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This paper argues that Marquis de Sade is a more original and relevant Enlightenment philosopher than it is commonly thought. We argue that de Sade is a notable author and a noteworthy naturalist thinker in contemporary times as well, concerning modern science, organized religion, (homo)sexuality, political violence and prevalent sociocultural norms. In order to demonstrate these claims, we thoroughly analyse de Sadeʼs philosophies of naturalism and materialism, i.e., his metaphysics and his radical ethics of “immorality”, based on viewing (human) Nature as a sole organizing, creative and destructive principle. Furthermore, we detail his atheist and anti-theistic arguments, which he consistently uses to reject the possibility of a God and all supernatural beings, coupled with his social and political criticism of a faith-based society. Thus, we outline the philosophical arguments that made him a controversial, infamous and denounced thinker, and which socially distanced him from the prevailing philosophical milieu. We also argue for the possibility that he deserves a more prominent place in the history of philosophy which is not congruent with the various “rehabilitative” and “revisionist” narratives regarding de Sade as an early champion of the Counter-Enlightenment, anti-science and postmodernism., U ovom se članku argumentira da je Marquis de Sade izvorniji i važniji filozof Prosvjetiteljstva no što se inače smatra. Tvrdimo da je de Sade i za suvremeno vrijeme važan autor i naturalistički mislitelj vrijedan pozornosti s obzirom na suvremenu znanost, religiju, (homo)seksualnost, političko nasilje i prevladavajuće sociokulturne norme. Da bismo dokazali ove tvrdnje, iscrpno analiziramo de Sadeove filozofije naturalizma i materijalizma, tj. njegovu metafiziku i radikalnu etiku »imoralnosti«, temeljenu na viđenju (ljudske) Prirode kao jedinog organizirajućeg, stvaralačkog i uništavalačkog principa. Nadalje, opisujemo njegove ateističke i antiteističke argumente koje dosljedno koristi da bi odbacio mogućnost Boga i svih natprirodnih bića, povezane s njegovim društvenim i političkim kriticizmom društva temeljenog na vjeri. Stoga, ocrtavamo filozofijske argumente koje su ga učinile kontroverznim, nečasnim i odbačenim misliteljem i koji su ga društveno otklonili od prevladavajućeg filozofijskog miljea. Također argumentiramo u korist mogućnosti da zaslužuje istaknutije mjesto u povijesti filozofije koje nije kongruentno s različitim »rehabilitativnim« i »revizionističkim« narativima vezanim uz de Sadea kao ranog prvaka Protuprosvjetiteljstva, protuznanosti i postmodernizma., Dieses Paper argumentiert, dass Marquis de Sade ein ursprünglicherer und relevanterer Philosoph der Aufklärung ist, als allgemein angenommen wird. Wir vertreten die Ansicht, dass er auch heutzutage einen angesehenen Autor und einen bemerkenswerten naturalistischen Denker hinsichtlich der zeitgenössischen Wissenschaft, organisierten Religion, (Homo)sexualität, politischen Gewalt und der vorherrschenden soziokulturellen Normen darstellt. Um diese Behauptungen zu belegen, analysieren wir eingehend de Sades Philosophien des Naturalismus und Materialismus, d. h. seine Metaphysik und seine radikale Ethik der „Immoralität“, aufbauend auf der Betrachtung der (menschlichen) Natur als des einzigen organisierenden, schöpferischen und zerstörerischen Prinzips. Darüber hinaus führen wir en détail seine atheistischen und antitheistischen Argumente auf, die er konsequent vorbringt, um die Möglichkeit eines Gottes und aller übernatürlichen Wesen zu verwerfen, gepaart mit seiner sozialen und politischen Kritik an einer Glaubensgesellschaft. So umreißen wir die philosophischen Argumente, die ihn zu einem umstrittenen, anrüchigen und denunzierten Denker machten und ihn sozial vom prägenden philosophischen Milieu distanzierten. Wir treten auch für die Option ein, dass er einen prominenteren Platz in der Geschichte der Philosophie verdient, der nicht kongruent ist mit diversen „rehabilitativen“ und „revisionistischen“ Narrativen in Bezug auf de Sade als einen frühen Verfechter der Gegenaufklärung, Antiwissenschaft und Postmodernismus., Cet article affirme que le Marquis de Sade est un philosophe des Lumières bien plus original et important que ce qui est habituellement pensé. Nous affirmons que Sade est un auteur et penseur naturaliste également important pour l’époque contemporaine qui mérite de retenir notre attention au regard de la science moderne, la religion, l’(homo)sexualité, la violence politique et les normes sociales dominantes. Afin de démontrer ces affirmations, nous analysons soigneusement les philosophies du naturalisme et matérialisme de Sade, à savoir sa métaphysique et son éthique radicale de « l’immoralité », fondée sur sa vision de la Nature (humaine) en tant qu’unique principe organisateur, créateur et destructeur. Par ailleurs, nous décrivons les arguments athéistes et antithéistes dont il se sert de manière cohérente pour rejeter la possibilité de l’existence de Dieu et de tous les êtres supranaturels, couplés à son criticisme sociale et politique d’une société fondée sur la religion. Ainsi, nous dépeignons les arguments philosophiques qui font de lui un penseur controversé, infâme, rejeté, et qui l’ont éloigné socialement du milieu philosophique dominant. Nous argumentons également en faveur de la possibilité qu’il mériterait une place plus importante dans l’histoire de la philosophie qui ne s’accorde pas avec les discours de « réhabilitation » et « révisionniste » attribués à Sade en tant que champion anti-Lumière, antisciences et postmoderniste.

