Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief (also known as Jonathan Miller's Brief History of

Disbelief) is a 2005 documentary series conducted by Jonathan Miller for the BBC
tracing the history of atheism. It was first shown on BBC Four and was repeated on BBC
Two.

The series includes extracts from interviews with various academic luminaries including
Arthur Miller, Richard Dawkins, Steve Weinberg, Colin McGinn, Denys Turner and
Daniel Dennett. The series also includes many quotations from the works of atheists,
agnostics and deists, all read by Bernard Hill. The program features an original
percussion score by Evelyn Glennie.

The series consists of three 60-minute episodes:

* "Shadows of Doubt'"
* "Noughts and Crosses"
* "The Final Hour"

A series of six supplementary programs was made from material that did not fit into the
program; this was dubbed "The Atheism Tapes".

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JONATHAN MILLER'S BRIEF HISTORY OF DISBELIEF

BBC Two Monday 31 October - Monday 14 November 2005 TBC

In this first ever television history of disbelief, Jonathan Miller goes on a journey
exploring the origins of his own lack of belief and uncovering the hidden story of
atheism.

Shadows of Doubt
BBC Two Monday 31 October 2005 7pm-8pm
Jonathan Miller visits the absent Twin Towers to consider the religious implications of
9/11 and meets Arthur Miller and the philosopher Colin McGinn. He searches for
evidence of the first 'unbelievers' in Ancient Greece and examines some of the modern
theories around why people have always tended to believe in mythology and magic.

Noughts and Crosses

BBC Two Monday 7 November 7pm-8pm
With the domination of Christianity from 500 AD, Jonathan Miller wonders how disbelief
began to re-emerge in the 15th and 16th centuries. He discovers that division within the
Church played a more powerful role than the scientific discoveries of the period. He also
visits Paris, the home of the 18th century atheist, Baron D'Holbach, and shows how
politically dangerous it was to undermine the religious faith of the masses.
The Final Hour
BBC Two Monday 14 November 7pm-8pm TBC
The history of disbelief continues with the ideas of self-taught philosopher Thomas Paine,
the revolutionary studies of geology and the evolutionary theories of Darwin. Jonathan
Miller looks at the Freudian view that religion is a 'thought disorder'. He also examines
his motivation behind making the series touching on the issues of death and the religious
fanaticism of the 21st century.

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The Atheism Tapes is a 2005 BBC television documentary series presented by Jonathan
Miller. The material that makes up the series was originally filmed for another, more
general series, Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief, but was too in-depth for inclusion.
Instead, the BBC agreed to create The Atheism Tapes as a supplementary series of six
programmes, each consisting of an extended interview with one contributor.

The programmes

All six programmes were conducted in the form of interviews; the synopses below are
summaries of the interviewees' responses to Miller's questions.

Colin McGinn

English philosopher McGinn speaks about the various reasons for not believing in God,
and some of the reasons for. He gives a thorough treatment of the ontological argument.
In addition, McGinn draws an important distinction between atheism (lack of belief in a
deity) and antitheism (active opposition to theism); he identifies himself as both. Finally,
he speculates about a post-theistic society.

Steven Weinberg

He talks about the effectiveness of the Design Argument, both in the past and today. He
also discusses the reasons that people become religious, including the varying influences
of physicist and biological arguments against religion, and connects this to a higher
likelihood of physicists being agnostic than biologists.

He goes on to distinguish between violence done in the name of religion, and because of
religion, and states that both of these are very real and very dangerous. He goes on to
discuss the difference between religious belief in America and Europe, and about how he
doesn’t like the character of the Christian God. He ends by saying that science is very
definitely corrosive to religious belief, and that he considers this a good thing.
Daniel Dennett

American philosopher Dennett explains why he called one of his books Darwin's
Dangerous Idea, and why many of Darwin's contemporaries, in particular, considered
Darwin's theory of evolution to be dangerous. He goes on to deal with the question of
consciousness (i.e., is the consciousness/soul distinct from the body), talking about
Darwin's rejection of the soul and the possible origins and psychological purposes of a
belief in an immaterial soul.

Next, he talks about his Christian upbringing and how he became an atheist. He goes on
to ask why it is thought rude to criticise religious belief, and suggests that it is due to the
influential status of the religions in question. He finishes by wondering whether we could
live effectively in a post-theistic world.

FULL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

COLIN MCGINN
Monday 18 October midnight-12.30am; 2.30am-3am; Saturday 23 October 7pm-7.30pm
Jonathan Miller talks to the philosopher Colin McGinn about atheism and anti-Theism.

STEVEN WEINBERG
Tuesday 26 October 12.05am-12.35am; 2.35am-3.05am (Monday night); Friday 29
October 7pm-7.30pm
The Nobel Prize-winning physicist discusses the role of science in the erosion of
religious belief.

ARTHUR MILLER
Monday 1 November 11.40pm-12.10am; 2.10am-1.40am; Friday 5 November 7pm-
7.30pm
Playwright Arthur Miller and Jonathan Miller talk about disbelief and their experiences of
anti-Semitism.

RICHARD DAWKINS
Tuesday 9 November 12.30am-1am; 3am-3.30am (Monday night); Friday 12 November
7pm-7.30pm
Biologist Richard Dawkins talks to Jonathan Miller about his implacable opposition to all
religion.

DENYS TURNER
Monday 15 November midnight-12.30am; 2.30am-3am; Friday 19 November 7pm-
7.30pm
Christian theologian Denys Turner defends the case for God as the answer to the most
important questions.

DANIEL DENNETT
Monday 22 November midnight-12.30am; 2.30am-3am; Friday 26 November 7pm-
7.30pm
Philosopher Daniel Dennett talks to Jonathan Miller about why people still believe in
God.

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTS OF THE PROGRAMMES:

The Atheism Tapes, transcripts of the BBC TV series by Jonathan Miller:
http://tapes.atbhost.com/index.php/