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# Atheist Scholar

Serious Learning for Serious Atheists

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## Pages

- [Home](https://atheistscholar.org/) - The Atheist Scholar offers a set of free lectures that provide a comprehensive course in Atheist Studies and reviews related books for the student of atheism.
- [Contact Us](https://atheistscholar.org/contact-us/) - Contact us by filling out this form.
- [About Us](https://atheistscholar.org/about-us/) - The Atheist Scholar is an online resource for those interested in a serious, interdisciplinary study of atheism. We offer a set of free lectures that provide a comprehensive course in Atheist Studies for the serious student, as well as a review of relevant books and films of interest.

## Lectures

- [A Critique of "Seven Types of Atheism"](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/critique-seven-types-of-atheism/) - John Gray may be a contented atheist, but he is not pleased with other atheists whom he believes are mistaken in their goals or advocacy. He has written a book to express that displeasure, Seven Types of Atheism. Published in 2018, it is a volume similar to his 2002 work, Straw Dogs.
- [How Atomism and Lucretius Made the Renaissance Modern](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atomism-lucretius-made-the-renaissance-modern/) - Our lecture will attempt to present a brief overview of atomism and the idea of the immortal soul. The topic of our presentation is the Epicurean school of philosophy, its brilliant exposition by the philosopher/poet, Lucretius, in On the Nature of Things, and the return of the naturalistic philosophy to Renaissance Italy. It is an exciting story, how
- [The Devil Part 2: The Church and The Reformation](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/devil-part-2-the-church-and-the-reformation/) - And now, in our history of the rise and fall of the Devil and the rise and fall of the church, we come to the era of the Reformation, when the devil truly came into his own, both visually and theoretically. Eventually the period of the 16th and 17th centuries would see a full blown period of
- [The Devil Part 1: The Rise and Fall of Belief and Religion](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/devil-part-1-the-rise-and-fall-of-belief-and-religion/) - Introduction This lecture might seem a bit of a swerve in our series, as we have been dealing in a rational manner with the irrational topics of religion and religious belief that are considered weightier. But the topic of the Devil, while raising smiles among the secular, is truly a serious one. The devil has a
- [Ethics, Applied Ethics, and Human Rights](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/ethics-applied-ethics-and-human-rights/) - What are ethics and moral theory? Metaethics tries to identify what is the Good? What kind of properties make up the good? It seeks to determine where moral principles come from and what they mean. Metaethics examines the role of reason, the will of god, and the meaning of many ethical terms, such as the
- [American Deism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/american-deism/) - Deism’s Influence on the Founding Fathers and Constitution of the United States This lecture will discuss Deism, its history, philosophy and how its meaning has changed somewhat in the present day. We shall be focusing on the influence of Deism on many of the significant Founders of the United States in the late 1700’s and early
- [Atheism from Greece to the Modern World](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheism-greece-modern-world/) - This lecture will be divided into two sections: Atheist History from classical times to the present, and Atheist History in America from colonial times until the present day. Atheist History from classical times to the present. Theories that there was not the concept of atheism as we define it currently until the late 1700’s, and
- [Atheism and the Law](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheism-and-the-law/) - Most Americans believe that their religion or non-religion is a private matter of no concern to other people. Many of them are astonished when they learn that such a concept is a fairly recent historical innovation. There was most likely no separation of the religious and secular spheres in early societies. Religious sanctions reinforced social customs.[1] A member
- [American Transcendentalism and Its Liberation from Traditional Christianity](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/american-transcendentalism-traditional-christianity/) - Transcendentalism was never an atheistic movement in America, but it may be seen as one precursor among many to the present secular resurgence in this country. There is a large difference between 19th Century Transcendentalism and the deism that was embraced by many Americans in the 18th Century. Deism is the basic belief that god set the
