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Modern atheism did not begin until the [[Enlightenment]]. In addition, the [[French Revolution]] increased the spread of atheism in [[Europe]].<ref>http://www.investigatingatheism.info/historyeighteenth.html</ref> Baron D'Holbach's book ''The System of Nature'' was the first publication which explicitly denied the existence of God. Other atheists from this time included the philosopher [[David Hume]]. Others denied being atheists (heresy and blasphemy were capital offences) but held materialistic, empiricist, broadly deistic views; these include [[Voltaire]], [[Thomas Hobbes]], [[Thomas Paine]], [[John Locke]], [[Immanuel Kant]] and [[Benjamin Franklin]].
Modern atheism did not begin until the [[Enlightenment]]. In addition, the [[French Revolution]] increased the spread of atheism in [[Europe]].<ref>http://www.investigatingatheism.info/historyeighteenth.html</ref> Baron D'Holbach's book ''The System of Nature'' was the first publication which explicitly denied the existence of God. Other atheists from this time included the philosopher [[David Hume]]. Others denied being atheists (heresy and blasphemy were capital offences) but held materialistic, empiricist, broadly deistic views; these include [[Voltaire]], [[Thomas Hobbes]], [[Thomas Paine]], [[John Locke]], [[Immanuel Kant]] and [[Benjamin Franklin]].
== French Revolution and atheism ==
[[File:Prise de la Bastille.jpg|thumbnail|right|250px|On July 14, 1789, the [[Bastille]] was stormed by a mob and its prisoners freed, which is regarded as the start of the [[French Revolution]]. ]]
The University of [[Cambridge]] reports the following historical relationship between atheism and the [[French Revolution]]:
{{cquote|Between 1700 and 1750 thousands of atheistic clandestine manuscripts circulated across [[Europe]] (although still only read by a very small minority)...
The French Revolution (1789-94) would dramatically transform the power relationship between belief and unbelief in [[Europe]]: whereas before atheism had been 'high brow', discussed in the cafes and salons of Paris, henceforth it would set itself down among the people. A strident unbelief became a real political factor in public life, as the anticlerical 'dechristianisation' period following the revolution would demonstrate. The impact of the French Revolution in inspiring people to put the irreligious ideas of the [[Enlightenment]] into practice would extend beyond [[France]] to other [[Europe|European]] countries, and to the American colonies (although in the latter it would take a [[deism|deistic]] rather than atheistic form).<ref>http://www.investigatingatheism.info/historyeighteenth.html</ref>}}
==Militant Atheism and Atheistic Communism==
==Militant Atheism and Atheistic Communism==