De Rerum Natura
lucretius
['nikos kazantzakis', 'publius flavius vegetius renatus', 'mordecai richler', 'macneice', 'martin day', 'marco polo', 'scott adams', 'paul auster', 'bruce perens', 'eric knight', 'william gaddis', 'sumner locke elliott', 'scott mccloud', 'connie willis', 'guy vanderhaeghe', 'allan gurganus', 'james agee', 'nora roberts', 'christopher paolini', 'aleksey nikolayevich tolstoy', 'larry niven', 'tracy hickman', 'louisa may alcott', 'kate grenville', 'frank hampson', 'ann bannon', 'peter', 'sharadindu bandyopadhyay', 'yoko kamio', 'oscar wilde', 'ian fleming', 'hans christian andersen', 'arthur sullivan', 'ray galton', 'lee hall', 'dmitry glukhovsky', 'juvenal', 'apuleius', 'laura hillenbrand', 'laurence sterne', 'jonathan clements', 'mommsen', 'paul bowles', 'emilio salgari', 'hippocrates', 'guy bolton', 'usaf', 'benjamin disraeli', 'adorno', 'franz werfel', 'thomas chestre', 'chen shou', 'pontius pilate', 'maureen daly', 'robert silverberg', 'andrew marvell', 'kazumasa hirai', 'carl friedrich philipp von martius', 'alexander hamilton', 'carter dickson', 'jay faerber', 'harry mulisch', 'petronius arbiter', 'einhard', 'mary godwin', 'philip pullman', 'tom petty', 'augustus', 'max weber', 'rick riordan', 'mary wesley', 'ludwig van beethoven', 'saint john', 'pope john paul ii', 'cornelia funke', 'fujiko fujio', 'robert merle', 'jack finney', 'valmiki', 'giorgio vasari', 'aneirin', 'erin hunter', 'julia donaldson', 'joseph caro', 'ali sparkes', 'friedrich schiller', 'apollonius rhodius', 'grimms', 'christopher marlowe', 'sam lake', 'yu aida', 'ambrose', 'theophrastus', 'terry pratchett', 'sakyo komatsu', 'bruce sterling', 'sonic youth', 'husserl', 'chinua achebe']
Criticism of religion
Criticism of religion is criticism of the concepts, doctrines, validity, and/or practices of religion, including associated political and social implications. Criticism of religion has a long history. In ancient Greece, it goes back at least to the 5th century BCE with Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos; in ancient Rome, an early known example is Lucretius' De Rerum Natura from the 1st century BCE. Criticism of religion is complicated by the fact that there exist multiple definitions and concepts of religion in different cultures and languages. With the existence of diverse categories of religion such as monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, nontheism and diverse specific religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, Buddhism, and many others; it is not always clear to whom the criticisms are aimed at or to what extent they are applicable to other religions. Every exclusive religion on Earth that promotes exclusive truth claims necessarily denigrates the truth claims of other religions. Critics of religion in general often regard religion as outdated, harmful to the individual, harmful to society, an impediment to the progress of science, a source of immoral acts or customs, and a political tool for social control.