Is it true that atheism is not older than 200 years old and has proven to be an error?

Answer 1

Atheism is defined as a lack of belief in a God, or gods, or belief that a God or gods do not exist. Either definition requires a knowledge of belief systems in order to disbelieve them. Therefore, belief in God, or gods, may have come first in any society before any member of that society could choose not to hold that belief.

On the other hand, atheism could be considered older than religious belief since the earliest humans were not capable of forming religious doctrines and belief in some undefined higher power was likely a result of not understanding the powers of nature.

There are millions of people globally who do not believe in a higher being or the supernatural, therefore it clearly exists. It is certainly not a fact that atheism is an error. No one has proved atheism to to be an error, just as no one has proved God exists.

Answer 2

Both parts of this are not true.

1) Atheism is not older than 200 years: Atheism as a movement that identifies itself under a particular banner is relatively new, but we have numerous documents from much older than 200 years ago that openly mock the concept of divinities and make clear that the person writing does not believe. Omar Khayyam is one such person. There are also numerous accusations in religious societies historically that a person had become an Atheist as a means of defaming him or having him murdered. If people did not believe that Atheism was possible, these accusations would be ridiculous. They had a working concept of Atheism and were afraid of it.

2) Atheism has proven to be an error: Atheism and Theism are statements of belief, not of knowledge or proof. People who argue that Atheism is proved false by the revelations of their gods are only speaking to their belief. True knowledge is impossible in empiric science, which is why most Athiests and most Theists are agnostics, e.g. they do not assert perfect knowledge of the state of the universe, only a reasonable guess based on the data in front of them. Look for data and see whether or not you find the evidence indicative of a particular god or set of gods and then make the decision of which is more likely, based on that evidence. (This is in contrast to mathematical proofs which are effectively irrefutable since the knowledge is gained deductively, not inductively.)