavone |first7=Sarah R. |last8=Dar-Nimrod |first8=Ilan |last9=Svedholm-Häkkinen |first9=Annika M. |last10=Riekki |first10=Tapani |last11=Klocová |first11=Eva Kundtová |last12=Ramsay |first12=Jonathan E. |last13=Bulbulia |first13=Joseph |title=Global evidence of extreme intuitive moral prejudice against atheists |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |date=August 7, 2017 |volume=1 |issue=8 |page=0151 |doi=10.1038/s41562-017-0151 |url=http://psyarxiv.com/csnp2/ |access-date=September 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118224040/https://psyarxiv.com/csnp2/ |archive-date=January 18, 2018 |url-status=live |hdl=10138/246517 |s2cid=45851307 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> In addition, according to a 2016 [[Pew Research Center]] publication, 15% of French people, 45% of Americans, and 99% of Indonesians explicitly believe that a person must believe in God to be moral. Pew furthermore noted that, in a U.S. poll, atheists and Muslims tied for the lowest rating among the major religious demographics on a "[[feeling thermometer]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=10 facts about atheists |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/01/10-facts-about-atheists/ |website=Pew Research Center |access-date=January 23, 2018 |date=June 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121114119/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/01/10-facts-about-atheists/ |archive-date=January 21, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> Also, a study of religious college students found that they were more likely to perceive and interact with atheists negatively after considering their mortality, suggesting that these attitudes may be the result of [[Death anxiety#Religiosity|death anxiety]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cook|first1=Corey L.|last2=Cohen|first2=Florette|last3=Solomon|first3=Sheldon|date=September 1, 2015|title=What If They're Right About the Afterlife? Evidence of the Role of Existential Threat on Anti-Atheist Prejudice|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550615584200|journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science|language=en|volume=6|issue=7|pages=840–846|doi=10.1177/1948550615584200|s2cid=145425706|issn=1948-5506}}</ref> === Wealth, education, and reasoning style === {{Further|Religiosity and education}} [[File:2012-02-14_UAAR_Darwin_Day_Pievani_01.jpg|thumb|Darwin Day 2012 in Rome organised by Italian atheists and agnostics.]] Various studies have reported positive correlations between levels of education, wealth and [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]] with atheism.<ref name="VyseSI">{{cite journal |last1=Vyse |first1=Stuart |title=Are atheists sadder but wiser? |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=April 2020 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=31–33}}</ref><ref name="GeggelLiveScience">{{cite web |last1=Geggel |first1=Laura |title=Why are atheists generally smarter than religious people |url=https://www.livescience.com/59361-why-are-atheists-generally-more-intelligent.html |website=LiveScience |date=June 5, 2017 |publisher=Future US Inc. |access-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324203444/https://www.livescience.com/59361-why-are-atheists-generally-more-intelligent.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="intmag">{{Cite journal |last1=Lynn |first1=Richard |author-link=Richard Lynn |last2=Harvey |first2=John |last3=Nyborg |first3=Helmuth |title=Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations |journal=[[Intelligence (journal)|Intelligence]] |year=2009 |volume=37 |pages=11–15 |doi=10.1016/j.intell.2008.03.004}}</ref><ref name="Zuckerman" /> In a 2008 study, researchers found intelligence to be negatively related to religious belief in Europe and the United States. In a sample of 137 countries, the correlation between national IQ and disbelief in God was found to be 0.60.<ref name="intmag"/> According to evolutionary psychologist [[Nigel Barber]], atheism blossoms in places where most people feel economically secure, particularly in the [[Social democracy|social democracies]] of Europe, as there is less uncertainty about the future with extensive social safety nets and better health care resulting in a greater quality of life and higher life expectancy. By contrast, in underdeveloped countries, there are far fewer atheists.<ref>Nigel Barber (May 18, 2010). [https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-beast/201005/why-atheism-will-replace-religion Why Atheism Will Replace Religion] . ''[[Psychology Today]]''. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref> The relationship between atheism and IQ, while statistically significant, is not a large one, and the reason for the relationship is not well understood.<ref name="VyseSI" /> One hypothesis is that the negative relationship between IQ and religiosity is mediated by individual differences in nonconformity; in many countries, religious belief is a conformist choice, and there is evidence that more intelligent people are less likely to conform.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rhodes |first1=Nancy |last2=Wood |first2=Wendy |title=Self-esteem and intelligence affect influenceability |journal=Psychological Bulletin |date=1992 |volume=111 |issue=1 |pages=156–171 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.111.1.156}}</ref> Another theory is that people of higher IQ are more likely to engage in analytical reasoning, and that disbelief in religion results from the application of higher-level analytical reasoning to the assessment of religious claims.