This study analyses in detail the dynamics of the development of different types of worldviews (religious and particularly non-religious) in Slovakia. It is based on the results of four censuses along with the European Values Study (EVS) conducted in Slovakia in 1991, 1999, 2008, and 2017. The basic analytical tool is the typological method based on data from the EVS. The results show that in Slovakia, among the large number of possible theoretical types of worldviews, only five are empirically present in an analysable quantity, two of which concern people without religious affiliation. The results show that in this latter group, which has remained around 25% over the long term in Slovakia, the majority are rather indifferent to religion and only about one-fifth of them (4.5% of the total population in 2017) are people who can be considered atheists.

According to terror management theory, humans rely on meaningful and permanence-promising cultural worldviews, like religion, to manage mortality concerns. Prior research indicates that, compared to religious individuals, atheists experience lower levels of meaning in life following reminders of death. The present study investigated whether reminders of death would change atheists’ meaning in life after exposure to normative support for atheism. Atheists (N = 222) were either reminded of death or a control topic (dental pain) and exposed to information portraying atheism as either common or rare, and then asked to rate their perceived meaning in life. Results showed that reminders of death reduced meaning in life among atheists who were told that atheism is common. Results were consistent with the view that atheism reflects the rejection of religious faith rather than a meaningful secular terror managing worldview. Discussion considers implications for maintaining healthy existential wellbeing, identifies limitations, and highlights future research directions.

This article deals with the different religious counterpoints or beliefs that traditions of philosophy and thought have fundamentally defined around five positions or options: atheist, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, and belief. The aim is to explore the sociological conditioning factors behind these profiles, offering a meaningful explanation to help us understand the trends and recent changes in Spanish society. To this end, we analyzed two surveys, for the years 2008 and 2018, of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) on Religion in the context of Spain. The results highlight the variables of gender, age, and ideology to describe specific profiles, explain religious choices, and understand trends. In addition to the trend towards secularization, the results manifest an increase in the number of atheists and a decrease of believers, show increasing radicalization and right-wing ideology among believers, and a greater grounding of the meaning of life in the existence of God alone.

