Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief
| Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief | |
|---|---|
PBS (United States) version:
A Brief History of Disbelief |
|
| Written by | Jonathan Miller |
| Directed by | Richard Denton |
| Presented by | Jonathan Miller |
| Theme music composer | Evelyn Glennie |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Richard Denton |
| Editor(s) | Richard Fretwell |
| Running time | 180 mins (3 × 60 mins each) |
| Production company(s) | PBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Four |
| Original release | 11 October 2004 (UK) 4 May 2007 (US) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Atheism Tapes |
| External links | |
| PBS (US) – A Brief History of Disbelief | |
Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief, known in the United States as A Brief History of Disbelief, is a 2004 television documentary series written and presented by Jonathan Miller for the BBC and tracing the history of atheism. It was first shown on BBC Four and was repeated on BBC Two. It was first shown in the U.S. on PBS in 2007.
The series includes extracts from interviews with various academic luminaries including Arthur Miller, Richard Dawkins, Steven Weinberg, Colin McGinn, Denys Turner, Pascal Boyer and Daniel Dennett. The series also includes many quotations from the works of atheists, agnostics and deists, all read by Bernard Hill.
The series consists of three 60-minute episodes:
A series of six supplementary programs was made from material that did not fit into the program; this was dubbed The Atheism Tapes.
The bulk of the presentation is a historical review of atheism in the West with asides to the author's personal experience. Miller notes, as is implicit in the title, how only recently atheism was publicly acknowledged in the modern West, with none willing to state flat rejection of religious beliefs until Baron d'Holbach (1723–89). He examines why d'Holbach is not better known or celebrated.
The first episode, "Shadows of Doubt", starts with Miller in the Reading Room at the British Museum describing the purpose of the series, and gives a brief montage of the interviewees. Miller starts his journey in New York City and states that the attacks of 11 September 2001 were "inconceivable without religion". Miller goes on to describe how he is conducting the series to explore the history of atheism, but he says he is rather "reluctant" to call himself an atheist because "it hardly seems worthwhile having a name for something which scarcely enters my thoughts at all". There follows a brief montage of people explaining their atheism: Sir Geoffrey Lloyd, Polly Toynbee, Gore Vidal, Steven Weinberg and Colin McGinn. Miller then describes his Jewish upbringing sitting in the pews of the New London Synagogue in St John's Wood.
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