Karlheinz Deschner
Atheism in Switzerland

Milestones of Religious Criticism

Religious criticism has evolved from early attempts in antiquity, through profound philosophical debates in the Enlightenment, to radical socio-critical and psychological analyses in the 19th and 20th centuries. Critics like Deschner and Ibn Warraq have expanded the debate to Christianity and Islam, while the New Atheist movement challenges the role of religion in a scientifically oriented world. This development shows the increasing willingness to treat religious beliefs as subjects of rational and ethical criticism.