<ref name="VyseSI" /> In a 2017 study, it was shown that compared to religious individuals, atheists have higher reasoning capacities and this difference seemed to be unrelated to sociodemographic factors such as age, education and country of origin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Daws |first1=Richard |last2=Hampshire |first2=Adam |title=The Negative Relationship between Reasoning and Religiosity Is Underpinned by a Bias for Intuitive Responses Specifically When Intuition and Logic Are in Conflict |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |date=December 19, 2017 |volume=8 |issue=2191 |page=2191 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02191 |pmid=29312057 |pmc=5742220 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In a 2015 study, researchers found that atheists score higher on cognitive reflection tests than theists, the authors wrote that "The fact that atheists score higher agrees with the literature showing that belief is an automatic manifestation of the mind and its default mode. Disbelieving seems to require deliberative cognitive ability."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Da Silva |first1=Sergio |last2=Matsushita |first2=Raul |last3=Seifert |first3=Guilherme |last4=De Carvalho |first4=Mateus |title=Atheists score higher on cognitive reflection tests |journal=MPRA Paper |issue=68451 |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/68451/2/MPRA_paper_68451.pdf |access-date=July 20, 2020 |archive-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321211303/https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/68451/2/MPRA_paper_68451.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2016 study, in which 4 new studies were reported and a meta-analysis of all previous research on the topic was performed, found that self-identified atheists scored 18.7% higher than theists on the cognitive reflection test and there is a negative correlation between religiosity and analytical thinking. The authors note that recently "it has been argued that analytic thinkers are not actually less religious; rather, the putative association may be a result of religiosity typically being measured after analytic thinking (an order effect)," however, they state "Our results indicate that the association between analytical thinking and religious disbelief is not caused by a simple order effect. There is good evidence that atheists and agnostics are more reflective than religious believers."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pennycook |first1=Gordon |author-link=Gordon Pennycook |last2=Ross |first2=Robert |last3=Koehler |first3=Derek |last4=Fugelsang |first4=Jonathan |date=April 2016 |title=Atheists and Agnostics Are More Reflective than Religious Believers: Four Empirical Studies and a Meta-Analysis |url= |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=e0153039 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1153039P |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0153039 |pmc=4824409 |pmid=27054566 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This "analytic atheist" effect has also been found among academic philosophers, even when controlling for about a dozen potential confounds such as education.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Byrd |first1=Nick |title=Great Minds do not Think Alike: Philosophers' Views Predicted by Reflection, Education, Personality, and Other Demographic Differences |journal=Review of Philosophy and Psychology |date=2022 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=647–684 |doi=10.1007/s13164-022-00628-y |s2cid=247911367 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-022-00628-y}}</ref> However, some studies do not detect this correlation between atheism and analytic thinking in all of the countries that they study,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gervais |first1=Will M. |last2=van Elk |first2=Michiel |last3=Xygalatas |first3=Dimitris |last4=McKay |first4=Ryan |last5=Aveyard |first5=Mark |last6=Buchtel |first6=Emma E. |last7=Dar-Nimrod |first7=Ilan |last8=Klocová |first8=Eva Kundtová |last9=Ramsay |first9=Jonathan E. |last10=Riekki |first10=Tapani |last11=Svedholm-Häkkinen |first11=Annika M. |last12=Bulbulia |first12=Joseph |title=Analytic atheism: A cross-culturally weak and fickle phenomenon? |journal=Judgment and Decision-making |date=2018 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=268–274 |doi=10.1017/S1930297500007701 |url=http://journal.sjdm.org/18/18228/jdm18228.pdf |access-date=April 6, 2022 |archive-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221113759/http://journal.sjdm.org/18/18228/jdm18228.