Right here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_atheism
But, some interesting highlights. First, it was dangerous a few centuries to have been an atheist:
Such Christian love, eh?!
But, one got away:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Knutzen
And, now, we (atheists, that is) are protected now by US federal law:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_atheism
But, some interesting highlights. First, it was dangerous a few centuries to have been an atheist:
Quote:How dangerous it was to be accused of being an atheist at this time is illustrated by the examples of Étienne Dolet, who was strangled and burned in 1546, and Giulio Cesare Vanini, who received a similar fate in 1619. In 1689 the Polish nobleman Kazimierz Łyszczyński, who had denied the existence of God in his philosophical treatise De non existentia Dei, was imprisoned unlawfully; despite Warsaw Confederation tradition and king Sobieski's intercession, Łyszczyński was condemned to death for atheism and beheaded in Warsaw after his tongue was pulled out with a burning iron and his hands slowly burned. Similarly in 1766, the French nobleman François-Jean de la Barre, was tortured, beheaded, and his body burned for alleged vandalism of a crucifix, a case that became a cause célèbre because Voltaire tried unsuccessfully to have the judgment reversed.
Such Christian love, eh?!
But, one got away:
Quote:In early modern times, the first explicit atheist known by name was the German-languaged Danish critic of religion Matthias Knutzen (1646–after 1674), who published three atheist writings in 1674.[41]
Quote:There, Knutzen distributed handwritten pamphlets with atheistic contents. The town and the university of Jena carried out an investigation. In order not to be arrested, Knutzen went first to Coburg and then to Altdorf near Nuremberg. On October 22, 1674, he was last seen in Jena.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Knutzen
And, now, we (atheists, that is) are protected now by US federal law:
Quote:On December 16, 2016, Barack Obama signed into law the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, which amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 by specifically extending protection to non-theists as well as those who do not claim any particular religion.[114]
![[Image: blasp1.png]](https://wflatheism.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/blasp1.png)
