Something that every atheist needs to know about is the historical basis of the idea of atheism. Even though many people think it is a new phenomenon, atheism has actually been around for quite awhile.
The first mention of something like modern atheism occurred in Ancient Greece and Rome where some philosophers rejected traditional religion and criticized it. Most of these philosophers ultimately became theists or believers in one God but they set the precedent of rejecting all religion.
The idea of atheism largely vanished with the collapse of the Roman Empire and the Western Dark Ages. Although something like atheism did flourish in much of Asia where some Buddhist thinkers rejected the idea of God or Gods.
Atheism and the Enlightenment:
The idea of atheism was reborn in Europe and America during the Enlightenment in the 18th Century. Scientific and scholarly discoveries caused many thinkers Voltaire, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and others to question the ideas of religion and God.
In particular many thinkers saw the Christian Churches in Europe as backward and promoting superstition. The American and French Revolutions saw the first attempts to create secular societies without official religion. The French efforts collapsed in the violence of the Napoleonic Wars but the American experiment was successful. For the first time a government without an official religion had been created and flourished.
The idea of atheism remained popular and grew and spread throughout the 19th Century. Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution seriously undermined the support for the Church by discrediting its basic beliefs. Other philosophers such as Karl Marx and Frederick Nietzsche also attacked the church and called for an end to religion.
By the early 20th Century there was a large movement of intellectuals who openly practiced atheism. Many called for an end to official religion or all religion at all.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the creation of the first officially atheist state the Soviet Union or USSR. Unfortunately the ideology that came out of the Russian Revolution: Communism took on many of the trappings of a religion. Its’ followers worshipped idols, suppressed dissent, denied scientific facts, murdered heretics and in general behaved just like the people of faith they criticized.
The events of the 20th Century led millions of people all over the world to question and reject traditional religion. In particular the two world wars, the Nazi Holocaust and the numerous crimes committed by the Communists led many people to question the notion of “God.” Ongoing scientific advances such as Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and the discovery of DNA also seriously undermined religion.
Atheism Today:
In the early 21st Century the violence perpetuated by Islamic Radicals and the fervent and often ignorant beliefs of fundamentalist Christians in the United States and elsewhere has given new life to atheism. Many more people are questioning the ideas of religion and God and their benefits.
Even though most people still profess to be believers in traditional religion, atheist ideas are popular. For example popular animated television shows like the Simpsons and South Park often mock religion and call its beliefs into question.
A militant atheist movement and many popular atheist authors such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have appeared and even reached a mass audience with their writings. It appears that atheism could well become the “faith” of the 21st century.