Atheism refers to either the absence of a belief in
the existence of deities or to an active belief that deities do not exist. This
belief system rejects theology as well as the constructs of organized religion.
Use of the term originated in the ancient world and was meant to degrade those
who rejected commonly accepted religious precepts. It was first self-applied
during the Age of Enlightenment in 18th century France. The French Revolution
was driven by the prioritization of human reason over the abstract authority of
religion. This prompted a period of skeptical inquiry, one in which atheism
became an important cultural, philosophical, and political entity.
Many who characterize themselves as atheists argue
that a lack of proof or scientific process prevents the belief in a deity. Some
who refer to themselves as secular humanists have developed a code of ethics
that exists separate from the worship of a deity.
Determining the actual number of “practicing” atheists
is quite difficult, given the absence of a unifying religious organization.
Polling around the world has produced an extremely wide variance, with the
largest rates of atheism generally seen in Europe and East Asia.
Closely related is the idea of agnosticism, which
doesn’t profess to know whether there is or isn’t a deity. Instead, agnosticism
argues that the limits of human reasoning and understanding make the existence
of god(s), the origins of the universe, and the possibility of an afterlife all
unknowable. Like atheism, the term emerged around the fifth century BCE and was
contemplated with particular interest in Indian cultures. It gained more
popular modern visibility when coined by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley,
who in 1869 recognized that incapacity of humans to truly answer questions
regarding the divine. To Huxley, and the agnostic and atheist thinkers who
followed, theistic or gnostic religions lack scientific basis, and therefore,
should be rejected.
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