This paper explores how atheism relates to national pride. Previous research reports the strong positive relationship between religiosity and national pride. Inversely, it can be assumed that atheists feel less national pride. Whether this assumption holds true and whether the perceived relevance of religiosity for values perceived as fundamental for national pride is a national-specific or a global phenomenon will be investigated here by examining attitudes towards atheists and assessing cross-nationally how proud atheists truly are of their countries. The data reveals cross-country differences in both respects. In highly religious countries, prejudice against atheists is pronounced, while atheists’ feelings of national pride indeed tend to be weaker. But what exactly predicts atheists’ feelings of national pride? For a Multilevel Analysis of this question, this article uses the ONBound database offering cumulated and harmonized data from international survey programs as well as linked country-level data on national identities and religion. Results identify countries’ ideological background as one of the crucial country-level predictors for national pride among atheists. In highly religious countries, people who deny religion also seem to possess ambivalent feelings towards their country. In turn, if the state ideology opposes religion, atheists tend to support the combination of anti-religiousness and patriotism.

Social media have played a major role as a place where one can meet and socialize with like-minded people, and this is especially important for marginalized groups. Atheists depict such a group in Indonesia where public expressions of atheism are punishable. Whereas social media often plays an important role in finding like-minded people, it is also potentially dangerous to reject religion on social media. In this research workshop, I argue that insights into the ways in which atheists use and engage in social media groups are crucial if one wants to know more about atheist ways of life in Indonesia. However, atheist groups are subject to internal fragmentation, as atheism in Indonesia is highly diverse, and, as a researcher, one can find oneself caught up in these internal struggles. Finally, I argue that social media research is an important addition to offline research, since it enables the researcher, especially when dealing with sensitive issues and identities, to directly enter and critically engage with the premises in which such identities are constituted and developed., Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, Vol. 14 No. 1 (2021)

The (Transforming) Role of Intellectuals in the Process of the “Atheization” of Czech Society in the 2nd Half of 20th CenturyThe article deals with resonance, development, and changes in various forms of atheism in the works of Czech, especially Marxist, intellectuals in the second half of the 20th century. Attention is also paid to their influence on public opinion, especially in connection with a rise in negative attitude of a large part of the Czech public towards religion. The study is based primarily on historical and discursive analyses of the works of principal authors from the 1950s to 1989. Among the authors discussed are important figures such as Ivan Sviták, Milan Machovec, and Vítězslav Gardavský. Rola intelektualistów w procesie „ateizacji” społeczeństwa czeskiego w drugiej połowie XX wieku i jej transformacjaArtykuł dotyczy oddziaływania, rozwoju i zmian różnych form ateizmu w twórczości czeskich, zwłaszcza marksistowskich, intelektualistów w drugiej połowie XX wieku. Omawia również ich wpływ na opinię publiczną, przede wszystkim w obliczu narastania negatywnego stosunku do religii u dużej części czeskiego społeczeństwa. Opracowanie opiera się szczególnie na historycznych i dyskursywnych analizach dzieł głównych autorów od lat 50. XX wieku do roku 1989, a zwłaszcza tak ważnych postaci, jak Ivan Sviták, Milan Machovec czy Vítězslav Gardavský.

In an overview manner the authors keep a close watch on the general socio-political conditions in Serbia in their long-term perspective, incorporating into this framework the results of research on the relationship of people with religion and the Church - in other words, their religiosity. They use two methodological approaches: historical and sociological analysis, and experimental results on indicators of religiosity, or people's attachment to the Eastern Orthodox religion and the Eastern Orthodox Church in Serbia. Composition of the article: after introducing and choosing a methodological approach, the authors analyze people's attachment to religion and the Church in various social systems over time, describing the religious structure. In the first phase, before World War II, the religious structure is described as stable with a Pro-Orthodox consensus and without problematic issues. In the second phase, after World War II - as a destabilized religious structure with an emphasis on the process of atheization. In the third phase, in the early 90s of the last century - as a (re)stabilized religious structure in the process of desecularization of Serbian society. Finally, at the present time - as a restored religious structure, established during the 90s. The article promotes a sociological approach to spiritual and socio-psychological phenomena, with all the disadvantages of this approach in relation to the study of the phenomena of religion and religiosity.