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> suggesting that the relationship between analytic thinking and atheism may depend on culture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gervais |first1=Will M. |last2=Najle |first2=Maxine B. |last3=Caluori |first3=Nava |title=The Origins of Religious Disbelief: A Dual Inheritance Approach |journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science |date=2021 |volume=12 |issue=7 |pages=1369–1379 |doi=10.1177/1948550621994001 |s2cid=233804304 |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550621994001}}</ref> There is also evidence that gender may be involved in the so-called analytic atheist effect: because men have been found more likely to endorse atheism,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schnell |first1=Tatjana |last2=de Boer |first2=Elpine |last3=Alma |first3=Hans |title=Worlds apart? Atheist, agnostic, and humanist worldviews in three European countries |journal=Psychology of Religion and Spirituality |date=2021 |volume=15 |pages=83–93 |doi=10.1037/rel0000446 |hdl=1887/3307612 |s2cid=242996508 |url=https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000446|hdl-access=free }}</ref> and men often perform slightly better on tests of analytic thinking<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maloney |first1=Erin A. |last2=Retanal |first2=Fraulein |title=Higher math anxious people have a lower need for cognition and are less reflective in their thinking |journal=Acta Psychologica |date=2021 |volume=202 |page=102939 |doi=10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102939 |pmid=31805479 |s2cid=208768799 |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102939}}</ref> when not controlling for variables such as math anxiety,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Primi |first1=Caterina |last2=Donati |first2=Maria Anna |last3=Chiesi |first3=Francesca |last4=Morsanyi |first4=Kinga |title=Are there gender differences in cognitive reflection? Invariance and differences related to mathematics |journal=Thinking & Reasoning |date=2018 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=258–279 |doi=10.1080/13546783.2017.1387606 |s2cid=55892851 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2017.1387606}}</ref> the correlation between atheism and analytic reasoning may be partly explained by whatever explains observed gender differences in analytic thinking. == See also == {{Portal|Philosophy}} * [[Antireligion]] * [[Apatheism]] * ''[[A Rough History of Disbelief]]'' * [[Atheist existentialism]] * [[Brights movement]] * [[Lists of atheists]] * [[Outline of atheism]] ==Notes== {{notelist}} == References == === Citations === {{reflist|colwidth=30em |refs= <ref name="encyc-unbelief-def-issues">{{cite book |last=Harvey |first=Van A. |title=Agnosticism and Atheism |postscript=,}} in {{harvnb|Flynn|2007|p=35}}: "The terms ''ATHEISM'' and ''AGNOSTICISM'' lend themselves to two different definitions. The first takes the privative ''a'' both before the Greek ''theos'' (divinity) and ''gnosis'' (to know) to mean that atheism is the absence of belief in the gods and agnosticism is the lack of knowledge of some specified subject matter. The second definition takes atheism to mean the explicit denial of the existence of gods and agnosticism as the position of someone who, because the existence of gods is unknowable, suspends judgment regarding them ... The first is the more inclusive and recognizes only two alternatives: Either one believes in the gods or one does not. Consequently, there is no third alternative, as those who call themselves agnostics sometimes claim. Insofar as they lack belief, they are really atheists. Moreover, since the absence of belief is the cognitive position in which everyone is born, the burden of proof falls on those who advocate religious belief. The proponents of the second definition, by contrast, regard the first definition as too broad because it includes uninformed children along with aggressive and explicit atheists. Consequently, it is unlikely that the public will adopt it."</ref> <!-- <ref name="eb2011-atheism">{{harvnb|Nielsen|2013}}: "Instead of saying that an atheist is someone who believes that it is false or probably false that there is a God, a more adequate characterization of atheism consists in the more complex claim that to be an atheist is to be someone who rejects belief in God for the following reasons ... : for an anthropomorphic God, the atheist rejects belief in God because it is false or probably false that there is a God; for a nonanthropomorphic God ... because the concept of such a God is either meaningless, unintelligible, contradictory, incomprehensible, or incoherent; for the God portrayed by some modern or contemporary theologians or philosophers ... because the concept of God in question is such that it merely masks an atheistic substance—e.g., "God" is just another name for love, or ... a symbolic term for moral ideals."</ref> --> <ref name="eb2011-Rejection-of-all-religious-beliefs">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Atheism as rejection of religious beliefs |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40634/atheism |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |edition=15th |volume=1 |page=666 |year=2011 |id=0852294735 |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512015453/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40634/atheism |archive-date=May 12, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> <!