- [Atheist Activism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheist-activism/) - The 21st Century has seen the rise of the New Atheism, which has had an energizing and beneficial effect on the atheist community, not only on morale, but on the numbers of new members to swell our numbers and influence. The term New Atheism putatively had its origin in the November 6, 2006 Wired Magazine article
- [Social Darwinism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/social-darwinism/) - This lecture will be the fourth in my series on secular thought in Gilded Age America, from approximately the 1870’s to the end of World War I in 1918. I shall be extending the lecture into the 1970’s and into the present day due to the nature of the subject matter. My three previous lectures have glanced
- [Sex in Medieval Convents](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/sex-in-medieval-convents/) - The history of celibacy and the Christian religion, most specifically the Catholic faith, is well known. Christianity is a sex negative religion. But when historians write about sex, celibacy and the convents of the Medieval Era, several different viewpoints emerge, viewpoints which seem to be conflicting in many aspects. The history of women in convents
- [Christian Anti-Semitism, Part 2](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/christian-anti-semitism-part-2/) - The following lecture is gratefully dependent on David I. Kertzer’s The Popes Against the Jews (2001) and follows the format of his excellent volume. In this lecture I will be taking up the role of the Catholic Church, its Popes and their relation to the negative image of Jews, from the period of 1814 to 1943. Church
- [Christian Anti-Semitism, Part 1](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/christian-anti-semitism-part-1/) - During the lecture, I will be using the term, Christian, to denote the early Church. The word, Christian, was first used around 40 CE or a little later. The other word for the Christian sect was Nazarene. I shall also be using anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism interchangeably, although the term, anti-Semitism, was first used in the
- [Fundamental Judaism versus Judaic Hellenism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/fundamental-judaism-versus-judaic-hellenism/) - This lecture is gratefully indebted to Jennifer Michael Hecht’s Doubt, and to such scholars as Martin Hengel, and Elias J. Bickerman. Hanukkah, Hellenism, and Judaism Before this lecture turns to the victorious Maccabean Revolt against the Greek Seleucid Empire in Palestine, I would like to glance at the history and background of Hellenistic Greece. It is
- [Did God Have a Wife?](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/did-god-have-a-wife/) - The focus of this paper is to attempt an answer to the question of whether the mythical Israelite god, Yahweh, had a wife. Before assaying into the evidence for such a claim, which this study endorses, it is necessary to delve into the origin of the ancient people of Israel. There are myriad theories about
- [Atheist Demographics](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheist-demographics/) - Finding an estimate for the number of atheists during our colonial period is very difficult. But naming disbelievers, agnostics and deists as identified by their words is easier. We only need to think of Thomas Jefferson for a beginning. (Please consult Atheism and the Law on this web site.) There were many religious denominations in
- [Intelligent Design and Creationism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/intelligent-design-creationism/) - Christians believe in the divinity, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Atheists examine, test and accept the facts of natural phenomena. Intelligent Design/Creationism will be shortened to ID/C in this lecture. They are combined because Intelligent Design is an attempt by proponents of Creationism to shed its association with religion and wear the cloak of
- [Vampires, Immortality, and Christianity](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/vampires-immortality-christianity/) - This lecturewill explore the mythology of the vampire and its inversion of Christian mythology, including immortality. It will trace the concept of the vampire as it alters through different cultural shifts.Examining the Christian beliefs that are all important in the novel, Dracula, written in 1897 by Bram Stoker, one may trace a path from various vampire
- [Film Noir and Hard Boiled Novels](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/film-noir-hard-boiled-novels/) - The philosophy of Existentialism reached the United States during the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. Existentialism has already been discussed in a specific lecture (see Existentialism). Despite the low expectations of the leading French existentialists concerning American understanding of the philosophy, American popular culture embraced Existentialism with enthusiasm. Here are some of the doubtful statements with regard
