Writers on... Atheism (A Book of Quotations, Poems and Literary Reflections): (A Book of Quotations, Poems and Literary Reflections)

By Amelia Carruthers

'Writers on... Atheism' provides the ultimate literary definition of atheism. It contains a vast array of atheism quotes, arguments for and against this 'new religion', as well as a history of atheism. A fascinating look into the links between religion and morality, this book provides an inspirational look at great minds, atheist authors, and their thoughts on both old and new atheism. Showcasing the writing of some of the world’s most influential sceptics, and the battles of atheism vs. Christianity, and atheism vs. agnosticism, this collection makes for some thoroughly thought-provoking reading.

The 'Writers on...' series is a collection of extracts, anecdotes and occasional philosophical musings from the world's most well known authors. This book of quotes, inspirational poems, letters, and quips, celebrates writers who have an individual, creative outlook on the world; on subjects from 'drink' to 'death', and 'love' to 'libraries'. Starting with ancient civilisations and moving towards the present day, this anthology of intellectual, inspirational and often funny quotes, provides a fascinating insight into a vast array of topics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473372443

Book preview

Anti-Atheism

Introduction

It may strike some as surprising, but atheism has an incredibly long and varied history. Almost as long as there has been religion, and as long as people have written about religion, there have been rebellious voices. The history of atheism is the history of creative, intellectual and recalcitrant thought, and as such, is the perfect foil for the literary mind.

The first philosophical atheists (or at least, those who left written traces) appeared in Europe and Asia in the sixth or fifth centuries BCE. It is of course extremely difficult to say with certainty how old atheism is, as ancient unbelievers would have been few in number, and even fewer in high societal standing – voices seemingly not worth recording. But it is exactly these voices, spread across the centuries, that this book is concerned with. The first people to deal with religion in a negative light were found in ancient Greece. Indeed, the term stems from the Greek 'a' meaning without and 'theos' meaning God. Most were not atheists in the modern sense of the term however, but ethical scholars who attempted to explain the world around them in terms of the processes of nature, instead of mythological accounts. Anaxagoras (a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher) for example, argued that ‘everything has a natural explanation. The moon is not a god, but a great rock, and the sun a hot rock.’ This particular claim led to his expulsion from Athens.

In China, both Confucius and Lao-Tzu can be viewed as freethinkers in relation to the faith(s) established in China at the time, but the first avowed atheist was Diagoras of Melos (known merely as 'The Atheist'). Cicero, writing in the 1st century BCE, described how a friend of Diagoras tried to convince him of the existence of the gods. He argued that:

'You think the gods have no care for man? Why, you can see from all these votive pictures here how many people have escaped the fury of storms at sea by praying to the gods who have brought them safe to harbour.'

To which Diagoras replied:

'Yes, indeed, but where are the pictures of all those who suffered shipwreck and perished in the waves?'

Cicero also went on to give another example, where Diagoras was on a ship in hard weather, and the crew thought that they had brought it on themselves by taking this ungodly man on board. He then wondered if the other boats out in the same storm also had a Diagoras on board.

Unlike Diagoras's confidant denial, skeptical schools of philosophy also appeared in ancient Greece, most notably the Epicureans, who espoused a form of materialism where the universe was governed by laws of chance without the need for divine intervention. Although Epicurus supposed that deities probably did exist, he believed they would be wholly uninterested in human existence. The most famous follower of this tradition was the Roman poet Lucretius. There were very few early Roman atheists though, largely due to the complex legal system of the Roman Empire, whereby religion was inextricably linked with the laws of the state. Despite this, Lucretius's epic De Rerum Natura ('On the Nature of Things') is perhaps the finest example of atheistic poetry ever written. It is also one of the few poems able to effectively demonstrate a philosophical system. On The Infinity of the Universe, Lucretius boldly addresses the reader:

I teach concerning mighty things,

And go right on to loose from round the mind

The tightened coils of dread religion

With Lucretius in mind, it is striking how little poetry has taken an atheistic standpoint. Whilst the concept of 'unbelief' does seem to have sparked the literary imagination (for instance Kafka or Dostoyevsky's great existentialist novels), it would seem that poetry and philosophy do not make for particularly comfortable bedfellows. There are some notable exceptions however; Arthur Hugh Clough's 'Easter Day' (written in 1849), which mourns the Christ 'who is not risen' or the ultimate in metaphysical verse, the eleventh century Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám:

Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise

To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;

One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;

The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

After the questioning attitudes of Greek and Roman philosophy, atheistic thought took a downturn. During the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, the universities and schools of learning were entirely controlled (and ran by) the churches. Thus, disobedient scholars such as Saint Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham (both devout Christians), were in the minority. Whilst they were certainly not atheists, these men helped to break the unquestioned grip that religion had on early European societies. Aquinas famously argued in the Summa Theologica (1225-1274), that 'everything we see in the world can be accounted for by other principles, supposing God did not exist... Therefore there is no need to suppose God's existence.' This idea was later rationalized by William of Ockham, in his famous Lex Parsimoniae, stating that ‘plurality must never be posited without necessity.’ It was