-- <ref name="encyc-philosophy">{{harvnb|Edwards|2005}}: "On our definition, an 'atheist' is a person who rejects belief in God, regardless of whether or not his reason for the rejection is the claim that 'God exists' expresses a false proposition. People frequently adopt an attitude of rejection toward a position for reasons other than that it is a false proposition. It is common among contemporary philosophers, and indeed it was not uncommon in earlier centuries, to reject positions on the ground that they are meaningless. Sometimes, too, a theory is rejected on such grounds as that it is sterile or redundant or capricious, and there are many other considerations which in certain contexts are generally agreed to constitute good grounds for rejecting an assertion."</ref> --> <!-- <ref name=RoweRoutledge>{{harvnb|Rowe|1998}}: "As commonly understood, atheism is the position that affirms the nonexistence of God. So an atheist is someone who disbelieves in God, whereas a theist is someone who believes in God. Another meaning of 'atheism' is simply nonbelief in the existence of God, rather than positive belief in the nonexistence of God. ... an atheist, in the broader sense of the term, is someone who disbelieves in every form of deity, not just the God of traditional Western theology."</ref> --> <!--ref name=extreme-secularism>{{harvnb|Zuckerman|2010}}: "A major source of these biases is the lack of clear definitions. Atheism and secularity are defined in opposition to religion, with atheism (the rejection of theism) often perceived as an extreme form of secularism (the decline of religious influence over society). But atheism is a narrow term referring to a specific belief (that there is no god), whereas secularism has various meanings, including a range of attitudes (such as religious indifference, doubt, agnosticism, and atheism) as behaviors (such as lack of regular church attendance or disregard for traditional religious morality)."</ref--> <ref name="martin-agnosticism-entails">{{harvnb|Martin|2006|p=2}}: "But agnosticism is compatible with negative atheism in that agnosticism ''entails'' negative atheism. Since agnostics do not believe in God, they are by definition negative atheists. This is not to say that negative atheism entails agnosticism. A negative atheist ''might'' disbelieve in God but need not."</ref> <ref name="agnosticism-compatible">{{harvnb|Martin|1990|pp=[https://archive.org/details/atheismphilosoph00mart_0/page/466 <!-- quote="compatible with negative atheism". --> 467–468]}}: "In the popular sense an agnostic neither believes nor disbelieves that God exists, while an atheist disbelieves that God exists. However, this common contrast of agnosticism with atheism will hold only if one assumes that atheism means positive atheism. In the popular sense, agnosticism is compatible with negative atheism. Since negative atheism by definition simply means not holding any concept of God, it is compatible with neither believing nor disbelieving in God."</ref> <ref name="barker-agnostic-atheism">{{harvnb|Barker|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fAjPWYgIfCoC&pg=PA96 96]}}: "People are invariably surprised to hear me say I am both an atheist and an agnostic, as if this somehow weakens my certainty. I usually reply with a question like, "Well, are you a Republican or an American?" The two words serve different concepts and are not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism addresses knowledge; atheism addresses belief. The agnostic says, "I don't have a knowledge that God exists." The atheist says, "I don't have a belief that God exists." You can say both things at the same time. Some agnostics are atheistic and some are theistic."</ref> <!--(this citation is not used in content and was thus giving a cite error) <ref name=honderich>Honderich, Ted (Ed.) (1995). "Humanism". ''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy''. Oxford University Press. p. 376. {{ISBN|0-19-866132-0}}.</ref--> <!-- <ref name=religioustolerance>Most dictionaries (see the OneLook query for [http://www.onelook.com/?w=atheism&ls=a "atheism"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930023613/http://www.onelook.com/?w=atheism&ls=a |date=September 30, 2007 }}) first list one of the more narrow definitions. * {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofphil00ange |title=Dictionary of Philosophy |editor-first=Dagobert D. |editor-last=Runes |editor-link=Dagobert D. Runes |year=1942 |publisher=Littlefield, Adams & Co. Philosophical Library |location=New Jersey |isbn=978-0-06-463461-8 |quote=(a) the belief that there is no God; (b) Some philosophers have been called "atheistic" because they have not held to a belief in a personal God. Atheism in this sense means "not theistic". The former meaning of the term is a literal rendering. The latter meaning is a less rigorous use of the term though widely current in the history of thought |access-date=April 9, 2011}} – entry by [[Vergilius Ferm]]</ref> --> <!-- <ref name=oxdicphil>{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Simon Blackburn |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy |title=atheism |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199541430.001.0001/acref-9780199541430-e-278?rskey=GC0Coc&result=279 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |edition=2008 |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |quote=Either the lack of belief that there exists a god, or the belief that there exists none. Sometimes thought itself to be more dogmatic than mere agnosticism, although atheists retort that everyone is an atheist about most gods, so they merely advance one step further.|isbn=978-0-19-954143-0 }}</ref> --> <!