Ancient Times
Historians including Lucien Febvre agree atheism in its modern sense did not exist before the end of the seventeenth century. However, as governmental authority rested on the notion of divine right, it was threatened by those who denied the existence of the local god. Philosophers such as Plato argued that atheism (as we understand it today) was a danger to society and should be punished as a crime. Those labeled as atheist, which included early Christians and Muslims, were as a result targeted for legal persecution.
Read more about this topic: Discrimination Against Atheists
Famous quotes containing the words ancient and/or times:
“All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and ... you don’t win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, but by being bold.”
—Anita Brookner (b. 1938)
“Today we all speak, if not the same tongue, the same universal language. There is no one center, and time has lost its former coherence: East and West, yesterday and tomorrow exist as a confused jumble in each one of us. Different times and different spaces are combined in a here and now that is everywhere at once.”
—Octavio Paz (b. 1914)