Here is the second part of my episode on the myths surrounding the Great Library of Alexandria on the History for Atheists video channel. In Part Two we look at how the Great Library actually came to an end and how the myth that it was “burned down by Christians” arose. Please like and subscribe to the channel if you find this video useful. And for those who prefer the audio version, the Podcast edition is now up on Buzzsprout…
That religion is uniquely prone to violence is a truism anti-theistic atheists assume almost without question. The cliché that more people have died in wars over religion than any other cause is a unassailable dictum among atheist activists, and religious violence is a driving motivation for their zealotry. But, on closer inspection, this idea becomes increasingly incoherent and actually leads several New Atheists into some ethically paradoxical positions. The idea that religion is essentially and particularly violent is a founding…
The latest video on the History for Atheists video channel is Part One of a two-part episode on the Great Library of Alexandria. What was the Great Library and why does it feature in some anti-religious rhetoric? In this first part we will examine some of the misconceptions about the Great Library, look at what it was and – more importantly – what it was not. And in the upcoming second part, we will explore how the Great Library came…
It is assumed in much anti-theistic polemic that the Bible has traditionally always been interpreted literally. A lot of criticism of believers is based on how irrational, impossible and anti-scientific such a reading of the Bible has to be and how the current literalism of many fundamentalist Christians simply reflects how the Bible has always been read, with non-literal interpretations simply a modern rear-guard attempt to reconcile the Bible with current understandings of the world. But this is not true….
As promised, I’ve now launched a History for Atheists podcast, which has audio versions of the videos on the History for Atheists video channel. The podcast is aimed at those who prefer to listen to content on the go rather than watching a video. The History for Atheists podcast is currently available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Podchaser, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Deezer, Listen Notes, Player FM and Podcast Index, and should soon be available on Amazon Music and Pandora. Or you can listen to all current episodes on…
For my latest interview on the History for Atheists video channel I am joined by best-selling history writer Tom Holland to discuss his book Dominion (2020). Tom is the author of a number of books, including Rubicon (2003), Persian Fire (2005) and Millennium (2008). In his latest work Holland set out to explore why the ancient world seems so alien to us when examined closely and came to the provocative conclusion that we live in a culture that has been…
After a long gestation, the History for Atheists video channel is now up and running. For the last five years I have written fairly regular articles here at History for Atheists, with the aim of providing substance and depth on topics that are, all too often, covered in a manner that is superficial and usually wrong. But not everyone reads 10,000 word articles, so I have launched this accompanying video channel to cover most of the same subjects. The channel…
Christian apologists try to claim the Soviet regime was murderous because it was atheistic. To counter this, New Atheists have tried to argue atheism had nothing to do with any mass murder and oppression in the Soviet Union. Both arguments are wrong, but the New Atheist one involves contorted sophistry along with some quite remarkable distortion of historical facts. In March 2001 the Taliban regime in Afghanistan shocked the world by undertaking a weeks-long program of destruction to, literally, deface…
With a tumultuous year now over, I have been doing my annual review of the statistics for History for Atheists and thought I would post some of them here, with a few comments. This site is now entering its sixth year of operation and is still attracting plenty of readers and commenters. I also have a large number of topics I still need to tackle and new examples of anti-theist bad history continue to arise, so I suspect I will…
It is traditional that the media be filled with pseudo historical nonsense about the pagan elements of Christmas at this time of year. But atheists who claim to be “working for a more rational world” really should be more careful than harried journalists when presenting the “real history” of the season. Unfortunately, they almost never are. As I have noted here before, the media loves giving dubious background stories on traditions and festivals. At Christmas, it fills column inches or…