-- <ref name=reldef>{{cite web |url=http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/aboutreldefinitions.html |title=Definitions: Atheism |publisher=Department of Religious Studies, University of Alabama |access-date=December 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607093325/http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/aboutreldefinitions.html |archive-date=June 7, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> --> <ref name="hume-metaphysics">{{harvnb|Hume|1748|loc=Part III}}: "If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion."</ref> }} === Sources === {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Adamson|first1=Peter|author1-link=Peter Adamson (philosopher)|date=2021|title=Abu Bakr al-Razi|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor1-last=Zalta|editor1-first=Edward N.|editor1-link=Edward N. 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Borchert |orig-year=1967 |year=2005 |edition=2nd |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Philosophy|The Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |volume=1 |page=359 |isbn=978-0-02-865780-6}}<!-- (page 175 in 1967 edition) --> * {{cite book |last=Flew |first=Antony |author-link=Antony Flew |title=The Presumption of Atheism, and other Philosophical Essays on God, Freedom, and Immortality |location=New York |publisher=Barnes and Noble |year=1976}} * {{cite book |last=Flint |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Flint |title=Agnosticism: The Croall Lecture for 1887–88 |year=1903 |publisher=William Blackwood and Sons |ol=7193167M}} * {{cite book |title=The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief |editor-last=Flynn |editor-first=Tom |editor-link=Tom Flynn (author) |publisher=Prometheus Books |date=October 25, 2007 |isbn=978-1-59102-391-3 |ol=8851140M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YR4RAQAAIAAJ }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Harris (author) |title=The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason |url=https://archive.org/details/endoffaithreligi00harr |url-access=registration |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |year=2005 |isbn=9780393327656 }} * {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Harris (author) |title=Letter to a Christian Nation |date=September 19, 2006 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-307-27877-7 |ol=25353925M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlZATs3xD0gC&pg=PP1 }} * {{cite journal |last=Harris |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Harris (author) |title=The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos |journal=[[Free Inquiry]] |issn=0272-0701 |date=April 2006 |volume=26 |issue=3 |url=https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/2863 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |ref={{harvid |Harris |2006a}} |archive-date=August 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820113335/https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/2863 |url-status=live }} [http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/the-myth-of-secular-moral-chaos alternate URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224084447/http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/the-myth-of-secular-moral-chaos/ |date=February 24, 2015 }} * {{cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Hitchens |title=God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything |publisher=Random House |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGgoYfGyqSMC&pg=PP1 |isbn=978-0-7710-4143-3 }} * {{cite book |last=Hume |first=David |author-link=David Hume |title=Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion |year=1779 |ol=7145748M |location=London|title-link=s:Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion}} * {{cite book |last=Hume |first=David |author-link=David Hume |title=An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding |year=1748 |location=London|title-link=s:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding}} * {{cite news |last=Landsberg |first=Mitchell |title=Atheists, agnostics most knowledgeable about religion, survey says |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/28/nation/la-na-religion-survey-20100928 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=September 28, 2010 |access-date=April 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511180716/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/28/nation/la-na-religion-survey-20100928 |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=live }} * {{cite book |last=Martin |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Martin (philosopher) |title=Atheism: A Philosophical Justification |url=https://archive.org/details/atheismphilosoph00mart_0 |url-access=registration |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Temple University Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-87722-642-0 |ol=8110936M |access-date=April 9, 2011 }} * {{cite book |editor-last=Martin |editor-first=Michael |editor-link=Michael Martin (philosopher) |title=The Cambridge Companion to Atheism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA8 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-84270-9 |ol=22379448M |access-date=November 25, 2013 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Nielsen |first=Kai |author-link=Kai Nielsen (philosopher) |title=Atheism |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year=2013 