Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief

Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief – known in the United States as A Brief History of Disbelief – is a 2004 television documentary series written and presented by Jonathan Miller for the BBC and tracing the history of atheism. It was first shown on BBC Four and was repeated on BBC Two. It was first shown in the U.S. on PBS in 2007.

The series includes extracts from interviews with various academic luminaries including Arthur Miller, Richard Dawkins, Steve Weinberg, Colin McGinn, Denys Turner, Pascal Boyer and Daniel Dennett. The series also includes many quotations from the works of atheists, agnostics and deists, all read by Bernard Hill.

The series consists of three 60-minute episodes:

  • "Shadows of Doubt"
  • "Noughts and Crosses"
  • "The Final Hour"

A series of six supplementary programs was made from material that did not fit into the program; this was dubbed The Atheism Tapes.

Read more about Atheism: A Rough History Of Disbelief:  Content, American Broadcast, Soundtrack

Famous quotes containing the words rough, history and/or disbelief:

    Western hospitality prevails; it is reminiscent of the kind displayed earlier here by a host who said to an unexpected guest, “Stranger, you take the wold skin and the chaw o’ sowbelly—I’ll rough it.”
    —Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    The history of literature—take the net result of Tiraboshi, Warton, or Schlegel,—is a sum of a very few ideas, and of very few original tales,—all the rest being variation of these.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    But superstition, like belief, must die,
    And what remains when disbelief has gone?
    Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,
    Philip Larkin (1922–1985)