Atheism and Secularism

This page:

1. Atheism

2. Secularism

3. History of atheism

4. Links

Other pages:

• Stats pages: Religion is decreasing and becoming more irrelevant
• Many assumptions that atheists & theists make are the same, but atheists make fewer assumptions in total
• Comparisons of the assumptions that the theist and materialist make about "spirits"
• Assumptions that theists make about God
• Atheists divorce less often than most Christians and religious people

1. Atheism

Atheism is not a religion or a philosophy. Atheism simply means "without belief in god(s)". There are two types of atheist:

1. Implicit atheist (lower case atheism) is a person who has not yet learned about god(s), theism or religion. All people are born implicit atheists

2. Explicit Atheist (upper case Atheism) is an atheist who understands what a god is and who has concluded that no such beings exist

Atheism is not a moral stance or a moral choice, and individuals (including theists and atheists) adopt morals from their surrounding culture according to their own conscience.

Intellectualism
Atheist religions and philosophies are normally more intense intellectually - philosophy and wisdom are core elements. This was still the case with Greek and classical anti-religious writers before popular monotheism arose. It is probably true that without a belief in god, the mind is freer to pursue philosophical and scientific enquiries as there is no "god" to simply attribute cause to, when a phenomenon is not understood.

Atheist Religions
Atheist religions by far have the kinder record as far as wars and atrocities are concerned. The mono-theistic beliefs are particularly prone to bouts of genocide and war in their endless attempts to wipe out competing deities. Polytheism is also better off as it naturally assumes a less violent attitude towards other Gods. Buddhism is an example of an atheist religion.

• Vexen Crabtree: Buddhism is atheist?

"The ethical religions of the East encompass Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. These religions have no gods. Rather, they emphasize ethical ideals that relate the believer to the natural cohesion and unity of the universe"

"Sociology" by Anthony Giddens, p440

There have also been many sects, cults, and schools of thought, religious or not, that have been atheist. For example many UFO cults are atheistic. The Raelians were founded by Mr Vorilhon when fluent French-speaking aliens told him that we had mistranslated the Bible, and in fact everything on Earth was built by the aliens.

"[The more fervent atheists] have often enough shown a temper which, psychologically considered, is indistinguishable from religious zeal"

"Varieties of religious experience, the" by William James, p54 [Book info / quotes]

2. Secularism

"Secular" is "not of religion". A secular government is one that caters for the needs of all religious people without assuming to know if any particular religion is correct, and a secular education is one that is uncorrupted by religious agendas. "The secular West" refers to the phenomenon that religion as a whole has become largely irrelevant to most Westerners (although the USA is an exception).

“Secularisation theory states that as modern society advances it will become increasingly secular, and religion will become increasingly hollow. Since the rise of science in the 17th Century, sociological commentators have realised that religion may be in a permanent decline, and some have proposed the science and intelligence, both rooted in the Enlightenment, are anathema to religious faith. Karl Marx (1818-1883), Durkheim (1857-1917), Max Weber (1864-1920), the founders of sociology, and William James (lectures from 1901-1902) are four eminent men who all noted this decline.”

"Secularisation Theory" by Vexen Crabtree, 2006

3. The History of Atheism

Critique of Religion and Philosophy

" [Atheism:] Unlike monotheism it did not spread from a single point. In India it antedates the Buddha and the Jina and is found in the Upanishads; in China it was codified by Confucius while a different version was laid down by Lao-tze ... [continues] ... while the atheism of the Buddha and the Jina is admitted frequently Lao-tze's is usually passed over in silence, and the teachings of the Upanishads are glossed over as pantheism."

"Critique of Religion and Philosophy", Walter Kaufmann 1958, p98

"The presence of evil and suffering in the world has even been argued by some philosophers from Epicurus (341-270bce) to David Hume (1711-76ce) to cast doubt on the existence of God. Other more modern writers such as Freud and Marx sought to show that religion's explanations of the presence of evil and suffering were based on delusions"

"The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach" by Momen, 1999
p214. More quotes from this book

400BCE to 200BCE
Epicurus (341-270BCE), Leucippus and Democritus (4th and 5th centuries BCE), were all listed in "The Essays (Of Atheism)" by Francis Bacon as examples of atheist philosophers. Founding atomic theory, they held that the universe was formed from natural causes; atoms coming together by chance, not by the will of a creator. The Epicurean School, a secluded and austere following called The Garden, has been criticized and ridiculed by Christian authors due to their hatred of Epicurian thought:

"The school was much libelled in antiquity and later. [...] In Christian times, Epicureanism was anathema because it taught that man is mortal, that the cosmos is the result of accident, that there is no providential god [...]."

