![]() Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) wrote in Civilization and its Discontents (1930) that religion ‘is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life.’ Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-72) argued in The Essence of Christianity (1841) that God is a human projection: ‘The divine being is nothing else than the human being, or rather, human nature purified … made objective, that is, contemplated and revered as another, a distinct being.’ Richard Dawkins (1941– ) argues passionately that belief in God is an irrational delusion and that religions are dangerous.ĭemocritus (460-370 BC) argued that the universe is made up of material atoms and denied the existence of spiritual substances.Įpicurus (341-270 BC) was a materialist who argued that the universe consists only of matter and the spaces between matter. The more remarkable fact is that so many people still believe in God (nearly 77 per cent according to the 2001 census) after so many decades of secular criticism and indifference. After 200 years of scientific and cultural critique of theism, this is a rather unimpressive statistic. The 2001 UK census recorded that 15.1 per cent of the population are non-religious. ![]() It is argued that atheism is just another religion, but a self-deceiving one, because it never admits its own dimension of faith – that is, the faith that God does not exist. It is often said that atheism is just another faith and that there are no better grounds for atheism than theism. Many atheists have not reached this point of equanimity and rail with an almost religious zeal against God – for example, the Darwinian, Richard Dawkins. A perfect atheism would have to pass beyond disbelief to a complete indifference to the question of God’s existence. If there were a campaign to show that the man on the moon doesn’t exist, it would automatically give status to the counter-claim that the man on the moon is in fact alive and well. So it is no more possible to speak about the positive content of atheism than it is possible to speak about the positive content of ‘not being English’ or `not being a fish’ There are also numerous possible conceptions of God, so a total atheist position would have to supply an exhaustive list of all the gods that are not believed in.Īnd there is a logical paradox at the heart of atheism: it requires the concept of God in order to define itself, so to some extent atheists give credence to the gods they are against precisely by pointing out their non-existence. The philosophical difficulty with atheism is that it is defined by what it is against rather than by what it believes. Sigmund Freud argued that belief in God is a cultural projection of our need for a ‘father figure’ to protect us from the hostile forces of nature. Karl Marx offered a political critique of theism, saying that belief in God is a drug (‘the opium of the people’) that deadens our desire to fight for justice. Nietzsche argued that belief in God is an illusion that inhibits ‘the will to life’. Ludwig Feuerbach offered a psychological argument for atheism, saying that God is only a projection of our inner human need for meaning. ![]() There were moral objections – for example, from D’Holbach – to belief in a bloodthirsty God who punishes people by burning them eternally in hell. David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, offered a rational critique, arguing that the world around us does not offer definite evidence of God’s existence. The history of modern atheism begins in the Enlightenment, with many different kinds of argument being launched against belief in God. It is not until the modern period that ‘atheism’ becomes distinctive and widespread philosophical position. Epicurus, Democritus, and Lucretius were regarded as atheists because they challenges certain theistic ideas, but they did not reject all possibility of divine existence. In the ancient world the word ‘atheist’ tended to be used to describe those who failed to believe in particular gods. to purchase this book online, go to CONTENTS It introduces the key themes, movements and thinkers in theology and religious studies.ġ70 pp. This excellent book by Hugh Rayment-Pickard is a model of clarity and accessibility. Home > Latest > 50 key concepts in theology 50 key concepts in theology
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