WI: Atheist Europe after Attila?

The spread of Buddhism or Confucianism to Europe isn't going to erase beliefs in deities in Europe. If anything, this Europe will resemble China and Japan, with Buddhist or Confucian principles practiced alongside local folk religions (deriving from paganism). Just as many so-called irreligious Chinese keep shrines to Cai Shen, Zao Shen, Guanyin, or Mazu in their homes, you'd have Germans with hearth shrines to their kobolds, English with cofgods, Russians with domovoi, and Italians with whatever the lares would evolve into, just as Christian Europeans continued to hold such folk beliefs in household spirits. You'd have shrines to ancestors and maybe city gods, and sacred groves and other temples. The casual nature of such belief systems (many East Asians believe themselves to have no religion, yet will pray to such shrines if they come across one, and keep shrines to domestic gods and ancestors and practice associated rituals annually) would probably diminish the circumstances that would bring about an Enlightenment like the one in OTL.
 
Does anyone have a source on Hunnic religious beliefs in this era?

Not on hand, no, but considering that they were a steppe people who likely spoke a Turkic language, it is my understanding that they probably followed a religion similar to Tengriism.
 
I don't think that you can get a medieval atheist Europe with a POD in late antiquity.

But I see possibilities for this to happen with an earlier POD. Let's say our POD is around the year 0. Christianity never takes off. Instead a new cult reaches Rome from the east, mixing Greco-Roman philosophy with some oriental ideas like reincarnation, nirvana etc. Let'd call this philosophy/religion "Gotamana" and its followers "Gotamanoi/Gotamani" (from Siddharta Gautama :p ).

Gotamana combines Kharma and Confucian ideals with Roman ideals and appeals to everyone:
-doing your best for the state is a good deed (appeals to the emperor)
-honoring your forefathers is a good deed (appeals to elites and the emperor)
-helping the weak is good deed (appeals to the small people and slaves)
-moderation is good
-etc.
----> many good deeds = nirvana

The nirvana would be influenced by Roman and Greek culture and would be close to Christian heaven ITTL.

Gotamana would explain the Greek and Roman Gods as bare aspects of the spiritual nature of the world (or something like that).

It becomes main religion of Europe and a few hundred years later you get some hardliners that deny the existence of Gods alltogether.

Bingo. Atheist Medieval Europe.

Varsågod
 
Not on hand, no, but considering that they were a steppe people who likely spoke a Turkic language, it is my understanding that they probably followed a religion similar to Tengriism.

the were so heterogenous that they probably had believers of many religions in their ranks. I think Odin, Zeus, Sol Invictus, the sky, Jesus, Buddha and nature were all tolerable for Attila.
 
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the were so homogenous that they probably had believers of many religions in their ranks. I think Odin, Zeus, Sol Invictus, the sky, Jesus, Buddha and nature were all tolerable for Attila.

I think you meant heterogenous?

But yeah... Were the Huns atheist at all? Where does that come from?

For that matter, I can't remember any explicitly atheist philosophies on the ancient world, apart from some Greek ones (which I'm not so sure about...)
 
But yeah... Were the Huns atheist at all? Where does that come from?

Hun-bashing, mostly.
Atheism (whatever in Greco-Roman or Christian society) being considered as a mad form of nihilism that threatened not only the free thinker but as well his own society.
Huns being depicted as nihilist only interested into destruction, at the contrary of Romans and "good Barbarians", it was an easy step qualyfing them as god-less.
 
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