Who 'invented' atheism?

Yesterday afternoon I was thinking about the entire religion vs. non-religion debate that I've had with many of my friends in the past. Now, I don't believe in "God" in the religious sense, but I do believe there is some sort of higher force or being that has some sway in what goes on.

But what about atheists? They believe in nothing at all? We're just one big coincidence, and when you're dead thats it, blackness?
Then I remembered about the outlawing of religion in places like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and something twigged..

If people don't believe in any form of God whatsoever, they're going to be left feeling pretty helpless in times of extreme need?
But could this be where the government, or whoever controls the local population, steps in?
"Don't worry, we'll save you!" kinda thing.

Then that clicked with the way the worlds going in my mind.. those in charge are so desperate for control over the masses that they would be prepared to be viewed as almost deity-like?

Or is this what they've wanted all along, and with the ever-rising number of people who supposedly don't believe in anything, they're now getting it?

What do other people think of this idea? Is it feasible?

I think that it was probably the religions themselves that invented it. ya know, using the religion to justify a bunch of stuff that should never have been done, like burning a bunch of witches and such. after being harmed by such dogma, well....it's kind of hard to believe that any of the dogma was ever true.

Fair enough. Agnostic then are you?



Hmm, already you are bunching atheists inot one group. I'm pretty sure if you asked every atheist on here, they wouldn't all say it's 'blackness', I certainly don't.



So not believing god equates to needing the hand of the government when times get tricky?

That is funny. Very funny. So you're measuring the reliance of one person on another on their personal belief system. I don't think so my friend.
Even in socialist and fascist states, some people STILL believed in god, whereas in some states where worship is high, many people don't believe in god.



Now I can't disagree with that. Some leaders / races / religions do believe they are higher than others. This in itself is dirturbing.

Also I have to add, atheism wasn't necessarily invented as such, it is an alternative view point, one that can marvel at the intricacies and wonders of the universe but doesn't automatically claim to know the answers, whereas the religious would just say 'hey, god did it'...

For me I think the belief in god is a comfort blanket, something that people can hug and cling on to when the going gets tough.

Good post though

I think someone who was scared of the unknown made up atheism.
To reject even the possibility of anything divine shows fear.
Whereas an agnostic doesnt show fear or disbelief in a divinity.
But believes sure there has to be something, but don't necessarily believe another mans interpretation of it.

I think that it is possible. Not all atheists could be manipulated too, however. Some are very philosophically inclined people and would not go along with those kinds of conspiracies. However ,just as in Soviet Union, a lot could be "persuaded" to believe in different deity - like in Stalin times. Stalin was closest thing to Egyptian pharaoh in modern history, as long as "deityfication" of leader is considered.
I would rather think that atheism spreading is a natural process born from scientific/technological progress that slower religious establishments failed to embrace at first and even tried to subdue. The results is loss of trust to those systems.
But science cannot say anything about God's existence. It is faith or lack of it. So if religions reacted more reasonably all this modern Atheism boom would not be that drastic.

I dont think ANYONE invented it- some people just do not beleive in a higher power.
What was invented was the word to define the lack of beleif.

God invented atheism because he got tired of whining people that refuse to figure things out for themselves and would rather pass their responsibility onto someone else.

Atheism was never invented.
Someone may have coined the term for the first time, but it´s a simple semantic construct:

´a´ meaning no or none
´theism´ meaning god or deity

atheism = no god

Just like monotheism means the worship of one god, and polytheism means the worship of multiple gods.

As to your attempt at a conspiracy theory, I think it laughable. It sounds like something that might be preached at one of those american evangelical ´rock concert´ sermons.

...and no, in times of great need I am not at a loss without god. I would rather count on myslef and my peers to do something useful than to clasp my hands together and hope my imaginary friend solves my problems.

A better question is "who invented god?"
Someone who hoped to effort control offer the masses, I guess.

I wasn't implying one specific person who came up with the idea..
I meant to say something along the lines of 'Where did it come from?' 'How did it come about?'


