In a couple of threads over at talk.origins, it was stated that belief in
deity(ies) within past cultures was "universal" (in one poster's case) and
"majority behaviour" (in another poster's case), but neither poster had a
cite for these assertions. In The Descent of Man, Darwin states that
universal belief is/was not the case - that there are whole languages that
did not have a word for even the concept of "God(s)". Specifically, he
states:

"There is no evidence that man was aboriginally endowed with the
ennobling belief in the existence of an Omnipotent God. On the
contrary there is ample evidence, derived not from hasty travellers,
but from men who have long resided with savages, that numerous
races have existed, and still exist, who have no idea of one or more
gods, and who have no words in their languages to express such an
idea. (74. See an excellent article on this subject by the Rev. F.W.
Farrar, in the 'Anthropological Review,' Aug. 1864, p. ccxvii. For
further facts see Sir J. Lubbock, 'Prehistoric Times,' 2nd edit., 1869,
p. 564; and especially the chapters on Religion in his 'Origin of
Civilisation,' 1870.)"

In a couple of threads over at talk.origins, it was stated that belief
in deity(ies) within past cultures was "universal" (in one poster's
case) and "majority behaviour" (in another poster's case), but neither
poster had a
cite for these assertions. In The Descent of Man, Darwin states that
universal belief is/was not the case - that there are whole languages
that
did not have a word for even the concept of "God(s)". Specifically, he
states:

"There is no evidence that man was aboriginally endowed with the
ennobling belief in the existence of an Omnipotent God. On the
contrary there is ample evidence, derived not from hasty travellers,
but from men who have long resided with savages, that numerous
races have existed, and still exist, who have no idea of one or more
gods, and who have no words in their languages to express such an
idea. (74. See an excellent article on this subject by the Rev.
F.W.
Farrar, in the 'Anthropological Review,' Aug. 1864, p. ccxvii. For
further facts see Sir J. Lubbock, 'Prehistoric Times,' 2nd edit.,
1869, p. 564; and especially the chapters on Religion in his 'Origin
of Civilisation,' 1870.)"

So I'm wondering, *do we know how prevalent - say in terms of
percentages -
atheism was in times past?* (The answer could get complex, given the
number of societies over the past 130 millennia, but ballpark figures
or a cite to
an online source would likely suffice. And answers will also get
pretty sketchy back beyond 500 or so years - I know there'll be limits
as to how far back this information can even be available for various
societies, but I don't know what those limits are.)

My guess, FWIW, is that with whole societies being atheistic (as per
Darwin, above), atheism also existed in generally theistic societies
(like today), but that maybe atheism was somewhat more prevalent than
in today's
societies. I speculate this to be the case since there was greater
isolation in populations, less education / indoctrination of religious
principles within populations (since there was less education in
general terms, no mass media or print, etc.), and I doubt there was
much missionary or similar work back before, say, a couple of thousand
years.

I note one source, http://www.stnews.org/news-2442.htm, that says
"Statistics show that while atheism has captured the hearts and minds
of many Europeans, the number of theists worldwide has grown even more
dramatically, especially in Africa, Asia and South America.", but this
site
gives no idea as to past theism/atheisn splits.

And
http://adherents.com/ gives many current stats, but few historical ones
that I could find (for interest, it estimates current world population
of atheists at 8%, with
Sweden topping the national figures, at 46-85%). And at
http://kenneth.moyle.com/aa/atheism1.htm, it states that "Disbelief in
God is nothing new." and questions: "Why has atheism, until the 20th
century the bold assertion of the few, suddenly been accepted by such a
large portion of
the population?" (this conflicts with my guess, of course). This site
also states: "Up until the 19th Century, much of what was considered by
contemporaries to be atheism was really more of a partial atheism or
agnosticism.". I also went through the alt.atheism FAQ at
http://www.skepticfiles.org/atheist/atheistf.htm. So there's lots of
information out there, but I'm hoping for something with a time line or
time/region lines, ideally going back more than a couple of centuries.
TIA. Brett.

In a couple of threads over at talk.origins, it was stated that belief in
deity(ies) within past cultures was "universal" (in one poster's case) and
"majority behaviour" (in another poster's case), but neither poster had a
cite for these assertions.