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Anti-religious


Antireligion, as discussed here, is opposition to religion of any kind. The term may be used to describe opposition to organized religion, or to describe a broader opposition to any form of belief in the supernatural the divine, or sacred. As such it is distinct from atheism (the absence of a belief in deities) and antitheism (an opposition to belief in deities), although "antireligionists" may also be atheists or antitheists.

As a militant secularism it is characterized by opposition, at times leading to hostility, to religion of any kind, this includes, but is not limited to, rejection of deism, monotheism, polytheism, other assertions of fundamental states of human and universal affairs without a basis in fact as in some UFO religions, whether organized or not. In this way, it goes beyond the spectrum of atheism and even anti-theism, both of which are specific to belief in deities. Antireligionism also rejects and opposes nontheistic religions, such as Buddhism and Taoism to the extent that these posit super mundane realities. Its opposition to religion also goes beyond the misotheistic spectrum.

Antireligionism may find its beginning in the Enlightenment through outspoken atheist Baron d'Holbach. In his book Christianity Unveiled published in 1761, d'Holbach attacked not only Christianity but religion in general as an impediment to the moral advancement of humanity. Antitheist Christopher Hitchens may be one of the leading antireligionists of the 20th century for maintaining opposition not just to the Abrahamic religions, but to some other religions such as Buddhism. According to historian Michael Burleigh, antireligion found its first mass expression in revolutionary France in response to organised resistance to "organised ... irreligion...an 'anti-clerical' and self-styled 'non-religious' state."


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