"The Who's Who of the Classical World", Oxford University Press

16th-17th Century
Francis Bacon (London, 1561 - 1626), a proponent of modern scientific techniques was an avowed theist who wrote ignorant rhetoric against atheists shows us that atheism was strife in this period, and bothers himself to attack it. Francis Bacon was also a devout scientist and he wrote passionately of the need to separate science from religion in order to let science flourish. He was right - but even so he didn't consciously accept the underlying fact that religion, as it stifles truth, also hindered science.

• "The Essays" by Francis Bacon include text on the problems with schismatic churches, war in the name of religion and on atheism and morality in general.

"The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach" by Momen as quoted above name-drops the prominent philosopher Hume who argued against the evidence for a real God.

"The Devil in Early Modern England" by Darren Oldridge [2000, Sutton Publishing Limited, England], makes a note on atheism. It was provided as one of "Satan's" "suggestions" to a woman, MK, who contributed to a collection of stories in 1652 compiled by Powell. Darren Oldridge says that in many cases "possession" was often a way to voice serious concerns that a person was too scared to voice normally. MK thusly voiced her doubt:

"There is no God to save thee or punish thee, all things were made by nature, and when thou dyest there is an end of all thy good and bad deeds. Thou talkest of the scripture, and of a God and of a Jesus which thou hast heard of there. See thy simplicity now. How canst thou prove the scriptures to be true? Alas, they were made by man's inventions, there is no hold for thee to take there"

"The Devil in Early Modern England" by Darren Oldridge, p47

18th Century and onwards
Since the 1700s history provides a series of atheistic books, politicians, etc, such as the group who wrote the first Encyclopedia, led by Denis Diderot (1713-1784), Jean D'Alembert (one of the founders of Positivsm), Baron d'Holbach, Voltaire, the Marquis de Sade (in 1782 wrote an atheist book), the physician Matthew Turner also wrote a book in 1782. Some of these authors and people were imprisoned for blasphemy because of their atheism, but from this time onwards largely it has been safe to call yourself an atheist, and the major sciences have since flourished.

Two Christian Bishops provide testimony to the state of Christianity in the UK in the 18th Century. Bishop Butler in 1736 wrote in his Analogy of Religion that no-one bothered with Christianity, "its fictitious nature being so obvious", and Bishop Watson wrote that "there never was an age [...] in which atheism [is] more generally confessed".

The Victorian Era (1839-1901) as noted by Steve Bruce below, was the time was atheism has been at a height of prominence. In much of Europe, atheism is more popular than theism.

"Varieties of religious experience, the" by William James, the text of lectures from 1900-1901, clearly demonstrates that the author, 100 years ago, lived in an era where atheism and irreligiosity was strife, particularly in academic circles, and also that there are large numbers of secular-living people, not just in the UK where the lectures were delivered but also in his home country, the USA.

Steve Bruce (p56-58) states "it should be no surprise that, though there are more avowed atheists than there were twenty years ago, they remain rare. Self-conscious atheism and agnosticism are features of religious cultures and were at their height in the Victorian era. They are postures adopted in a world where people are keenly interested in religion"

4. Links

National Secular Society
British Humanist Association
The Richard Dawkins Foundation - Foundation for Reason and Science.
Austin Cline's Guide to Atheism and Agnosticism on the Web .
A Guide to Agnosticism
Religious Tolerance.org: Essays on atheism
Council for Secular Humanism homesite
Arguments in Favor of Atheism by Dr. Niclas Berggren.
Is atheism logical? - in defence of atheism.
The Evil Atheist Conspiracy home page
Adrian Barnett's atheism page
The UK's Leading Atheist Page, Steven Carr's home page.
The American Humanist Association website.
Atheist-Community.org
260 Skeptic-Humanist Links
Infidels.org: atheism links
The Atheist Empire.com
Fanlisting: Atheism