- [Bergman's Atheist Films](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/bergmans-atheist-films/) - Ingmar Bergman's Films and the Death of the Idea of God The films of the Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman (1918 - 2007), belong to the realm of the highest creative endeavors undertaken by artists. The totality of his films' quality of scripts, sound effects, camera work and acting are frequently unmatched by other auteurs. But
- [Atheist Films](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheist-films/) - The film discussions below contain many spoilers, including plot resolution. The films of a nation reflect its mentality in a more direct way than other artistic media. Siegfried Kracauer. From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1947. The films of a nation surely reflect on its mentality
- [Atheist Fiction](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheist-fiction/) - What does literature mean for the atheist who reads novels, plays, poetry and essays? For many of us literature is the only transcendent value because it is open-ended. The great literature to which we return again and again provides a deep and exhaustive observation of the human experience. Each author, even when plumbing the depths
- [Atheist Personal Narratives](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheist-personal-narratives/) - The personal narrative, or autobiography, is one of the most popular genres of literature in the present day. Most critics and writers of personal narrative are agreed that there are several reasons for this genre’s prevalence. Jill Kerr Conway thinks that people are familiarized with revealing stories of the most personal kind, either by narrating
- [Books for Parents and Children](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/books-for-parents-children/) - Secular American parents in the present day have an extra challenge when they raise children. American culture, an anomaly in the Western world (see Atheist Demographics) is steeped in religion. Many parents more in tune with the culture of our country do not concern themselves with raising children to be freethinkers, with open minds and
- [Introduction to Atheist Narratives, Books, and Films ](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/introduction-atheist-narratives-books-films/) - There is not an atheist aesthetic, and many non-believers who love the arts think this is a very good thing. Atheists are thinkers who refuse to be confined to any dogmatism, including artistic theory that is doctrinaire. Art flourishes best in times when philosophic thinking is speculative, when religious strictures are questioned, and when economic
- [Buddhism: An Atheist Perspective](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/buddhism-atheist-perspective/) - Buddhism’s proponents have managed to create a highly mistaken impression that Buddhism is compatible with atheism, that many types of Buddhism are, in fact, atheist. Strictly speaking, since most Buddhist belief systems eschew credence in a god, one might say they are atheism of a sort. They do not have a belief in the sort
- [Religious Book Burning](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/religious-book-burning/) - Destruction of books by fire has been used through the ages as a means to eradicate ideas considered blasphemous, heretical or against the prevailing religion of a certain country. This lecture will focus on only one element of book burning, the religious one. There are other types of book burning, including books considered seditious or
- [The Illusion of Immortality, Part 2](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/illusion-of-immortality-part-2/) - I would like to begin this lecture with a quote from Susan Ertz, a writer from the nineteenth century: “Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.” In Part Two of the Illusion of Immortality, we shall be concentrating on near-death experiences and reincarnation, with a
- [Irrational Medicine:  Faith Healing, Intercessory Prayer, Religion in Medicine, and Belief in Alternative Medicine](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/irrational-medicine-faith-healing-intercessory-prayer-religion-in-medicine-belief-alternative-medicine/) - Let me preface my talk with a quote from the 20th Century writer and atheist, H.L. Mencken, who said: “Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.” And that is precisely what I will be talking about in my lecture. This lecture will begin with the history of
- [The Illusion of Immortality, Part I](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/illusion-of-immortality-part-1/) - This is a two-part lecture. The first lecture deals with the question of immortality and emphasizes the notion of the immortal soul with respect to Christianity in general. The Christian resurrection of the soul and the body at The Last Judgment will be discussed, along with a brief mention of orthodox Jewish and Islamic beliefs.
