Atheism
literally, disbelief. in a God, if such an attainment is possible; or, more loosely, doubt of the existence of a God; practically, a denial that anything can be known about the supernatural, supposing it to exist. Among the Greeks atheism consisted in a denial or non-recognition of the gods of the state. The atheism of the 18th century was a protest against the persecution of fanaticism; and, like its predecessors, put forward little or nothing to replace the system it attempted to destroy. The atheism of the 19th century may be taken to include every philosophic system which rejects the notion of a personal Creator; in this sense it ranks as a genus, of which Atomism, Pantheism, Positivism, etc., are species. Strictly, it is the doctrine that sees in matter the sole principle of the universe.