In this study, the link between atheistic beliefs and two child-rearing values (obedience and autonomy) is explored. Atheists would be more likely to show preferences for autonomy and less likely for obedience. Two individual-level explanations, namely educational attainment and expressive individualism, are tested. Moreover, the contextual effects of both religious climate and collectivistic-individualistic culture in a country are investigated. Using data from 30 countries from the European Values Study [(2011) 4th wave, Integrated Dataset ZA4800. Data File Version 3.0.0. (November 2011). Cologne: GESIS Data Archive. doi:10.4232/1.11004], it was found that both educational attainment and expressive individualism are explanations of why individuals with atheistic beliefs prefer autonomy more compared to other individuals. However, for obedience, expressive individualism could only explain the difference in preferences between religious individuals and atheists, but not the difference between atheists and those who are unsure about their religious belief. In addition, contrary to our expectations, no moderating effect of the religious context and collectivistic-individualistic culture on the relationship between atheistic beliefs and child-rearing values was found.

Qu'est‑ce qu'être "non‑croyant"? Il est relativement complexe de brosser un panorama de la religiosité et donc de l'irréligion en France et en Europe de l'Ouest: en effet les deux sont de plus en plus mêlées. Très récemment, dans un tweet remarqué, la présidente de la région Île‑de‑France, Valérie Pécresse, avait souhaité à ses lecteurs une "joyeuse fête de l'Assomption". Son message se voulait un hommage à la Vierge Marie, une figure biblique qui inspirerait aussi bien croyants que non‑croyants, expliquait‑elle. Si la phrase a pu fâcher certains, elle ne paraît pas anodine: qui sont exactement ces "non‑croyants" que la politique cherche ici à fédérer?

It is undoubtedly true that a number of British women turned their back on religion, from the beginning of the period of the cultural revolution of the 1960s and onwards. To what might we attribute these defections and the taking up of a new nonreligious identity? Was it the change in sexual mores and the rise of second wave feminism, the increase in women entering higher education opening up new worldviews to them or increasing affluence? This article examines a variety of factors through the eyes of self-identified women atheists/humanists most of whom have lived through that period. It notes that, while these factors may well be significant to different degrees for different women, the turn to atheism, specifically, results largely from women having been damaged by religion and the deep emotional impact thus left behind. The turn to atheism is not a uniform experience as the women are enmeshed in differing types of ‘emotional regime’ which affects how they respond.