- [Ghosts and Immortality](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/ghosts-immortality/) - The belief in ghosts remains widespread, even in the present day, when science has provided people with evidence of secular miracles and secular knowledge. The answer for such persistently unreasonable belief is likely to be that it allows people to give credence to the notion of an afterlife. We humans let go of life reluctantly,
- [Miracles Debunked](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/miracles-debunked/) - My lecture is gratefully dependent on the research and writing of Joe Edward Barnhart, David Corner and Joe Nickell, as well as other scholars. References to their work are listed below in the bibliography. I would like to begin my discussion of miracles with a definition of the word, “miracle.” This is not as simple
- [Introduction to Critical Thinking](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/introduction-critical-thinking/) - This lecture broadly defines critical thinking as the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it.[1] Critical thinking has a long tradition, with Socrates, the 5th century Greek philosopher, being an exemplar of the method.[2] Critical thinking should be deployed in evaluating arguments, lectures, written work (texts) and articles, editorials, speeches, media stories,
- [Apostasy: An Atheist Perspective ](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/apostasy-atheist-perspective/) - The topic of this lecture is apostasy and its definition by various religions. We shall scrutinize as well the religious reaction to being abandoned. But I shall also a glance at the word’s secular meaning, and how it is used by contemporary sociologists. The talk will discuss the concept of apostasy in the present day
- [Blasphemy: An Atheist Perspective](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/blasphemy-atheist-perspective/) - This lecture will discuss the concept of blasphemy, its definitions, and its relation to the concept of heresy. I shall ask your patience as we glance at a kaleidoscope of blasphemy’s history in ancient civilizations, classical Greece and Rome, early and later Christianity, Great Britain and the United States. Then we shall focus on what
- [Heresy: An Atheist Perspective](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/heresy-atheist-perspective/) - I am gratefully dependent on the work of Bill Cooke, John D. Henderson, and Leonard George for the information I am providing in this lecture. Their works are listed in the bibliography below. This lecture is devoted to the concept of heresy. In an earlier lecture I visited the topic of blasphemy, which is a
- [Slavery, The Bible, and Abolition](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/slavery-bible-abolition/) - Slavery continues to exist in the present day. Most societies agree that the practice of slavery was, and still is, a heinous, immoral, and unconscionable institution. Institutional, state-sanctioned slavery has disappeared in most parts of the world, but many countries continue to impose labor on state prisoners. Some nations still force labor on their citizens
- [Noah, Ark, and Water](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/noahs-ark/) - There are about six hundred global flood myths from every continent in the world, according to the well-regarded website, talkorigins.org. There are many more narratives concerning historical floods that were local. Our concern in this lecture is with the Great Flood, or Noah’s Flood, described in the 6-8 sections of Genesis in the Old Testament
- [Introduction to Biblical Criticism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/introduction-biblical-criticism/) - The Christian Bible is a failure on all the points that its proponents claim makes it relevant and necessary for our contemporary time. It is touted as a moral and ethical guide, as well as a history of god and his special relationship with his chosen people, the Israelites. Fundamentalists maintain that it is an
- [Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Paleontology, and Geology](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/biology-evolutionary-biology-paleontology-geology/) - Biology, particularly evolutionary biology, is one of atheism’s touchstones. The publication of Darwin’s On The Origins of Species in 1859 opened the way for the adoption of scientific naturalism. It has changed modern man’s worldview, exchanging the belief in a deity for an understanding that living things are the end result of chemical laws, natural selection and
- [Christian Sadomasochism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/christian-sadomasochism/) - Sadomasochism – Gratification, especially sexual, gained through inflicting or receiving pain; sadism and masochism combined. This lecture will glance at the extreme fasting that was taken up by women saints and mystics in 13th and 14th century Europe. I shall discuss the self-denying life stance of earlier monks called the Desert Fathers, who influenced the women saints.
