Although one often regards the Athéisme as a modern phenomenon, the history of atheism goes back to Antiquity.

Conditions of development of atheism

Atheism is a critical position of the religion. There is no religion without atheism of this one and, reciprocally, atheism could not exist without religion.

As from the moment when the territory of the religion is not identical any more to the territory of the company which gave him birth, a space is released to think criticism of it. It is thus understood that the space of the freethinking is initially the criticism of a theocratic capacity that this one is exerted:

• on the political authority: anticlericalism,

• on the consciences: freedom of conscience,
• on the sufferings: humanism.

Thus and for example, rare are the atheists who will deny the existence of “nature”. On the other hand, they will deny that one can grant a divine statute to him, as made it Baruch Spinoza (“ Deus, sive Natura ”: “God, in other words Nature”), which implies a design different from the divinity. In the same way, guard should be taken not to confuse the negation of a certain design of God with the refutation of any God, to see for example:

“I in general do not have a rather high idea of humanity and myself to imagine in particular that God could create us. That would make a quite great cause, for a so small effect! Could too much mediocrity everywhere, too much lowness, too much misery, and not enough size”, Pascal (catholic philosopher )

“How God have wanted that? To believe in God it would be sin of pride; atheism is a form of humility. It is to be caught for an animal, as we are indeed, and to leave us the responsibility of become human. ”, Andre Count-Sponville, Thought on atheism (1999)

So the space of atheism is regarded by certain as blur; it includes different things, such as:

• the fact of not accepting the gods of the city, as the Roman Empire reproached it the Jewish and the Christian
• the fact of having a design of divine different from that developed by the majority, like Lucien Febvre shows it in the problem of the unbelief in XVIe century. The religion of Rabelais ? One will speak then about a dialectical incredulity which runs of Friedrich Nietzsche until the theologies of died of God . Nowadays, the assimilation of the Eastern religions to a Athéisme comes out from this category; in what relates to them one should rather speak about “not Théisme”, which is appreciably different.
• the fact of considering that if there are gods, they do not deal with the men , like the philosophers materialists Abdéritain S and of denying the gods later, like the philosophers materialists like Karl Marx?

It is always the believer who assigns the pagan one, the incrédule, the heretic, the apostate, the marrane, the incrédule, the infidel, the agnostic and the atheist. Today, the situation is contrasted: the democracy gives to the atheist the possibility of being asserted like such, and to take with part those which he regards as fanatics, fundamentalist, obscurantists, naive, charlatans, etc Cependant, some consider that he did not name itself.

The philosophers abdéritains

The philosophers abdéritains consider that, if the gods exist, they do not deal with the men and that, so it is useless to deal with them: " On the gods, I can nothing say, neither that they are, nor that they are not: many things prevent from knowing it, initially the darkness of the question, then the brevity of the human life. On the Gods , Protagoras.

Dissenting atheism

In late Antiquity, the lampoonists designated as irreligious people (equivalent of atheist) the Jews and their invisible god, without incarnation, everywhere and nowhere at the same time, though the Judaism was religio sold by auction (authorized religion) and the State designated as atheistic the Christians who refused the military service and did not sacrifice to the gods of the city.

See Relations of the Roman religion to the other religions

Climate of the turning XVIIe-XVIIIe century

The libertines of XVIIe then XVIIIe century belonged to several dissidences:

1. on repressive morals resulting from the Catholic religion,
2. on the way of thinking the God X (the god of the Christians in particular),

The traces of the Revocation of the edict of Nantes lasted a long time in spite of a small break under the Régence. The religion claimed to found morals. Pierre Bayle notes that the wars of religion were carried out and the massacres were made by the believers. He concludes from it that the faith guarantees neither to morality nor humanity. How can one claim with an equivalence between the faith and morals? This question will be dug during all the XVIIIe century.

The libertines of the XVIIe century practiced the double truth, publishing books avowable and holding, between friends, in the living rooms, of the conversations without traces other than those of the correspondence, vis-a-vis a Monarchie of divine right which could not be deprived of its best ally: the Christianity. It is thus difficult to know if connect it faith of certain thinkers of the time were not dictated solely by the fear of repression.

The censure was thus exerted on all the philosophical field which comprised as well works of natural science, that of policy or theology.

Had to make with the Censure, works following:

• the letter on the blind men,
• natural history of Buffon,
• the spirit of the laws of Montesquieu.

The censure thus heard by Philosophie very which cover the field of the Tabou and of the interdict. One thus published in the Netherlands and one resided in Suisse.

Libertines

In the disorder:

• Mettrie,
• D' Holbach,
• Malebranche,

• the abbot Jean Meslier, the religion supports the government so malicious which it can be (and reciprocally) ( memory of the thoughts and feelings of Jean Meslier ): “all the religions are only impostures”

During 40 years, Meslier carries out a pious life near its parishioners but supports the small people against the lords. A little before its death, it writes its memories. All that he thinks of the religion and the social system: a revolutionary and atheistic priest. He binds the religion crowned to the policy the exploitation of the ignorance of people.

Its memories are the back of the sermon. They are divided into 86 sections on more than 1000 pages written for its parishioners. They were republished only in the years 1970, the parishioners of Meslier could not read them. Jean Meslier written to the priests around of his village to justify its atheism. It is buried without Christian burial. Its writings are too strong for the XVIIIe century: Voltaire truncates it to publish it, keeping only the aspects deists.

• Marquis de Sade

“I defy you yourself to accept the god that you preach me because you can neither find it nor to define it. ” It presents the report/ratio to dead in libertinage scholar. (1783. At the time, it was believed that the philosopher, at the time of his death, repented to save his heart (a theology of the fear). At Sade, the supposed priest to assist the atheist whom it puts in scene converts with atheism while 6 women convert it with the pleasure.

• Viscount Evariste de Parny

Religious dissidents

• Baruch Spinoza is made exclude from its Jewish community, and he is regarded as an atheist by the school of philosophy reigning in the universities of Paris, France (cf Parisian reading of Spinoza ). Itself (and well of others) is not regarded as atheist.

• César of Marsais , grammairien and theologist
• Thomas Woolstone, priest Anglican and his treated on the miracles dies in prison for blasphemy.

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