History of atheism

The history of atheism examines how people have denied, rejected, or lacked belief in gods, and how these positions have appeared in societies, institutions, and movements.

Indian materialism: A family of ancient Indian philosophical traditions that treated perception and the material world as fundamental. The Lokāyata tradition challenged religious authority and rejected an afterlife in ancient India.
Atheism: The absence of belief in gods or the position that no gods exist. Historical accounts distinguish these meanings when describing people and movements.
David Hume: A Scottish philosopher whose works questioned religious miracles, providence, and arguments for design. His skeptical critiques shaped later debates without requiring a simple label of atheism.
French Revolution: A period of political and social upheaval in France beginning in 1789 that transformed the monarchy and state. Revolutionary dechristianization made religious authority a central political battleground.
Religious dissent: Disagreement with established religious doctrines, authorities, or practices within or outside a religious community. Dissenting records can reveal doubts that did not amount to a clearly stated atheism.
Lokayata: An ancient Indian philosophical school associated with materialism, skepticism, and rejection of Vedic authority. Its surviving opponents’ accounts preserve some of the earliest organized critiques of religious belief.
Agnosticism: The view that the existence of gods is unknown or unknowable. Historical writers often classified uncertainty separately from explicit denial of gods.
Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach: A French philosopher and writer who defended a materialist, explicitly atheistic account of nature. His 1770 work The System of Nature became a landmark of Enlightenment atheism.
Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution: A revolutionary campaign that sought to replace or suppress Catholic institutions and practices in France. It illustrates how attacks on church power could extend into coercive anti-religious policy.
History of secularism: The study of how political and social arrangements came to limit or reorganize religious authority. Its history overlaps with atheism but cannot be reduced to the history of disbelief.

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Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’ArgensRelated: D’Argens’s skeptical reputation raises questions about the boundary between criticism of religion and atheism.