Atheism: A Brief History and Definition

This essay provides a brief history and definition of atheism, tracing its origins from ancient times to the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. It discusses the political and social implications of atheism, as well as the various definitions and interpretations of the term. The essay concludes by exploring the relationship between atheism and scientific discovery, and the ongoing debate between belief and unbelief.

Student Name
Student ID
1
Topic: Atheism
Name of the Student
Author note
Religion and atheism have been running side by side from ancient times, though in
the beginning of religion when man first began to respect nature and started worshipping
various aspects of it, they were fearful of natural phenomena, which they could not
understand, in later stage after Renaissance and awakening of rationality men started
questioning various aspects of religion separate into individual sentences. A section of them
alienated from the religious community, these people were the scholars and rationalists. The
rise of atheism was at that point of time. The distinction between religious people and atheists
became stark, which often led to the execution of the atheist community by religious
monarchs (Whitmarsh). The early monarchs were considered to be getting their power from
divine origin. Therefore, it was obvious that they tended to protect their authority from
religious community. This was obviously having political and social implications.
The idea of the atheistic philosophy was to doubt the existence of the divine and the
celestial creatures or those who did not have any realistic appearance. Doubt has now and
again been portrayed to consolidate the fundamental nonattendance of conviction that any
divinities exist. This wide definition would consolidate babies and different people who have
not been displayed to enchanted contemplations. As far back as 1772, Baron d'Holbach said
that, “All children are imagined Atheists; they have no idea about God.” (Thiry). Similarly,
George H. Smith (1979) prescribed that: “The man who is unacquainted with confidence in a
higher power is a nonbeliever since he doesn't have confidence in a perfect being. This
arrangement would in like manner join the child with the hypothetical capacity to understand

Student Name
Student
ID
2
the issues included, yet who is up 'til now ignorant of those issues. The way that this child
does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist” (Clark page). Smith conceived the term
evident rationalism to imply “the nonappearance of mysterious conviction without a mindful
rejection of it” (Witztum and Young, p577) and unequivocal secularism to insinuate the more
run of the mill importance of perceptive wariness. Ernest Nagel nullifies Smith's importance
of skepticism as basically “nonattendance of confidence in a higher power”, perceiving
simply unequivocal secularism as self-evident "atheism". The explanation is that every
secularism that is ultimate would ultimately lead to atheism.
The influence of the dispute between kinds of conviction and unbelief raises issues
concerning the most perspicuous diagram, or depiction, of secularism, free-thought, and faith
in a higher power. It is fundamental to test the warrant for skepticism and, in addition,
meticulously to consider what is the most agreeable significance of secularism. It is important
to understand that often it is seen that the idea of atheism has lead humanity to often look for
explanation behind occurrences which were previously ascribed to the divine intervention.
This has led to innovation and many scientific discoveries. However still today there are
many mysteries which are unsolved and beyond the ability of human comprehension. So
ultimate theism and atheism are both similarly not acceptable enough.
To express that skepticism is the difference of God or the divine beings and that it is
the converse of confidence in a higher power, a course of action of conviction that demands
reality of God and hopes to display his existence, is deficient in different ways. To conclude,
not all researchers who see themselves as defenders of the Christian certainty or of Judaism
or Islam consider themselves to be protectors of faith in higher forces. Therefore there are
many religious scholars who are more of students of religion than defenders of it. Secularism

Student Name
Student
ID
3
according most of the scholars should be the process of following one’s own theosophy and
respecting other one’s to the highest degree.

Student Name
Student
ID
4
Reference: Works Cited
Clark, Kelly James. "Atheism and Inferential Bias.", 2017.
Thiry, Paul Henri. "baron d’Holbach." La Politique naturelle ou Discours sur les vrais
principles du gouvernement 2 (1770).
Whitmarsh, Tim. Battling the gods: Atheism in the ancient world. Vintage, 2016.
Witztum, Amos, and Jeffrey T. Young. "Utilitarianism and the role of utility in Adam
Smith." The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 20.4 (2013): 572-602.

Student Name
Student
ID
5

Student Name
Student
ID
6