- [Christianity's Condemnation of Homosexuality and Cross-dressing](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/christianity-condemnation-homosexuality-cross-dressing/) - My lecture is gratefully indebted to Vern L. Bullough, James A. Brundage, Warren Johansson, William A. Percy, and Jacqueline Murray. References to their fine works may be found below in the bibliography. This lecture will be concerned with the concepts of homosexuality, lesbianism, and cross-dressing during the Middle Ages. All three topics are controversial subjects,
- [Christianity's Damnation of Sex](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/christianity-damnation-of-sex/) - I have pondered and read a great deal about the subject of this lecture, Christianity’s damnation of sex in the late classical age of Rome. In the process, I have learned a great deal, which I shall try to share with my listeners. But there are still important questions raised by many scholars that have
- [Miracles, Relics, and Other Follies](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/miracles-relics-follies/) - The following lecture is one that I never thought I would find necessary to undertake. It is on the concept of miracles, as well the greatest miracle of all–belief in the Shroud of Turin, the alleged burial cloth of Jesus which he left behind when he was resurrected from the dead. I must confess that
- [Marriage and Christianity](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/marriage-and-christianity/) - The lecture will discuss the medieval Christian Church and its stance toward marriage, including marriage forms, beliefs about sexuality, abortion and contraception. Many of the lectures in this series have exposed the diversity of church concepts about the nature of the trinity, the church services, and so on. It took many church councils and much
- [Myths of Christian Persecution](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/myths-christian-persecution/) - I am most indebted to Candida Moss and to Paul Koudounaris for their research and insights into the history of the Catholic Church and its martyr/saints. This lecture would not have been possible without their books. There is a great deal of historical correction taking place in the contemporary Catholic Church. The official sources of
- [The Early Christian Church and Its War on Reason](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/early-christian-church-war-on-reason/) - What happened to the history of thought during the first four or five centuries of the Common Era? From around 60 or 70 C.E., a small cult, secretive and scorned, made up of people from generally marginalized sections of the population of the Roman Empire, began its ascent to become the dominant religion of both
- [The Virgin Mary: An Atheist Perspective](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/virgin-mary/) - I am gratefully indebted to the volume Alone of all Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary, by Marina Warner. This lecture would not have been possible without Warner’s scholarly research and perspective on the Catholic Church and European History. This lecture will discuss the role of the Virgin Mary in the
- [Jesus' Imagined History](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/jesus-imagined-history/) - I would like to begin this lecture with the thought that I had for many years before undertaking this series of lectures on atheism and related topics. I have never believed that Jesus was a divinity, even as a child. As I grew older and became more interested in the ancient world of Greece and
- [The Pagan Roots of Jesus and Mary](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/pagan-jesus-mary/) - This lecture is concerned with the pagan origins of the Christian Jesus Christ and of his mother, Mary. Mary has been linked to pagan goddesses, such as the Great Mother, Cybele. Mary has also been associated with Greek, Roman, and Egyptian goddesses, such as Isis, Athena, Venus and Diana. We shall see how some of
- [Christianity's Pagan Roots](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/christianity-pagan-roots/) - This lecture will discuss the pagan roots of the Christian Church. We shall discuss how most of the present-day rituals, vestments, holy objects, liturgy, and sermons of the Christian Church were rooted in the pagan cultures of the ancient world. Most of these customs were developed after the death of the apostles. I have already
- [Physics, Cosmology, and Astronomy](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/physics-cosmology-astronomy/) - Physics is the branch of science that applies scientific methodologies to understand the most fundamental principles of nature: matter and energy and how they interact. A brief description of the scientific method is in order here. Science manages ideas about our world with theories, hypotheses, and observation. Predictions are tested by experiment and observation. Any
- [Neuroscience](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/neuroscience/) - Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. This process advanced during the last part of the 20th Century, due to revolutions in molecular biology, electrophysiology, and computational neuroscience. We now understand the processes of a single neuron but not how networks of neurons produce complex cognitions and behaviors.[1] It is important to keep in mind
- [Evolution and Creationism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/evolution-vs-creationism/) - This lecture continues the discussion of the war between science and religion, the subject this time centering on evolution versus creationism and how that struggle has developed in the United States. I would like to briefly go over some of the tenets of the theory of evolution and then a few of its practical applications
- [Evolution Overview](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/evolution-overview/) - In 2005, the champions of evolution waged yet another battle against the continuously evolving creationist movement. The stage this time was in Dover, Pennsylvania, where the local school board voted to institute the policy of reading aloud a disclaimer in ninth grade science classes that evolution was a theory and not a fact, that gaps
- [Anthropology](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/anthropology/) - This lecture is heavily indebted to Stewart Guthrie’s inimitable essay “Anthropological Theories of Religion” 2007. The Atheist Scholar has quoted from it extensively, particularly in reference to theories of religion, the history of the anthropological approach to religion and the rise of the new cognitivists in the present day. See the bibliography below.The question of
- [The Conflict between Science and Religion](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/conflict-science-and-religion/) - My lecture will be divided into two parts- the first part will be a general discussion concerning the history and nature of the conflict between science and religion. The second part will be a more focused look at the divide between evolution and the varieties of creationism which have risen to dispute it since the
- [Suicide and Secularism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/suicide-secularism/) - This lecture is gratefully indebted to the work of A. Alvarez, Zilla Gabrielle Kahn, and Jennifer Michael Hecht. References to their work may be found below in the bibliography. My lecture topic is on the issue of suicide, with specific reference to the question of whether the secular community should do more to discourage suicide.
