The Necessity of Atheism

"The Necessity of Atheism" is an essay on atheism by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, printed in 1811 by Charles and William Phillips in Worthing while Shelley was a student at University College, Oxford.

A signed copy was sent to all the heads of Oxford colleges at the University. At that time most lecturers at Oxford were ordained by the Church of England (not till later in the century would this change) who were acquainted with the concept of blasphemy. While England did not consider Atheism itself to be illegal at the time, promotion of the idea of Atheism was. English law prohibiting blasphemy was very much in effect, of which had not been repealed prior to 2008.^[1]

The content provided ample grounds for authorities to effect his being rusticated for contumacy along with his refusing to deny authorship, together with his friend and fellow student, Thomas Jefferson Hogg. A revised and expanded version of the text was included as one of the notes to Shelley's poem Queen Mab in 1813, and some reprints with the title The Necessity of Atheism are based on this rather than the 1811 pamphlet.^[2]