57,378 views
In 1617, the Spanish ambassador estimated that there were about 900,000 atheists living in England. And the French philosopher Mersenne, writing in 1623, estimated that there were up to 50,000 atheists living in Paris alone. But who were all these people? And who can we recognize as the first atheist in history? My review of the freethinkers of medieval Islam - • ATHEISM in early Islam. Freethinkers of ... Atheists in modern Islam: • Atheists in Islam. Former Muslims, ... Atheists in ancient Greece and Rome - • Atheism in the Ancient World. Tim Whitmarsh, K... [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 =================== Bibliography: The Cambridge History of Atheism edited by Stephen Bullivant & Michael Ruse. Cambridge University Press (2021). Stephens, Mitchell. 2014. Imagine There's No Heaven: How Atheism Helped Create the Modern World. St. Martin's Press Alec Ryrie. 2019. UNBELIEVERS: An Emotional History of Doubt Michael Hunter. 2023. Atheists and Atheism Before the Enlightenment. Nick Spencer. 2014. Atheists: The Origin of the Species. Jennifer Michael Hecht. 2004. Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson. Gordon Melton. 2011. Unbelief (Religious Skepticism, Atheism, Humanism, Naturalism, Secularism, Rationalism, Irreligion, Agnosticism, and Related Perspectives) Michael J. Buckley, At the Origins of Modern Atheism (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1987 Michael Hunter and David Wootton, eds., “Introduction” to Atheism from the Reformation to the Enlightenment (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992) David Berman, A History of Atheism in Britain: From Hobbes to Russell (London: Croom Helm, 1988)