And to Zeroknowledge... the Stalin era was the kind of thing I was thinking of.. but I'm wondering now if something like that could be just round the corner for us, it seems every day I read something that suggests our 'leaders' are 'protecting' us, but to me it just seems like a slow slide into an totalitarian state, along the lines of the Soviets, or possibly the Nazis. To be honest, I'm not too clued up on 20th century European history, so I'll leave it at that.

You are right. I do not think any one person invented it either. I became an athiest myself while growing up, I only later learned that there was a word to describe what I was.

I think there are just some people who are very down-to-earth and intelligent, and realize that the concept of some giant guy in the sky with a white beard, or some guy with a pitchfork in the center of the earth is about as realistic as toy story.

It came about when people stopped believing everything they were force fed by the 'authorities' and started thinking for themselves ......

(which leads to an interesting social experiment: if you could raise a group of children in such a way in which they have no knowledge of the existence of any religion, would they invent a religion themselves anyway? How many would grow up atheist?)

An Atheist will try and figure EVERYTHING out for themselves. Its Deists who are quick to say 'Its Gods work' or 'The Lord works in mysterious ways' when they cant explain something. I think you should rethink what you kindly spat out in your comment.

It's ok. The Sense-O-Humor Emporium maybe out right now. But I'm sure they'll be getting a shipment in soon. Just don't buy one that says "Made in China".

[edit on 6-7-2008 by General Izer]

Although not the original atheist, you might google Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who certainly gave the 'idea' needed publicity.

At one time she was called 'the most hated person/woman in America.'

Implicit atheism has always existed. Explicit atheism (saying that you lack belief when presented with the idea) is much newer. I believe the Epicureans where the first explicit atheists in the Western World- around 5th century BC.

I was brought up to believe in the God of Christianity, while I grew up I became an Atheist when I realised I only believed in this God because my grandparents wanted me too, I decided I simply did not believe, it came naturally. Now I am Agnostic, since studying philosophy and putting some serious thought to it I realised I am open to it as a concept but I'm simply not convinced down to many reasons but mostly its just my gut reaction.

So I think it exists down to our ability to make choices and hold opinions, I also think a lot of people who do believe these things would not have come to it naturally but came to it through nurture like I did originally, but this is another topic.

I went to a religious primary school and was pretty much force fed the bible before i could even use a knife and fork properly. I naturally believed it all, being a small child, but as I got into high school I decided a lot of it was just too far fetched. I became a complete atheist, but as I started to ponder bigger questions (like, for example, why I'm here) I decided there must be something. Not necessarily "God", just something. I'd class myself as an agnostic I think (as someone mentioned before).
But I still try to live a 'good' life, being nice to people even if they aren't, looking after the world etc.

Although sometimes I think I'm wasting my time.
And I think my original idea here has fair gone out the window

I don't believe the guy who invented atheism exists. But don't burn me at the stake, or anything.

Atheism Was Not the Invention

Religion was.

Every child is born an atheist. It's taught religion by its parents.

Ah, an excuse to exhibit a diabolical perspective on the matter;

Atheism's origins can be traced right back to to the roots of hinduism, and yes, it was started by an anti-religious sect.

However, you have to wonder why that sect started Atheism (at least, the official side of it) and what exactly they were trying to acheive.

Many Atheists in modern times would probably feel that they were trying to acheive what atheists today are trying to acheive, and who could blame them?

People have believed an awful lot of wacky things over the course of history, so why not believe that religion doesn't do any good whatsoever?

Well, i have one reason why not, but it isn't big and it isn't clever - it's one of those "Simple Truths".

This isn't it, i'll offer the truth when asked, However - It's my belief that no movement that has ever been put on this earth has ever been solely driven by someone who is not affected by the topic the movement was against.

For example; Martin Luther King was Black, and campaigned for the rights of black kids all over the world (well... America.).

People don't like to see their leaders as detached from their cause.


So then, considering the incredible success of the Atheist movement, i think it's safe to say that someone had a pretty damn big grudge against religion - in this case, Hinduism.

Now why would someone have a problem with Hinduism, i wonder?