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40634/atheism |access-date=November 25, 2013 }} * {{cite book |last=Oppy |first=Graham |author-link=Graham Oppy |title=Atheism and Agnosticism |year=2018 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/atheism-and-agnosticism/C0D61CA2D386696A43294D440B7F9C11 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-55534-0 |doi=10.1017/9781108555340 |access-date=June 9, 2018 |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227043843/https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/atheism-and-agnosticism/C0D61CA2D386696A43294D440B7F9C11 |url-status=live }} * {{cite encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lnuwFH_M5o0C&pg=PA530 |first=William L. |last=Rowe |author-link=William L. Rowe |encyclopedia=[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |title=Atheism |year=1998 |editor=Edward Craig |isbn=978-0-415-07310-3 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |access-date=April 9, 2011 }} * {{cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |author-link=Bertrand Russell |title=Why I am not a Christian, and other essays on religion and related subjects |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1957}} * {{cite book |last=Sartre |first=Jean-Paul |author-link=Jean-Paul Sartre |orig-year=1946 |contribution=Existentialism and Humanism |editor-last=Priest |editor-first=Stephen |title=Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings |year=2001 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |page=45 |isbn=978-0-415-21367-7}} * {{cite book |last=Sartre |first=Jean-Paul |orig-year=1946 |contribution=An existentialist ethics |year=2004 |editor-last=Gensler |editor-first=Harry J. |editor2-last=Spurgin |editor2-first=Earl W. |editor3-last=Swindal |editor3-first=James C. |title=Ethics: Contemporary Readings |place=London |publisher=Routledge |page=127 |isbn=978-0-415-25680-3}} * {{cite book |author1-last=Schaffner |author1-first=Caleb |author2-last=Cragun |author2-first=Ryan T. |year=2020 |chapter=Chapter 20: Non-Religion and Atheism |chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004331471/BP000022.xml?body=pdf-43180 |editor1-last=Enstedt |editor1-first=Daniel |editor2-last=Larsson |editor2-first=Göran |editor3-last=Mantsinen |editor3-first=Teemu T. |title=Handbook of Leaving Religion |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=18 |doi=10.1163/9789004331471_021 |doi-access=free |pages=242–252 |isbn=978-90-04-33092-4 |issn=1874-6691 |access-date=May 29, 2021 |archive-date=June 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602214237/https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004331471/BP000022.xml?body=pdf-43180 |url-status=live }} * {{cite book |last=Smith |first=George H. |author-link=George H. Smith |title=Atheism: The Case Against God |year=1979 |location=Buffalo, New York |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-0-87975-124-1 |lccn=79002726 |ol=4401616M |url=https://archive.org/details/atheismcaseagain00smit_0 }} * {{cite book |last=Stenger |first=Victor J. |author-link=Victor J. Stenger |title=God: The Failed Hypothesis—How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist |year=2007 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, New York |isbn=978-1-59102-652-5}} * {{cite book |last=Stenger |first=Victor J. |author-link=Victor J. Stenger |title=The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason |date=September 22, 2009 |publisher=Prometheus |isbn=978-1-59102-751-5 |url=http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/battle.html |access-date=July 23, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011014538/http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/battle.html |archive-date=October 11, 2012 }} * {{cite book|first=Sarah|last=Stroumsa|author-link=Sarah Stroumsa|title=Freethinkers of Medieval Islam: Ibn al-Rāwandī, Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, and Their Impact on Islamic Thought|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|year=1999|isbn=978-90-04-11374-9}} * {{cite book |last=Zdybicka |first=Zofia J. |year=2005 |contribution=Atheism |url=http://ptta.pl/pef |contribution-url=http://ptta.pl/pef/haslaen/a/atheism.pdf |editor-first=Andrzej |editor-last=Maryniarczyk |title=Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy |volume=1 |publisher=Polish Thomas Aquinas Association |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-date=March 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312032653/http://ptta.pl/pef/ |url-status=live }} {{refend}} == Further reading == {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite book |last=Berman |first=David |title=A History of Atheism in Britain: From Hobbes to Russell |year=1990 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Li4OAAAAQAAJ&q=A%20History%20of%20Atheism%20in%20Britain%3A%20From%20Hobbes%20to%20Russell&pg=PP1 |publisher=London: Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-04727-2 }} * [[Charles Bradlaugh|Bradlaugh, Charles]], [[Annie Besant]] and others. (1884) ''The Atheistic Platform: 12 Lectures''. London: Freethought Publishing. