atheism Reference library
Edward Royle
The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.)
...Necessity of Atheism’. In Britain the best-known atheist, Thomas Paine ( 1737–1809 ), was in fact a deist whose Age of Reason was written to counter the progress of French atheism. As loyalist propaganda in the 1790s was directed against those radical ideas in religion and politics associated with the French Revolution, atheism became identified with lower-class subversion, though only a few radicals, such as William Godwin ( 1756–1836 ) and Jeremy Bentham ( 1748–1832 ), were actually atheists. In the 19th cent., materialistic atheism was taken up in...
Atheism Reference library
Martin E. Marty
The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment
...great.” He had no names to name. Positively, the almost invisible presence of atheism made it possible for more moderate and public doctrines like those of deism to escape the worst criticism. Negatively, the attacks on it left a legacy of abhorrence of atheism, which for the next two centuries has been exploitable by the enforcers of orthodoxy in church and state. Organizations devoted to propagating atheism have been few and small, but what is sometimes called “practical atheism,” in which citizens act the same way whether or not God exists has found a home...
Atheism Reference library
Thoralf KLEIN
Berkshire Encyclopedia of China
...the term, Confucianism, which came under fire for its association with the official cult of the state. Because these intellectuals formed the backbone of revolutionary movements and of the emerging political parties, atheism played an important role in the political transformation of China. Atheism during the Republican Period Chinese atheism was first and foremost directed against religion’s most “superstitious” form: folk, or popular, religion, which also includes certain elements of Buddhism and Daoism. The republican revolution of 1911–1912 witnessed...
Atheism Reference library
Nathalie Caron
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History
... a before the Greek theos , a position described as “negative atheism” in the Cambridge Companion to Atheism , edited by Michael Martin, 2007 ) and those who believe that there is no God or gods (“positive atheism”). As a consequence of globalization, urbanization, secularization, and a number of sociodemographic developments, including immigration, religious pluralism, and the rise of political and religious conservatisms, however, usage and attitudes toward atheism are changing in the early twenty-first century. The phrase “closeted atheist” has...
Reflections on the Revolution in France Quick reference
A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)
...were following the English revolutionaries of 1688 , in demanding a right to determine their own constitutional system. In Part II, Burke enumerated the false principles of the revolutionaries in France, including libertinism, egalitarianism, disrespect for private property, atheism, and, above all,...
Marlowe, Christopher Quick reference
A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)
...his two‐part epic of ambition and war, Tamburlaine ( 1587–8 ), and between 1588 and 1593 he wrote four more plays: The Massacre at Paris , The Jew of Malta , Doctor Faustus , and Edward II . Shortly after a warrant for his arrest was issued in May 1593 on charges of atheism and Marlowe was killed, apparently in a pub...
Paine, Thomas Quick reference
A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)
...publishing The Rights of Man (Part I 1791 ; Part II 1792 ), defending the Revolution against the attack launched by Burke in his Reflections on the Revolution in France . He was elected to the French National Convention in 1792 . However, Paine did not subscribe to atheism, and in his Age of Reason (Part I 1794 ; Part II 1795 ), while attacking Christianity, he argued for the existence of the deity as a first cause. Narrowly escaping execution in the Luxembourg prison, Paine found life in France under Napoleon intolerable and returned to his...
Edwards, Samuel Jules Celestine Reference library
David Killingray
The Oxford Companion to Black British History
...Imperial policies in Africa. In 1892 Edwards became editor of Lux , the weekly journal of the Christian Evidence Society ( CES ). From this new platform and at public meetings up and down the country he served as a prominent apologist for Christianity, arguing against atheism, the drink trade, and racial discrimination. In 1893 Catherine Impey invited Edwards to edit Fraternity , a role he combined with his work for the CES. Edwards also wrote books and pamphlets and was known to prominent people in London: ‘Everybody seemed to know him, and to...
Engel v. Vitale Reference library
Kermit L. Hall
The Oxford Companion to United States History
...beliefs. President John F. Kennedy supported the Court by noting that Americans were still free to pray at home with their children. Yet fundamentalist religious groups charged that the Court in Engel had erected too high a barrier between church and state and had promoted atheism, agnosticism, and secularization . See also Bill of Rights ; Christian Coalition ; Church and State, Separation of ; Civil Liberties ; Fundamentalist Movement ; Moral Majority ; Religion. Kermit L. Hall , The Magic Mirror: Law in American History , 1989. Kermit L....
Amo, Anton William (1700) Reference library
jacob emmanuel mabe
Dictionary of African Biography
...Amo became a materialist as well as a staunch opponent of Idealism, which was made clear in his doctoral thesis in 1734 , De humane mentis apatheia ( On the Absence of Sensation in the Human Mind ). Amo developed his own materialistic position, without falling victim to atheism or radical empiricism. In 1736 Amo published his lectures held at the University of Halle under the title Tractatus de arte sobrie et accurate philosophandi ( Treatise on the Art of Philosophizing Soberly and Accurately ). This work deals intensively with questions of ethics,...
