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In his book Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World, Cambridge professor of classical history Tim Whitmarsh challenges both believers and “new atheists.” Whitmarsh disagrees with the idea that religiosity is natural in humans, while unbelief and skepticism are a recent product of scientific progress and the Enlightenment in the Western world. The academic is convinced that disbelief in the supernatural is as old as the world, and that people are not “programmed” by nature to believe in gods. Moreover, he explains why such a false belief, from his point of view, is dangerous for our world and how it is connected with the issue of human rights. Whitmarsh explains why understanding the history of atheism is extremely important for moral and even political reasons. Tim Whitmarsh. 2016. Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World At the end of the video, there are quotes from ancient skeptics. #history_of_atheism #atheism #religiolog #religious_studies #tim_whitmarsh My other videos on the history of atheism: podcast on SkepticKon: • History of Atheism SkepticKon Podcast... History of Atheism in the USA in the 18th-19th Centuries: • History of Atheism and its Rise in the 19th Century ... [Support the channel on Patreon monthly] Join our Patreon: / religiolog [One-time support of the channel - donations]: One-time donations: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/relig... I'm on Telegram https://t.me/religiolog I recommend: Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (2011); Henri Bergson, Extraits de Lucrèce (1884); Leo Strauss, “Notes on Lucretius” in Liberalism Ancient and Modern (1968); Ada Palmer, Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance (2014) Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; Stephens, Mitchell. 2014 Imagine There's No Heaven: How Atheism Helped Create the Modern World. St. Martin's Press.