Questioning God — The Hidden History of Western Religious Skepticism

 

Copyright: Sanjay Basu

While my personal journey through Buddhism, Atheism, and Vedanta might seem uniquely modern, the questioning of divine existence has deep roots in Western thought, even in epochs when such questioning could be mortally dangerous. The pre-modern Western world, often painted as uniformly pious, harbored rich veins of religious skepticism that prefigured many contemporary atheistic arguments.

The ancient Greeks provided the first systematic framework for questioning divine existence. While figures like Epicurus didn’t explicitly deny the gods’ existence, his materialistic philosophy suggested a universe that operated without divine intervention. His concept of gods who exist but don’t interfere with human affairs created a philosophical space between outright atheism and conventional religious belief — not unlike how Vedanta creates space between pure materialism and traditional theism.

The medieval period, despite its reputation for religious conformity, saw sophisticated questioning of divine existence. Moses Maimonides, though himself a believer, developed such rigorous logical arguments about God’s nature that some of his followers concluded that the concept of a personal deity was philosophically untenable. His negative theology — defining God by what it is not rather than what it is — bears striking parallels to the Vedantic concept of neti neti (not this, not that) in describing Brahman.

Even within Christian monasticism, there existed a tradition of profound religious doubt. The desert fathers wrote of the “demon of unbelief,” but their very acknowledgment of such doubt suggests that questioning God’s existence was a common enough experience to require spiritual guidance. These medieval doubts often focused on the problem of evil — if God exists, why is there suffering? — a question that both Buddhist and Vedantic philosophy address without requiring belief in a personal god.

The Renaissance brought more overt religious skepticism. Figures like Lucilio Vanini, burned at the stake for atheism in 1619, developed naturalistic explanations for religious beliefs. Michel de Montaigne’s famous question “Que sais-je?” (What do I know?) applied skepticism to religious claims just as thoroughly as to secular knowledge. His Essays present religious belief as a cultural phenomenon rather than a universal truth, anticipating modern anthropological approaches to religion.

The pre-modern period also saw the development of “practical atheism” — people who lived as if God didn’t exist while maintaining outward religious conformity. This parallels the way some modern practitioners engage with Vedanta’s philosophical insights while remaining agnostic about its traditional religious elements.

What’s particularly striking about pre-modern Western religious skepticism is how it often arrived at conclusions similar to Eastern philosophical traditions. Nicholas of Cusa’s concept of learned ignorance — that true wisdom comes from acknowledging the limitations of human knowledge — echoes Buddhist epistemological skepticism. John Scotus Eriugena’s pantheistic interpretation of Christianity, declaring that God is everything and everything is God, approaches Vedantic non-dualism.

Yet Western religious skepticism developed in a fundamentally different context from Eastern philosophical traditions. While Vedanta could openly explore non-theistic interpretations of ultimate reality, Western thinkers had to contend with institutional structures that enforced orthodox belief. This led to the development of sophisticated philosophical strategies for questioning religious orthodoxy while maintaining plausible deniability — what Leo Strauss called “writing between the lines.”

The story of pre-modern Western religious skepticism reminds us that the questioning of divine existence isn’t merely a product of scientific modernity. Rather, it represents a fundamental human capacity for philosophical inquiry and doubt. Just as Vedanta offers a framework for exploring ultimate reality without requiring belief in a personal god, pre-modern Western skeptics found ways to question divine existence while working within their cultural and intellectual traditions.

This historical perspective enriches our understanding of contemporary atheism and its potential dialogue with Vedantic thought. It suggests that the compatibility between atheistic skepticism and profound philosophical insight isn’t new — it has been discovered and rediscovered across cultures and throughout history. The pre-modern Western skeptics, like modern practitioners of Vedanta, found ways to pursue deep philosophical truths while questioning conventional religious beliefs.

Their example suggests that the current dialogue between atheism and Vedanta isn’t unprecedented but rather represents a new chapter in humanity’s long struggle to understand ultimate reality. Just as medieval skeptics found ways to question divine existence while engaging with the philosophical richness of their tradition, modern thinkers can engage with Vedantic insights while maintaining their atheistic skepticism.

This historical perspective also highlights how different cultural contexts shape the expression of religious skepticism. While Vedanta could openly develop non-theistic interpretations of ultimate reality, Western skeptics had to be more circumspect. Yet both traditions demonstrate humanity’s persistent quest to understand existence beyond conventional religious frameworks — a quest that continues in our modern synthesis of atheistic skepticism and Vedantic insight.

These are my notes from my research

There are Western philosophical traditions that questioned the existence of God long before the modern concept of atheism emerged. These early skeptical thoughts about divine existence can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophy.

Ancient Greek Skepticism

Some ancient Greek philosophers expressed doubts about the existence of gods or proposed alternative explanations for natural phenomena:

Epicurus (341–270 BCE)

While not an atheist himself, Epicurus questioned the compatibility of God with suffering, laying the groundwork for what would later become known as the Problem of Evil[5].

Philosophical Naturalism

Some ancient Greek thinkers sought natural explanations for natural phenomena, moving away from supernatural explanations[5].

Early Christian Era

Even in the early Christian era, there were thinkers who engaged critically with the concept of God:

Tertullian (c. 160-c. 225 CE)

While not questioning God’s existence, he dismissed philosophy, creating a tension between faith and reason[4].

John Scotus Erigena (c. 810-c. 877 CE)

His pantheistic tendencies, suggesting that “God is in all things,” challenged traditional theistic concepts[4].

Medieval Islamic Philosophy

Muslim philosophers also contributed to this discourse:

Avicenna (980–1037 CE)

He distinguished between God as the necessary being and all other contingent things, developing a complex philosophical system that, while not atheistic, provided a more abstract conception of God[4].

Pre-Modern Skepticism

Before the emergence of modern atheism, several thinkers expressed skepticism about traditional religious beliefs:

David Hume (1711–1776)

During the Enlightenment, Hume provided influential critiques of the traditional arguments for God’s existence[5].

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

Kant also critically examined the traditional proofs for God’s existence, though he himself was not an atheist[5].

These early questioning thoughts laid the groundwork for later, more explicit atheistic arguments. They demonstrate that critical examination of the concept of God has been a part of Western philosophical tradition long before the formal development of atheism as we understand it today.

Sources
[1] Existence of God — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existence_of_god
[2] [PDF] Theism in Western Philosophy — PhilArchive https://philarchive.org/archive/OPPWP
[3] Which philosophers have argued that a God cannot exist? https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/1161/which-philosophers-have-argued-that-a-god-cannot-exist
[4] Western Concepts of God — Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://iep.utm.edu/god-west/
[5] Atheism | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://iep.utm.edu/atheism/
[6] 5 arguments for and against the existence of God — Big Think https://bigthink.com/thinking/arguments-on-gods-existence/
[7] Existence of God | History, Philosophy, & Arguments — Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/existence-of-God
[8] Moral Arguments for the Existence of God https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-arguments-god/
[9] Divine Hiddenness Argument against God’s Existence https://iep.utm.edu/divine-hiddenness-argument-against-gods-existence/
[10] Classic Arguments About God’s Existence in Cicero — Orexis Dianoētikē https://gbsadler.blogspot.com/2013/02/classic-arguments-about-gods-existence.html

Please share your thoughts.