- [Sociology of Religion and Atheism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/sociology-of-religion-atheism/) - The sociology of religion concerns the role of religion in society: practices, historical background, developments and universal themes.[1] This Preface will discuss the four significant figures in the history and development of sociology, religion and methodology. Its second section will try to untangle the threads of sociological research vis-à-vis irreligion. There was a brief secular
- [Freud to Cognitive Psychologies](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/freud-cognitive-psychologies/) - This lecture will discuss atheist and/or secular psychologists and their impact on Western society during the 20th and early 21st centuries. Freud and Skinner are emphasized, along with two consequential psychologies of the present day—Cognitive and Evolutionary, with a brief glance at the Humanist and Existentialist Schools. Freud and Skinner are discussed in the context of their
- [Philosophies Bibliography](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/philosophies-bibliography/) - The bibliography to all lectures for atheistic philosophies.
- [Determinism and Free Will](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/determinism-free-will/) - One of the most compelling debates of the present day is the one between determinism and free will. Questions of this issue reach back for centuries. But the current controversy has been sparked by new theories in physics and science that question whether or not the universe is determined and what freedoms humans have as
- [Why Call It Evil?](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/why-call-it-evil/) - An interesting fact about evil, according to experts, is that it wasn’t so bad when it was young. In fact, the root of ‘evil’, the Indo-European “upelo,” merely meant “exceeding proper bounds.” Even in Old English, ‘evil’ was used as a fairly bland, general-purpose negative word, encompassing very nasty things or behavior, but also applied
- [Postmodernism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/postmodernism/) - There have been requests from atheists for a lecture on Postmodernism, and it is a relevant topic for several reasons. Postmodernism dominated much of the theoretical discourse in both academe and intellectual circles from the mid 1970’s until about the mid 1990’s. From that fact alone, anyone with an interest in the humanities, especially philosophy,
- [Objectivism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/objectivism/) - Objectivism, the philosophy created by Ayn Rand in the 1950’s United States, is a neo-Aristotelian virtue theory, or as Rand and her followers would maintain, a correction of Aristotle. Rand was an atheist who believed religion had begun as an attempt to answer men’s needs, but had failed by positing irrational explanations and practices. Rand
- [Existentialism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/existentialism/) - Existentialism is a study of being. This philosophy struggles with the meaning and purpose of life. It deals with choice and the ambiguity of the circumstances man must deal with when making a choice. It states that the decision is important in itself, because that is what defines us as human beings. Each time we
- [Logical Positivism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/logical-positivism/) - Logical positivism is a school of philosophy concerned with empiricism in combination with rationalism. It is no longer considered a robust theory since W.V. Quine, the 20th Century philosopher, took a fine scalpel to the Logical positivist’s sharp-edged theory and disproved its principles so deftly that it never fully recovered. However, logical positivism is of interest
- [Feuerbach and Schopenhauer](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/feuerbach-schopenhauer/) - Here is a brief mention of two important atheist philosophers, Ludwig Feuerbach and Arthur Schopenhauer. They did not belong to a particular school and stand on their own, although their influence on other philosophers was significant. Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) The Essence of Christianity. (1837) n.p.: CreateSpace, 2011. The Essence of Religion. (1848) Trans. Alexander Loss. Amherst, New York:
- [Humanism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/humanism/) - Secular humanism is a school of thought that incorporates Metaphysical Naturalism, the scientific method, rationalism and unbelief. But a major goal of secular humanism is committed to forming a positive view toward life, one that can be transmitted to the formation of pragmatic ethics and behavior in human culture. It attempts to create the terms
- [Skepticism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/skepticism/) - Not all skeptics are atheists, but skepticism is a life stance so common to secular thinkers that a glance at skeptic philosophy will be of interest to people in the secular community. Skepticism in the Western world began with the ancient Greeks. There were two forms at that time: assertive and non-assertive. Plato’s Academy (387
