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Old 03-14-2003, 03:44 AM   #1
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Default the origins of atheism

As a relative newcomer to the SEC Web I find the whole thing fascinating. Getting my views challenged, slagged off etc. Much better than the comfort of a theistic forum.

Can anyone provide a brief synopsis of the origins of atheism please?

While there may always have been atheists, it seems to me that it is a very modern phenomenon.

I appreciate that we know more than previous civilisations but intelligence and perception do not differ and as science is still making new discoveries, we are very far away from saying that we know everything.

Also I see a link between atheism and affluence.

Thanks.


m
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Old 03-14-2003, 04:59 AM   #2
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Cool Our Founder: Nog.

Quote:
Originally posted by malookiemaloo
Can anyone provide a brief synopsis of the origins of atheism please?
Atheism arose back in the dawn of mankind, and has been with us ever since.

Og: "Look, Fire! Made by Fire God!"

Nog: "I don't believe you!"

Wog: "Look, Rain! Must be from Rain God!"

Nog: "I don't believe you either."

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Old 03-14-2003, 05:01 AM   #3
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Atheism seems only to come up when religions have, it cannot exist without an opposing view of theism.
If there was no religions or beleifs in supernatural then there would be no reason for Atheism.

It has not been practical until recently to be atheistic. It was a garanteed tourture or death in medieval Europe...
Thats all I can say..
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Old 03-14-2003, 05:49 AM   #4
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Asha'man said exactly what I was going to say. Atheism is a response to the proposition that god or gods exist. Before someone proposed the idea of a god/gods, it didn't exist. Only after someone said "God exists" could someone scratch their heads and say "I don't think so."

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Old 03-14-2003, 06:01 AM   #5
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Atheistic philosophies have been around at least since ancient Greece (Epicureans and Stoics).

Andy
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Old 03-14-2003, 06:58 AM   #6
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Smile Re: Our Founder: Nog.

Quote:
Originally posted by Asha'man
Atheism arose back in the dawn of mankind, and has been with us ever since.

Og: "Look, Fire! Made by Fire God!"

Nog: "I don't believe you!"

Wog: "Look, Rain! Must be from Rain God!"

Nog: "I don't believe you either."

And then Og and Wog ganged up on Nog, and beat his head in with a rock. But we are his, ahem, spiritual descendants.

And I am going to gang up on this thread, all by myself, and send it to GRD.
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Old 03-14-2003, 07:44 AM   #7
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I don't think Atheism needs Theism to exist.


Atheism is passive. I was born without beliefs. When I encountered religions, I still had no beliefs. It has never taken any active intent for me to "not believe". I started out that way, and never actually did anything to remain an atheist. It's what I did not do that makes me one.

In a manner of thinking, everyone is born an "atheist". Without beliefs in deities.
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Old 03-14-2003, 08:06 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally posted by PopeInTheWoods
Atheistic philosophies have been around at least since ancient Greece (Epicureans and Stoics).

Andy
These choices are highly debatable. While the ethical philosophies of these two groups did not depend in any necessary way on the existence of divine beings, the Stoics typically argued for the existence of a pantheistic Zeus; and Epicurus, while he did challenge popular religious beliefs in many ways (he didn't think gods interfered in human affairs), did not conclude that there aren't any gods.

Many members of both these groups did not believe in life after death, and they can be credited with that.
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Old 03-14-2003, 08:25 AM   #9
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Quite right, Eudaimonist. I was careless with my terminology. I also improperly read a "gods have always been the basis for morality/ethics" bias into mookie's question (a strawman? moi?) that obviously wasn't there.

Andy
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Old 03-14-2003, 08:40 AM   #10
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Default Re: the origins of atheism

Quote:
Originally posted by malookiemaloo
Can anyone provide a brief synopsis of the origins of atheism please?
While there may always have been atheists, it seems to me that it is a very modern phenomenon.
There have always been people who didn't have a god belief, though the concept of atheism obviously requires the concept of theism to exist.

In modern times, atheism has the advantages of (A) you no longer get burnt at the stake for doing it and (B) science has advanced to the point where an secular point of view can sufficently explain more things than in the past.

In the fourteenth century a theist could say "all this got here through the work of god", an atheist could only say "buggered if I know how this all got here". To quote Richard Dawkins, "atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist."

Quote:
Also I see a link between atheism and affluence.
There is at least one indirect one. Affluence has a positive correlation with level of education and atheism has a positive correlation with level of education.
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