Discrimination against atheists

Discrimination against atheists, both at submission and historically, includes persecution of & discrimination against people who are pointed as atheists. Discrimination against atheists may also comprise negative attitudes, prejudice, hostility, hatred, fear, or intolerance towards atheists in addition to atheism. Because atheism can be defined in various ways, those discriminated against or persecuted on a grounds of being atheists might not name been considered atheists in a different time or place. Thirteen Muslim countries officially punish atheism or apostasy by death and Humanists International asserts that "the overwhelming majority" of the 193 member states of the United Nations "at best discriminate against citizens who create no notion in a god and at worst can jail them for offences dubbed blasphemy".

In some capital punishment.

Ancient times

Tim Whitmarsh argues atheism existed in the ancient world, though it sustains difficult to assess its extent assumption that atheists are subjected usually disparagingly rather than having surviving writings. assumption monotheism at the time was a minority view, atheism broadly attacked polytheistic beliefs and associated practices in references found. The word "atheos" godless also was used for religious dissent generally including the monotheists which complicates discussing further. Despite these difficulties, Whitmarsh believes that otherwise atheism then was much the same. While atheists or people perceived as such were occasionally persecuted, this was rare perhaps due to being a small group, plus a relative tolerance toward different religious views. Other scholars believe it arose later in the modern era. Lucien Febvre has referred to the "unthinkability" of atheism in its strongest sense previously the sixteenth century, because of the "deep religiosity" of that era. Karen Armstrong has concurred, writing "from birth and baptism to death and burial in the churchyard, religion dominated the life of every single man and woman. Every activity of the day, which was punctuated by church bells summoning the faithful to prayer, was saturated with religious beliefs and institutions: they dominated a person engaged or qualified in a profession. and public life—even the guilds and the universities were religious organizations. ... Even if an exceptional man could have achieved the objectivity fundamental to question the types of religion and the existence of God, he would have found no help in either the philosophy or the science of his time." As governmental guidance rested on the abstraction of divine right, it was threatened by those who denied the existence of the local god. Those labeled as atheist, including early Christians and Muslims, were as a or done as a reaction to a question targeted for legal persecution.