“Freud’s originality—the originality of Freudian atheism—is that his atheism is not just another instance of philosophical empiricism or scientific positivism, but of an interpretation of personal experience. In this fashion, Freudian thought comes to be classed along with the thought of Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche.”

— Bernard Lonergan (1973), “Sacralization and Secularization” [1]

“The grandfather of Marxian atheism and Freudian atheism is Ludwig Feuerbach, who was first a theologian, then a Hegelian, and finally an atheistic philosopher.”

— Hans Kung (1990), Freud and the Problem of God [2]

“Soviet orthodoxy [1917-1986] was shaped as a quasi-religion with Marx as God and the Spirit, Lenin as God the Father, and the party as collective God the Son.”

— Yuri Tarnopolsky (1993), reflection, as a scientist, i.e. self-defined “human chemist” (or pattern chemist), on his time as a Russian citizen (1936-86) and Siberian concentration camp days (1983-85), prior to his 1987 immigration to America, amid the eventual “fall of communism” in 1989 (Ѻ) [3]

“Nietzsche launched a new building project that represents an advance for atheism. Meslier denied all divinity, Holbach dismantled Christianity, Feuerbach deconstructed god. Then Nietzsche introduced transvaluation: atheism is not an end in itself. Do away with god, yes, but then what? Another morality, a new ethic, values never before thought of because unthinkable, this innovation is what makes it possible to arrive at atheism and to surpass it. A formidable task, and one still to be brought to fruition.”

— Michel Onfray (2005), Atheist Manifesto (Ѻ)