Atheist Toleration

Abstract

Atheism has gone through several stages in history. From the ancient Greeks to the modern period, the term was largely used in a pejorative manner, to denigrate those with unorthodox beliefs about (the) god(s). This negative atheism was supplanted in the seventeenth century by a new conception of the atheist: as one capable of moral behavior. This positive atheism, as it emerged in the thought of Bayle, Meslier, and d’Holbach in particular, quickly became accepted even by nonatheists. As atheists advocated for a universal model of tolerance, they also became increasingly tolerated by their contemporaries. As atheism grew in importance, it is said to have played a role in the revolutions that rocked Europe from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. By looking at the French and Russian revolutions, this chapter argues that the link between atheism and revolution is more complex than it seems. Finally, this chapter looks at the rise of New Atheism in the twenty-first century to show how the movement has evolved in the recent past. It then analyses the thought of William Connolly, and proposes to widen the scope of atheism to include a movement past itself: turning positive atheism into a metatheism.