What would people in the 19th century think of atheists?

Answer 1

Not very much, since Atheism as a philosophy and conscious belief was a thing for the members of the educated, higher classes. The European upper classes even then considered being religious 'the thing to do' and of course a useful examle to their servants, but many of them could not be considered themselves as being really deeply religious. Knowing an atheist would be considered a tintillating experience, but nothing to lose sleep over. The (lower) middle classes - the backbone of churchgoers - would have been more shocked and decided that they would probably end up in Hell or something, but atheists did not move much in their circles. The struggling masses of the industrial and urban proletariat had many things to worry about and religion and churchgoing often wasn't one of them. Most of them had good reason to think that there could not really be a god looking out for them.

Becoming an atheist in a middle or upper class environment back then was a bit like 'coming out' before the Eighties: a shock to the neighbours if you lived in a small community, much less so in a city or otherwise liberal environment and all depending on how much you decided to parade your newly-found identity.

Answer 2

It depends on which people you would ask. Atheism gained popularity and social prominence in the Nineteenth Century. The French Revolution boosted atheistic thought into the political scene. Charles Bradlaugh was the most famous English politician. Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a pamphlet on the necessity of Atheism. There were many famous, outspoken free-thinkers in Western countries who ranged from politicians to philosophers, academics, writers, poets, scientists, etc. Atheism was refined, publicized and extensively explored by such intellectuals as Ludwig Feuerbach, Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and Max Stirner. They set the groundwork for later atheistic thought that truly blossomed in the Twentieth Century.


Of course their move into prominence horrified the religious community. However, they had much support and dominated the intellectual and philosophical circles of the times.