<b>A unique anthology of skeptical essays on religion by eighteenth-century thinkers who questioned the reigning orthodoxy and raised doubts about belief in God.<br> </b><br> This is the first anthology ever published to feature the writings of leading eighteenth-century thinkers on the subjects of atheism, religion, freethought, and secularism. Editor S. T. Joshi has compiled notable essays by writers from France, England, and early America. <br><br> The contributors include Denis Diderot (a principal author of the multivolume French <i>Encyclopédie)</i>, Baron d'Holbach (<i>System of Nature</i>, 1770), Voltaire (<i>Philosophical Dictionary</i>), David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine, and other lesser-known thinkers.<br><br> With a comprehensive introduction providing the intellectual and cultural context of the essays, this outstanding compilation will be of interest to students of philosophy, religious studies, and eighteenth-century intellectual history.