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Lucretius believed the world was composed solely of matter and that all phenomenon could be understood as resulting from purely natural causes. Lucretius, like Epicurus, felt that religion was born of fear and ignorance, and that understanding the natural world would free people of the limitations it brought.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/l/lucretiu.htm |title=Lucretius [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] |accessdate=2008-06-14 |format= |work=}}</ref>
Lucretius believed the world was composed solely of matter and that all phenomenon could be understood as resulting from purely natural causes. Lucretius, like Epicurus, felt that religion was born of fear and ignorance, and that understanding the natural world would free people of the limitations it brought.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/l/lucretiu.htm |title=Lucretius [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] |accessdate=2008-06-14 |format= |work=}}</ref>
Writing in 1776 of the ancient Romans, Edward Gibbon said: "''The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.''"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1365&chapter=50990&layout=html |title=Online Library of Liberty - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1, chp ii |accessdate=2008-06-14 |format= |work=}}</ref>
[[Niccolò Machiavelli]], at the beginning of the sixteenth century said: "''We Italians are irreligious and corrupt above others... because the church and her representatives have set us the worst example.''"<ref name="isbn014044534x">{{cite book |author=S. G. C. Middlemore; Burckhardt, Jacob; Murray, Peter; Burke, Peter |title=The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Penguin Classics) |publisher=Penguin Classics |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=014044534x |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> To Machiavelli, religion was merely a tool, useful for a ruler wishing to manipulate public opinion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm |title=The Prince, by Nicolo Machiavelli |accessdate=2008-06-14 |format= |work=}}</ref>
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