The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate how, in the Schopenhauerian “theory of religion”, it is possible to reconcile his atheism with his defense of Christian, Buddhist and Hindu thoughts. It argues that the criticism that the philosopher presents against Western theism leads to atheism, and that the process of denying the will, which is present in Schopenhauer's ethics, is not only aligned with the ethics of these religions, but rather it clarifies and confirms the philosopher's system. For this reason, the central question that determines or specifies the religious character of Schopenhauer's philosophy seeks to harmonize both aspects, though at first glance they seem paradoxical. Taking into account the philosopher's metaphysics, through the hermeneutics of its two central axes, namely, affirmation and denial of Will, and the concept of representation, this work analyzes the bases of the so-called Schopenhauerian pessimism, the epistemological foundation of his atheism, the distinction between religions and ethics. It is in this light that Schopenhauer's theory of religion is interpreted as a religious atheism. Nevertheless, despite his critique of theology, what this thesis tries to point out is that the theme religion is present in Schopenhauer’s philosophy. Of course, it no longer appears under the guise of traditional metaphysics. It is precisely in the refusal of this metaphysics, in connection with the idea of man's resignation and redemption in the world, that Schopenhauer erects a new theory of religion. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Die vorliegende These behandelt die Frage, wie in der „Theorie der Religion“ von Schopenhauer der Atheismus und die christlichen, die buddhistischen und die hinduistischen Gedanken in Einklang gebracht werden können. Hier wird dargestellt, dass die Kritik von Schopenhauer an dem westlichen Theismus kulminiert in dem Atheismus. Darüber hinaus wird hier behauptet, dass der Negationsprozess der Wille, vorhanden in der Ethik dieser Philosophen, sich nicht nur an die Ethik der oben genannten Religionen anpasst, sondern auch bestätigt das System der Philosophen. Aus diesem Grund versucht der zentrale Punkt, der den religiösen seiner Philosophie bestimmt, beide Aspekte zu harmonisieren. Unter Berücksichtigung seiner Metaphysik, durch die Hermeneutik seiner zwei zentralen Schwerpunkte, nämlich, die Annahme und die Verneinung des Willens und das Konzept der Repräsentation, werden in dieser. Doktorarbeit die Grundlagen der Pessimismus von Schopenhauer, das epistemologische Fundament seines Atheismus, die Unterscheidung zwischen Religionen und die ethische Frage analysiert. So wird die Theorie von Schopenhauer als ein religiöser Atheismus interpretiert. Dennoch wird hier beabsichtigt hinzuweisen, dass die Religion ein Thema in seiner Philosophie ist, trotz seiner Kritik an der Theologie. Schopenhauer lehnt anschließend die traditionale Metaphysik ab und errichtet dann eine neue Theorie der Religion in Anknüpfung mit der Idee von Resignation und Erlösung des Menschen sind der Welt. Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES A presente tese tem por objetivo demonstrar como na “teoria da religião” schopenhaueriana, é possível conciliar seu ateísmo com sua defesa do pensamento cristão, budistas e hindu. Ela defende que a crítica a qual o filósofo apresenta contra o teísmo ocidental desemboca no ateísmo, e que o processo de negação do querer presente na ética de Schopenhauer não só está alinhado com a ética dessas religiões, como elas esclarecem e confirmam o sistema do filósofo. Por esse motivo, a questão central que determina ou especifica o caráter religioso da filosofia de Schopenhauer procura harmonizar ambos os aspectos, embora, à primeira vista, pareçam paradoxais. Levando-se em conta a metafísica do filósofo, através da hermenêutica de seus dois eixos centrais, a saber, afirmação e negação da Vontade, e ainda o conceito de representação, analisa-se as bases do chamado pessimismo schopenhaueriano, o fundamento epistemológico do seu ateísmo, a distinção entre religiões e a questão ética. É neste lume que se interpreta que teoria da religião de Schopenhauer se delineia como um ateísmo religioso. Não obstante, a despeito de sua crítica a teologia, o que se pretende apontar é que o tema religião está presente na filosofia de Schopenhauer. Claro, este não se apresenta mais sob a aparência da metafísica tradicional. É justamente na recusa desta metafísica, e em conexão com ideia de resignação e redenção do homem no mundo, que Schopenhauer erige uma nova teoria da religião.

Über Säkularisierung/Kulturchristentum/Umgang mit Spiritualität jenseits der Religion/Atheismus

Vortrag/Präsentation: Pastoraltheologischer und religionssoziologischer Beitrag zum Thema "Gott nach dem Kommunismus", Projekt "Aufbruch"

Religiosität in Ost(Mittel)Europa, Atheismus in Ost(Mittel)Europa, Religiosität und Autoritarismus

Mission in atheisierender Kultur: gestufter Atheismus, Studie "Aufbruch" in postkommunistischen Ländern, statistischer Index für Atheismus, Atheisten in den postkommunistischen Ländern, Atheisten in den Konfessionen, Atheisten und der Tod, Atheisten und Gott, missionarische Kirche im Kontext atheisierender Kulturen, Atheisten und kirchliche Rituale/Riten

Spiritualität in säkularer Kultur, religiöse Dimension moderner Gesellschaft, Atheismus, Religion nach Wahl