The evolution of hell: how rhetoric changes religion

There was also the enlightenment a few decades earlier.A lot of folks from that time on probably were closet atheists.After Darwin more felt they could come out of the closet.But don't forget there is still a huge stigma attached to being an atheist. Try to run for national office anywhere in the US as an atheist and you'll have a very difficult time of it.

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Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.