Who is the oldest atheist?
Matthias Knutzen
The first known explicit atheist was the German critic of religion
Matthias Knutzen in his three writings of 1674. He was followed by two other explicit atheist writers, the Polish
ex-Jesuit philosopher Kazimierz Łyszczyński and in the 1720s by the
French priest Jean Meslier.
en.wikipedia.org
Matthias Knutzen was born at
Oldenswort (
Schleswig-Holstein) early in 1646. His parents were Berend Knutzen, organist in Oldenswort and his wife Elisabeth (Elsebe). In the same year Knutzen was born his father died. As a boy, Knutzen was sent to his brother Johann Knutzen, an organist in
Königsberg in
East Prussia, and attended there a secondary school (the
Altstädtisches Gymnasium) from 1661 to 1664. In 1664, he registered at the
University of Königsberg and in 1668, at the
University of Copenhagen, to study theology in its Lutheran seminary.
[3] In between he earned money as a private tutor. In 1673, he took a position as a village schoolteacher and
auxiliary Protestant preacher in the
Kremper Marsch (Schleswig-Holstein).
en.wikipedia.org