Haykal, Muhammad Husayn (1888) Reference library
charles d. smith
Dictionary of African Biography
...investigation, and Taha Husayn questioned whether certain stories found in the Qurʾan had any veracity, challenging its status as divine revelation. The ensuing uproar saw the Wafd as well as al-Azhar accusing these intellectuals and the Liberal Constitutionalists generally of atheism. By 1930 defense of Islam became politically advisable, and Haykal had shifted toward acceptance of Islam as an integral part of Egyptian identity. He then began to write a series of articles on the Prophet Muhammad in the weekly al-Siyasa , built on a review of a biography of...
Cuban Political Prisoners Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States
...or sentenced to long prison terms. These were just the first victims. Rather than hold promised democratic elections and restore constitutional rule, Castro began to concentrate all political and economic power in the state, fueled a social struggle based on class hatred and atheism, and embarked on what soon became totalitarian Communist rule supported by the Soviet Union. Civil liberties were abolished, land and businesses confiscated, and the free press, private schools, and most churches were shut down. Feeling betrayed, thousands of men and women...
Malcolm X (b. 19 May 1925) Reference library
Encyclopedia of African American History 1896 to the Present
...him too dangerous to be given early parole. During his seven years in prison Malcolm corresponded with his brothers Philbert and Reginald, as well as his sister Hilda, all of whom were members of the Nation of Islam ( NOI ). At first reticent because of his professed atheism, Malcolm soon began to subscribe to the NOI's theology and enthusiastically spread its message among other inmates. In retaliation for this increased activism, in 1950 , he was transferred back to Charlestown State Prison. At Charlestown he began corresponding with the NOI's...
Immigration. Reference library
Rudolph J. Vecoli
The Oxford Companion to United States History
...schools long plagued German-Anglo relationships. German immigrants were also denounced as dangerous radicals. Many “48ers” (veterans of the 1848 revolutions in Europe) and their Turnvereins (cultural and athletic clubs) did indeed profess radical republicanism and atheism. Some espoused Marxist socialism and anarchism . German immigrants established strong labor unions and socialist organizations modeled after those in Germany. The 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago resulted in the supression of the German-led anarchist movement and fixed in...
Cuban American Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States
...religious traditions like Santería, still the largest of Cuba's religious traditions, also participated in establishing religious communities. Though all of these traditions had a different take on the Cuban Revolution, they all agreed that the government's aggressive atheism inhibited their freedom of religious devotion and practice. These various religious groups played an important role within the exile communities, bringing a diversity of thought and action to bear on the Cuban question, but they also focused on helping Cubans adjust to their new...
culture Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Scottish History
... 1722 , but little teaching, the subject sprang into prominence in 1840 with the appointment of the brilliant anatomist John Reid . There was still a degree of public hostility to the godlessness of anatomizing the human body; much was made of Reid's supposed recantation of atheism on his deathbed in 1849 . A medical school was formed at Aberdeen in 1860 , following the creation of the University from the two independent colleges. The teaching of medicine in Scotland remained largely in the hands of Scots throughout the 19th century. The first...
secularism Reference library
Edward Royle
The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.)
...atheists, lacking belief in divine judgement, must be immoral and incapable of exercising civil rights. Holyoake wished to avoid the negative connotations of the word atheism by finding an alternative which stressed the positive nature of an ethical life inspired to do good for its own sake. Regarding religion as an irrelevance, he argued that secularism could extend beyond the bounds of atheism to include all enlightened reformers. Local secular societies were formed in the 1850s, incorporating earlier groups of anticlerical and atheistic radicals who had...
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Reference library
Tim S. Gray
The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.)
...English Whigs had sought to protect the established Anglican constitution from subversion by James II , a Roman catholic. In Part II, Burke enumerated the false principles of the revolutionaries in France, including libertinism, egalitarianism, disrespect for private property, atheism, and, above all, rationalism. He feared that the spirit of Jacobinism , unless challenged, would sweep through Europe undermining all traditional institutions. Tim S....
Rand, Ayn (1905–1982) Reference library
Luey Beth
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History
...to philosophy, lecturing, and writing about Objectivism. Objectivism rejects religion, collectivism, statism, and altruism in favor of atheism, laissez-faire capitalism, and “rational egoism.” Its closest political expression is libertarianism, and Rand endorsed the candidacy of Barry Goldwater. Conservatives have been attracted to its support of capitalism and critique of Communism, but are less comfortable with Rand's atheism and pro-choice stance. Although literary critics and academic philosophers have dismissed her work, it has been popular: all her books...
Carlile, Richard (1790–1843) Reference library
Edward Royle
The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.)
...took up the ideas of Thomas Paine which he published in the ‘blasphemous and seditious press’, and was imprisoned for blasphemous libel in 1817 and 1819–25 . Between 1819 and 1826 he edited the weekly Republican , where he expressed views which changed from deism to atheism . He advocated birth control but his Malthusian economics divided him from other popular radical leaders. In 1830 he rented the Blackfriars Rotunda theatre in south London for lectures by the charismatic deist the Revd Robert Taylor , but was imprisoned for seditious libel...
