HUME'S ATHEISTIC AGENDA

Quite a few of his contemporaries regarded Hume as an atheist. 1 Though he himself never openly avowed to be one, there is ample evidence his contemporaries were right. In his personal life, as well as his writings, Hume openly doubted the reality of an afterlife and the existence of the soul, showed suspicion and disdain for the idea of a wrathful, punishing God-Judge, and defended the claim that morality was conceivable without any reference to Divine Law.2 Atheism had in 18th century culture also the connotation of 'licentiousness' and 'a-morality'. This is a rather general opprobrium, but one implication of it was certainly that in the Calvinist Scotland of Hume's days the adherence to religious duties and observances was seen as an essential part of the good life. Though Hume seems to have been overall a person of virtuous and honorable character, he despised all forms of religious virtues, as is testified by his dismissal of the "monkish virtues" and the artificial moralities of religious enthusiasts like Blaise Pascal and Ignatius of Loyola (EPM, 9.3; EPM,