This post is intended to be without bias.

“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”

Charles Bukowski

In a previous post about theism, the history of monotheistic and polytheistic religions were explained. This is contrary to that post, delving into the mindset and philosophy behind the belief that there isn’t a god beyond, or as some call “a man in the sky”.

What Do Atheists Believe?

Atheism itself is not a religion, it is actually a criticism of Theism (the belief in a Higher Power or Creator). This seemingly separates into two sets of belief that there is or isn’t a Higher Power beyond this world.

There are subdivisions, as far as the belief system goes. A strong atheist, also known as a gnostic atheists, believe they know that it is true that there is no God. Agnostic atheists look at evidence in their life and come to a conclusion that God doesn’t exist, similarly to agnostic theists, who came to the conclusion that God exists.

Short History of Atheism

In the times of the formation of Indian religions (6th century BCE), there was a combination of teachings of atheist and dualist ideology. A lot of what was seen in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism either did not incorporate a higher power into their teachings or was contradictory to the idea that one existed.

In Classical Rome, being atheist was a crime against the State. Many that did not follow the gods of the State were accused of being atheist, something condemn-able in the culture. Famously, the philosopher Socrates was brought to trial (as written in Plato’s The Apology) for “refusing to acknowledge the gods recognized by the State”.

In Classical Greece, thinker Epicurus (~300 BCE) adopted the idea of scientific determinism, that the universe operated off of principles that didn’t require divine intervention.

The Middle Ages

In the Islamic World, people were often beaten and brutalized for being “nonbelievers”. It was seen as a disrespect to the prophet Muhammad, a respected figure in the Middle East. Poets and scholars alike, however, were not ones to go along with this notion. Many criticized religious prophecy and one, Abul’-Ala’ al-Ma’arri, wrote of two different types of people: “those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains.” Similar to the criticism of Christianity in Europe, those who went against the teachings of Islam in the Middle East were imprisoned and killed.

In Europe, the same use of poetry for atheist rhetoric was used. However, the difference in this case between Europe and the Islamic World is that in Europe, there were philosophers publishing theoretical proofs for God’s existence. Thomas Aquinas, later named a Catholic saint, published his five proofs of God’s existence (called “The Five Ways“) and Anselm of Canterbury, also later named a Catholic saint, provided a popular ontological argument that only strengthened Europe’s belief in God.

Renaissance and Enlightenment Eras

Coined by the French early in the 16th century, the first time the word “atheist” was used in English literature was in 1566 and was only used in that time as an insult. Most people chose to avoid even writing against the idea of atheism. One writer wrote about in the 1600’s, anonymously, simply to call it a “lack of moral restraint“.

Writer Geoffrey Blainey, a current American author, writes that in the seventeenth century an atheist was expected to rebel against the culture, and it took courage to support the Dutch “semi-atheist” Baruch Spinoza in his efforts to spread his anti-theist rhetoric across Europe.

An important figure in the history of atheism is Kazimierz Łyszczyński, a Polish philosopher in the 1600’s. An open atheist, Łyszczyński published a famous paper entitled De non-existentia Dei. He was imprisoned for his work, but his work would be what carried on his legacy.

It would be Baron d’Holbach (1723–1789) that would be a major influencer of atheism in the West. David Hume, a famed empiricist in philosophical circles, wrote a book soon a d’Holbach published The System of Nations, that’s mentioned in Blainey’s book. In it, Hume suggests that if God were to exist, he played no part in the success or failures of Europe. This was a time where d’Holbach and his followers’ works were burned for their influence.

Modern History

Following the French Revolution of 1789, atheist thought was more public, especially in politics. A German thinker Ludwig Feuerbach published a piece called The Essence of Christianity, that is a critique of religion. Of those influenced by this work, Karl Marx is the most famed.

Karl Marx, the world’s most famed communist, also wrote his Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, which is a complete opposition to religion. Marx calls religion “the heart of a heartless world”, and says “[m]an creates religion, religion does not create man”.

Since Marx, many have followed his works, for better or for worse. Mao Zedong, former leader of the People’s Republic of China, and Pol Pot, a Cambodian revolutionary, both were atheist political economists that seemingly did not have any regard for human life.

In 2020, 1.1 billion people do not adhere to a religion, including 13.1% of the United States.

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Take care of yourself and someone else,

-Brandon