Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh EditionRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Religion
Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh Edition
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Bradlaugh, Charles, 1833-1891
Such progress is a question of time. Atheism in a psychological sense
began with the beginning of physical science. Pure Theism, in its
early form of polytheism, saw in all natural movements and forces the
expression of a personal power or powers, analogous to man; and its
gods were and are simply magnified projections of humanity. Thus the
sun, moon, and planets, the winds, the thunder, the lightning, the
rivers, the fountains, the seas, were all figured as ruled and moved
by personal deities. As soon, however, as astronomy made certain
the perfectly regular movements of the sun and stars, Theism was to
that extent logically limited, and Atheism to that extent logically
possible. Astronomy was strictly godless in so far as it showed the
universe to move by undeviating law. Of course this perception is but
a small part of human consciousness and daily life; and the habit of
theising, so to speak, easily overrode the habit of atheising. But
every advance in exact knowledge of Nature, and in the capacity for
exact thought, tended to encourage the atheistic view, and to discredit
the theistic. Hence the spread of Atheism and Agnosticism among the
Greeks in their progressive and scientific period. It needed the
constant reform and modification of theistic doctrine, and later the
complete arrest of all scientific thought, to keep the theistic view of
things in power and place. And there had to be a revival of science and
exact thinking before there could again be talk of Atheism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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