Atheism was not born in modern times, nor when someone anxiously broadcast the news that 'God is dead'.

Between 800500 BCE in India, at the time when the Upanishads were beginning to be compiled as books (ruti), there were already statements circulating that denied any eternal, powerful Reality. Heaven and Hell were refuted and priests mocked. In one of the Upanishads, there is a section that compares priests to a line of dogs: each one is holding t