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jh8HAAAAQAAJ The atheistic platform, 12 lectures by C. Bradlaugh [and others].] * {{cite book |last=Buckley |first=M.J. |title=At the Origins of Modern Atheism |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-300-04897-1 |publisher=New Haven, CT: Yale University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/atoriginsofmoder00buck }} * {{cite book |editor-last=Bullivant |editor-first=Stephen |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Ruse |title=The Oxford Handbook of Atheism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbIVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA267 |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford UP |isbn=978-0-19-964465-0 }} * {{cite book |last=Duran |first=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}} * {{cite book |last=Flew |first=Antony |author-link=Antony Flew |title=God and Philosophy |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-59102-330-2 |year=2005}} * {{cite book |editor=Tom Flynn |title=The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief |year=2007 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, New York |isbn=978-1-59102-391-3}} * {{cite book |editor=Gaskin, J. C. A. |title=Varieties of Unbelief: From Epicurus to Sartre |publisher=New York: Macmillan |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-02-340681-2}} * {{cite journal |last=Germani |first=Alan |title=The Mystical Ethics of the New Atheists |journal=The Objective Standard |volume=3 |issue=3 |date=September 15, 2008 |url=http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2008-fall/mystical-ethics-new-atheists.asp |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110428193621/http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2008-fall/mystical-ethics-new-atheists.asp |archive-date=April 28, 2011 |url-status=dead }} * {{Cite book |title=Seven Types of Atheism |last=Gray |first=John |publisher=Penguin |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-241-19941-1 |location=Harmondsworth }} *{{cite book |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |title=An Intelligent Person's Guide to Atheism |publisher=London: Duckworth |isbn=978-0-7156-3229-1 |year=2003|title-link=An Intelligent Person's Guide to Atheism}} * {{cite news |url=http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/sam_harris/2007/10/the_problem_with_atheism.html |title=The Problem with Atheism |last=Harris |first=Sam |date=October 2, 2007 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524071308/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/sam_harris/2007/10/the_problem_with_atheism.html |archive-date=May 24, 2011 |url-status=dead }} * Howson, Colin (2011). ''Objecting to God''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-18665-0|}} * [[Ronald F. Inglehart|Inglehart, Ronald F.]], "Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion", ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', vol. 99, no. 5 (September / October 2020), pp. 110–118. * {{cite book |last=Jacoby |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Jacoby |title=Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism |year=2004 |publisher=Metropolitan Books |isbn=978-0-8050-7442-0 }} * {{cite book |last=Krueger |first=D.E. |title=What is Atheism?: A Short Introduction |publisher=New York: Prometheus |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-57392-214-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/whatisatheismsho0000krue }} * {{cite journal |doi=10.1177/0952695112441301 |title=The evolution of atheism: Scientific and humanistic approaches |year=2012 |last1=Ledrew |first1=S. |journal=History of the Human Sciences |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=70–87 |s2cid=145640287 }} * {{cite book |last=Le Poidevin |first=R. |title=Arguing for Atheism: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion |publisher=London: Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4YlYZi_cMUC |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-415-09338-5 }} * {{cite book |last=Mackie |first=J.L. |author-link=J. L. Mackie |title=The Miracle of Theism: Arguments For and Against the Existence of God |year=1982 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-824682-4 }} * {{cite book |last=Maritain |first=Jacques |title=The Range of Reason |publisher=London: Geoffrey Bles |year=1952 |url=http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/range.htm |access-date=April 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407012751/http://www3.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/range.htm |archive-date=April 7, 2013 }} * {{cite book |editor=Michael Martin & Ricki Monnier |title=The Impossibility of God |year=2003 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, New York |isbn=978-1-59102-120-9}} * {{cite book |editor=Michael Martin & Ricki Monnier |title=The Improbability of God |year=2006 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, New York |isbn=978-1-59102-381-4}} * [[Colin McGinn|McGinn, Colin]] (2010). [https://www.colinmcginn.net/why-i-am-an-atheist/#.Wje3bzdryUm "Why I am an Atheist"] * {{cite book |last1=McTaggart |first1=John |last2=McTaggart |first2=Ellis |title=Some Dogmas of Religion |edition=New |year=1930 |publisher=Edward Arnold & Co. |location=London |isbn=978-0-548-14955-3 |orig-year=1906}} * {{cite book |last=Nielsen |first=Kai |author-link=Kai Nielsen (philosopher) |title=Philosophy and Atheism |year=1985 |publisher=New York: Prometheus |isbn=978-0-87975-289-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/philosophyatheis0000niel }} * {{cite book |last=Nielsen |first=Kai |title=Naturalism