Good Morning,
First and foremost I wish to say I admire the premise of this site! I have read most, if not all, the articles presented in the non-forum area and while I do not agree with the conclusions I would not make the mistake of being unappreciative of people discussing and reviewing ideas that come from outside of ones "trusted" group.
For some reason this thread came up on a google search and I ended up reading it after I noticed that it is a forum attached to a web site I had previously visited. I would like to give some information regarding the original posters question.
A Y323 wrote:Hello everyone. I've often wondered when atheistic thinking (that is, the belief that neither our God nor any other god exists) really became a widely accepted concept.
Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I bring it up because I just recently came across someone who said this: "I think not believing in any specific god is the natural thing any of us would have done if our parents and/or society did not present the concept in front of us."
You stated correctly in a previous post that Atheism (well really any belief that differed from the majority opinion) was a punishable offense for a good majority of both ancient and relatively modern, and still some present day, societies. Socrates was made to drink poison as punishment for his questioning of citizens on the subject of the religion of their time. According to Plato (I have not read about this in years so I might not be 100% accurate) Socrates made no statement against the Greek gods but rather engaged fellow citizens in conversation regarding them, this alone was cause to have him put to death despite his reputation and the high regard many of his countrymen held him in. You of course have the inquisition which targeted pretty much everybody including other Christians, Jews and I am sure Atheists.
The earliest (true) Atheist that I am familiar with is Omar Khayyam, he did not simply question religion he out rite stated his rejection of it in all of its forms. He was a mathematician and astronomer and a poet from about 1,000 AD in Arabia. An all around da Vinci of his time and country. The really sad irony is that he was allowed to write and publish his poetry that claimed no divine force drove our universe deep with in Muslim lands because at the time Muslims exercised a degree of tolerance that was well before their time, I say this is sad because of how much of a polar shift they have done since the early part of their history. While I am at it some of you might find this interesting. Christians have much to be grateful for during this period of Islamic history! During the Europe's dark age much of early Christian documentation was preserved, and often faithfully recopied by hand when the original document was deteriorating. I have seen a list of "Christian" documents (I use quotes because some of them dealt with Christian belief but were from secular sources) that are known for fact to have survived during this time in Islamic libraries but can not recall the names, I am sure that with some googling if your interested in this it could be found on the internet somewhere. I would take this opportunity to ask people to consider this the next time the hear a fellow Christian mention any kind of intent of burning books, or otherwise destroying information out of hand. I attended a "book burning" event in Colorado a few years back, not because I have any intent of joining in on burning a copy of Harry Potter, but because I was curious. I nearly cried, not because of loosing a couple copies of an enjoyable book, but because of the absolute vileness and hate and ignorance and cowardice of the crowd.
A Y323 wrote:Thanks Danny.
Humanity has always looked for meaning, spiritual meaning that transcends strict empiricism and the illusion of pure reason. Contrary to your quote, which has a whiff of Dawkins about it, humanity has always been on such a quest.
I agree, and it seems pretty obvious to me even with the little study of history that I've done. So I'm curious why "life has no meaning" has (somewhat recently) become an acceptable answer to a lot of people.
Religion might very well be the source of ones main purpose, but to say Atheism takes purpose out of an Atheist's life is untrue. The acceptable answer, as you put it, is that an individual can propose ones own purpose. I am getting off track, but the long and short answer to your question is Atheism has "come out of the closet" with the separation of church and state that most of the western world now enjoys. That was not present in ancient Greece, was not present in Europe until a couple hundred years ago, of course the separation of church and state often gets the same consideration that spitting on sidewalks is given, but with society catching up to the idea and mostly embracing it it has opened the door for other belief (or lack of belief) systems to come about. Including Scientology which makes it *almost* seem a good idea to burn people at the stake again.
(the length of this post was absolutely not on purpose) Haha.
Well the time was not wasted if someone else stumbles on this post and enjoys it.
AMS