Therese

Does anyone know where i could find out about the existence of athiests way, way back? All i seem to be able to find is stuff about American athiests. Surely atheism has been around as long as humans have been?

P.S. please don't mock me! I am not your most academic of atheists lol!

cheers
Therese

Amaleq13

Welcome to BC&H!

You might find Richard Carrier's article, Comprehensive Bibliography on Skeptical Thought in the Ancient World, to be helpful.

Logic_Fault

Welcome to the forums, Therese! :wave:

I found this:

"The oldest known expressions of atheism as we now understand it are attributed to Epicurus around 300 BCE" in an article here.

The entire Wikipedia article might be of some interest in general, but in particular the section on the history of atheism.

No need to worry about that.

Toto

Modern atheism is considered to have started after Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution. At that point, it was no longer possible to claim that the indications of design in the world were proof of a "creator."

The use of the word "atheism" to apply to one's own belief system is very modern. Up until at least the 19th century, "atheism" was used as an insult, much as the word "ungodly" is today. We probably owe the current use of the word to the Indian thinker Gora, who influenced Madalyn Murray O'Hare.

There are some ancient Greek schools of thought that are considered forerunners of atheism, however, in particular Epicurus.

If you google "history of atheism" you get links to this British documentary on the history of disbelief and what looks like a school paper and the syllabus for a course at the University of Chicago, among others.

Another resource you might like would be www.positiveatheism.org

Weltall

Although it's not in the sense you're asking about, the term 'atheist' was also applied to anyone who didn't follow the religion of the time. Guess what the Romans called the Christians right before they sent in the lions? Just a somewhat amusing thought.

Cosmo

The ancient Greek atomists like Democritus is a start.

Biff the unclean

Try Epicurus 341-270 BCE, he started a movement very similar to modern Atheism

Peter Kirby

What about the atheists of the Indian subcontinent? Does anyone know their names? I mean, besides the fact that ancient Buddhism has no need for gods; I think that there were thinkers in India who denied the existence of gods.

Also, China has a large proportion of nontheistic people; surely China produced thinkers who disputed the existence of gods.

The Bible claims the existence of atheists in the verses with, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"

best,
Peter Kirby

Benni72

Charvaka/lokayata

Toto

Confucianism is not theistic, but there is some doubt as to whether Confucius existed. While Confucians do not worship a god or gods, they do seem to believe in various supernatural spirits.

I think you could say the same about Buddhism. Western intellectuals like to see Buddhism as essentially non-theistic, but Asian Buddhists believe in a variety of spirits.

The Bible has been wrong before. The Bible doesn't give the name of anyone who argued for atheism.

With corrected punctuation, that could read:
Psalm 53:1
The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God, [since the priests] are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.'