and Religion |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-57392-853-3 |publisher=New York: Prometheus}} * {{cite journal|last1=Obbink|first1=Dirk|author1-link=Dirk Obbink|date=1989|title=The Atheism of Epicurus|journal=Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies|volume=30|issue=2|pages=187–223|url=https://grbs.library.duke.edu/issue/view/971|access-date=February 1, 2023|archive-date=February 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201135222/https://grbs.library.duke.edu/issue/view/971|url-status=live}} * {{cite book |last=Onfray |first=Michel |year=2007 |title=Atheist Manifesto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QpEAYMo7pFkC&q=Atheist%20Manifesto&pg=PP1 |publisher=Arcade Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-1-55970-820-3 |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030191621/https://books.google.com/books?id=QpEAYMo7pFkC&lpg=PP1&dq=Atheist%20Manifesto&pg=PP1 |archive-date=October 30, 2015 |url-status=live }} * {{cite book |last=Oppy |first=Graham |author-link=Graham Oppy |year=2006 |title=Arguing about Gods |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DlVtfUxPD14C |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86386-5 }} * {{cite journal |last=Rafford |first=R.L. |year=1987 |title=Atheophobia—an introduction |journal=Religious Humanism |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=32–37 }} * {{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Richard |title=An Atheist's Values |url=http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/athval0.htm |isbn=978-0-19-824191-1 |publisher=Oxford: Clarendon Press |year=1964 |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425091126/http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/athval0.htm |archive-date=April 25, 2011 |url-status=dead }} * Rosenberg, Alex (2011). ''The Atheist's Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life Without Illusions''. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. {{ISBN|978-0-393-08023-0|}} * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Russell |first=Paul |editor=Edward N. Zalta |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |title=Hume on Religion |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-religion/ |year=2013 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab |access-date=November 24, 2013 }} * {{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=R.A. |title=The Moral Case Against Religious Belief |publisher=London: SCM Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-334-02680-8 }} * {{cite book |last=Shermer |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Shermer |title=How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780716741619 |url-access=registration |publisher=William H Freeman |year=1999 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7167-3561-8 }} * Smolkin, Victoria. ''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 }} * {{cite book |last=Thrower |first=James |title=A Short History of Western Atheism |publisher=London: Pemberton |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-301-71101-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ashorthistoryofw0000unse }} * Walters, Kerry (2010). ''Atheism: A Guide for the Perplexed''. New York: Continuum. {{ISBN|978-0-8264-2493-8|}} * Whitmarsh, Tim. (2015), ''Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World'' * {{cite book|editor-last=Zuckerman|editor-first=Phil |title=Atheism and secularity |year=2010 |publisher=Praeger |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-0-313-35183-9}} * {{cite book |last=Zuckerman |first=Phil |title=Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment |publisher=NYU Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8147-9723-5 }} {{refend}} == External links == {{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=no |others=yes lcheading=Atheism}} <!--Per Wikipedia conventions, there should be no more than 10–15 external links in this section. External links that don't merit inclusion here should either be removed altogether, moved to daughter articles, or incorporated into the article text as references.--> * {{PhilPapers|category|atheism}} * {{InPho|idea|1006}} * {{cite SEP |url-id=atheism-agnosticism/ |title=Atheism and Agnosticism}} * {{IEP|atheism}} * [https://iep.utm.edu/n-atheis/ The New Atheists]. ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. * {{curlie|Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Atheism/|Atheism}}. Includes links to organizations and websites. * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/ Religion & Ethics—Atheism] at bbc.co.uk * [https://infidels.org/library/ Secular Web library]. Library of both historical and modern writings, a comprehensive online resource for freely available material on atheism. {{Irreligion}} {{Theism}} {{Belief systems}} {{Philosophy of religion}} {{Religion topics}} {{Western culture}} {{Subject bar|commons=yes |commons-search=Category:Atheism |n=yes |n-search=Category:Atheism |wikt=yes |b=yes |q=yes |s=yes |s-search=Category:Atheism |v=yes |v-search=Beyond Theism |d=yes }} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Atheism| ]] [[Category:Criticism of religion]] [[Category:Irreligion]] [[Category:Philosophy of religion]] [[Category:Skepticism]] Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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