- [Naturalism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/naturalism/) - Many atheists identify themselves as naturalists, as Metaphysical Naturalism is the world view that states there are nothing but natural forces and causes in the Universe. (There are many forms of naturalism, but for the purposes of atheist philosophy our emphasis will be on Metaphysical Naturalism and a few segues into Scientific Naturalism, or Methodological
- [Introduction to Atheistic Philosophies](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/introduction-atheistic-philosophies/) - The Bibliography for all lectures on atheistic philosophies is on a separate web page.Philosophy is a study of matters of foundational knowledge about life, morals, knowledge, language, reason and human values. It relies on what is known as the systematic approach and generally relies on rational arguments.[1] Atheism is not considered a philosophy, nor is
- [American Freethought – Birth Control Advocates and their Enemy, Anthony Comstock](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/american-freethought-birth-control-advocates/) - There are two earlier lectures, Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought, and Anarchism, Atheism and Emma Goldman, which discuss issues during the same time span as the current talk. It is suggested that they be read together in order to form a more complete picture of United States freethought during the Gilded Age until the beginning
- [Anarchism, Atheism, and Emma Goldman](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/anarchism-atheism-emma-goldman/) - This lecture will discuss the impact of anarchism, atheism, and Emma Goldman (1869 – 1940) on United States culture and legal development from the Gilded Age up to America’s entry into the First World War in 1917. If you will recall from my earlier lecture on Ingersoll and the Golden Age of Freethought in the
- [Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/robert-ingersoll-american-freethought/) - This lecture will be concerned with the Golden Age of American Freethought, from about 1860 to 1900, and its most famous spokesperson, Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899.) The events and spread of freethought played out against the backdrop of a very conservative, although dynamic, period of American history. Many books about Ingersoll and freethought often merely
- [Religion’s Oppression of Women, Part 2: Christianity](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/women-and-religion-part-2-christianity/) - The second part of my two lectures on religion’s oppression of women concerns Christianity. I have focused on the persecution of witches in Europe in the 15th,16th and 17th centuries, finishing with the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in 1692 and 1693. The topic of Christianity and its oppression of women is much too large and varied to
- [Atheist History in the United States](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheist-history-united-states/) - Before turning to the history of free thought, agnosticism and atheism in the United States, the Preface will glance at the early religious practices of colonial America. The ordinary Anglican American parish was between 60 and 100 miles of sparsely populated territory. Clergymen were scarce, and women made up less than one fourth of the
- [Atheism in the Renaissance](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheism-the-renaissance/) - Lucien Febvre committed conceptual harm with his still too influential 1982 volume, "The Problem of Unbelief in the Sixteenth Century: The Religion of Rabelais." Febvre made the flawed case for denying that systematic atheism was impossible before the end of the 17th Century. He argued that people did not have the conceptual tools to develop
- [World War One and the Rise of Spiritualism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/world-war-one-spiritualism/) - In earlier lectures at AtheistScholar.org, I have interrogated the concept of the desire for human immortality and its causes. (Please see two lectures: The Illusion of Immortality, Part 1 and The Illusion of Immortality, Part 2.) Many scholars and researchers have reached the consensus that for numbers of people, the Western concept of immortality, with its promise of
- [The Enlightenment, Part 2: Radical Enlightenment](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/the-enlightenment-part-2-radical-enlightenment/) - Next, I am going to be discussing the Radical Enlightenment of the 18th Century. The Radical Enlightenment has not been covered properly by historians until recent years and should be of great interest to atheists and other secular people. We shall be covering its roots in the 16th and 17th Centuries, its fruition in the 18th, and its
- [The Enlightenment, Part 1](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/the-enlightenment-part-1/) - Our debt is to the philosophers who were harassed and sometimes imprisoned and executed for their brilliant thought and their courage in giving voice to their desire for freedom. What was the Enlightenment? The period from 1650 to 1800 was an unprecedented moment in European history. Dates vary according to each historian, but there is
