ATHEISM, the denial of the existence of a God. Among the Greeks atheism consisted in a denial or non-recognition of the gods of the state. Socrates was put to death for as serting the superiority of the divine wisdom to the other gods as the ruler and disposer of thei universe thus contradicting Greek mythol ogy, which assigned that office to Zeus. In Latin times atheism still continued to be a negation, with no pretension to rank as a system. It was closely akin to that cultured unbelief which extensively prevailed among the Humanists during the early part of the Renaissance. The atheism of the 18th century was a protest against current religious hypo crisy; and, like its predecessors, put forward little or nothing to replace the system it at tempted to destroy. The atheism of the 19th century may be taken to include every philo sophic system which rejects the notion of a personal Creator; in this sense it ranks as a genus, of which Atomism, Pantheism, Posi tivism, etc., are species. Strictly it is the doc trine that sees in matter the sole principle of the universe. Popularly, atheism consists in the denial of a God; this view is probably founded on the mistranslation of Psalms xiv, 1, and liii, 1, which should be, ((The fool hash said in his heart, No God for that is, be strenuously rejects the traditional God of established religions. Among well-known
modern atheists figure Voltaire, Thomas Paine, J. Holzoake, Char es Bradlaugh and Robert G. Ingersoll. Consult Ainslie, R., (Is there a God?' (London 1840) ; Beecher, L., on Scepticism' (Cincinnati 1835) ; Belot, G., (L'idee de Dieu et l'atheisme) (Paris 1913) • Bentley, R., (The Folly of Atheism> (London 1836-38) ; Braden, C., (The Problem of Prob lems and Its Various Solutions, or Atheism, Darwinism, and Theism' (Cincinnati 1877); Browne, W. R., Present Aspect of the Conflict with Atheism' (London 1883) ; Gar ret, J., de l'inexistence de Dieu' (Paris 1912) ; Cilleuls, A. de, et fruits de l'atheisme social' (Paris 1900) ; Crusus, T. T., (The Origins of Atheism' (London 1684); Du Bois, H. A., (The Scien tific Atheism of the Darwinian School of Evolutionists' (New York 1880) • Dwight T., (The Nature and Danger of Infidel Philos ophy? (New Haven 1798); Gentili, R. Atheisme refute par la science) (Paris 1869) ; Gibbon, J. M., (Atheism and (London 1904); Kerby, W. J. (Atheism and Socialism' (Lancaster 1905); Le Dantee, F., (L'Atheisme) (Paris 1906); Philipps, J. T., 'Historia athe ismi) (Altdorf 1713); Voltaire, F. M. A. de, (Ecrasons l'infame) (Paris 1881); Harnack, A., Vorwurf des (Leipzig 1905).