- [The Inquisition: An Atheist Perspective](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/the-inquisition/) - This lecture will discuss some of the reasons for the Inquisition, an ecclesiastical tribunal of the Catholic Church, first established formally between 1227 and 1233, during the pontificate of Gregory IX. It will discuss the three main divisions of the Inquisition, which was never a secular institution, although we shall see the role the secular
- [Introduction to the Crusades: An Atheist Perspective](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/introduction-crusades/) - In this lecture, I shall discuss the Crusades, or so-called Holy Wars, of the Middle Ages. I have limited my lecture to the first five Crusades, spanning the years from 1095 to about 1229. The lecture will exclusively survey the Crusades that were undertaken against the East, which encompasses the first five. Our talk will
- [What is Atheism?](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/what-is-atheism/) - Atheism eliminates the need for intermediary aid to interpret the world for us and to make prescriptive demands for moral and ethical practices based on supernatural and superstitious premises. Atheists have made up their minds there is no god, no heaven, no immortal soul that lives on after death and therefore no punishment or reward
- [Atheist Websites](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/atheist-websites/) - There are a great many atheist websites and blogs on the internet. Meetup alone carries 545 atheist Meetups whose memberships vary from two to several hundred. Websites can focus on local or regional concerns. The focus of this list is on websites that address atheist issues on a broader scale. Atheist Scholar plans to add
- [Indian Atheism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/indian-atheism-an-atheist-perspective/) - India is known for its varied spiritual traditions, but there is a very strong naturalist tradition in that country, as well. In this lecture I shall be discussing naturalism versus theism, the concepts of karma, reincarnation and moksha, and some of the ancient atheistic thinkers and schools in India. My final and most important focus
- [Agnosticism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/agnosticism/) - This lecture will attempt to engage the topic of agnosticism, its definition, its history, its relation to atheism, the various stances embraced by agnostics, and end with an extended quote by one of its most famous proponents, Robert Ingersoll, called the “Great Agnostic.” I am most indebted to Robin Le Poidevin’s Agnosticism, and Bernard Lightman’s The Origins of Agnosticism. Le
- [Religion’s Oppression of Women, Part 1: Islam and Hinduism](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/religions-oppression-of-women-part-1-islam-and-hinduism/) - It is a truism that women have been and continue to be ill-treated and subjugated by religion. As I began to delve into this area of research, I discovered that many contemporary studies on women and gender issues have focused more on cultural questions rather than strictly religious ones. However, culture, religion and gender matters
- [Introduction to Atheist Studies](https://atheistscholar.org/lecture/introduction-to-atheist-studies/) - In 2007, the World Fact Book of the United States stated that there were an estimated 157,529,444 people worldwide who were atheists. Translated to the current population statistics, there would be about 170, 088, 267 atheists in the world today. Approximately 16% to 20% of Americans do not identify with a particular religion. Of that group around 2/3

## Subjects

- [European History](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/european-history/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Women and Religion](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/women-and-religion/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Introduction to Atheism](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/intro/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Science](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/science/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Judaism](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/judaism/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Biblical Criticism](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/biblical-criticism/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Books and Films](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/books-and-films/) - - Atheist Studies
- [American History](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/american-history/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Philosophy](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/philosophy/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Psychology](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/psychology/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Christianity](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/christianity/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Law](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/law/) - - Atheist Studies
- [Critical Thinking](https://atheistscholar.org/subject/critical-thinking/) - - Atheist Studies