Christian Francken and the fear of atheism From rational religion to the myth of imposture

In the sixteenth century, religious rationalism laid the foundations of modern atheism. For example, a correspondence can be seen between Disputatio de incertitudine religionis Christianae (written around 1589) by the Socinian Christian Francken and certain themes in the anonymous work De tribus impostoribus, printed in Vienna in 1753. Both share common sources (Sextus Empiricus and Pomponazzi), affirm that religions are human inventions, and demonstrate the weakness of their foundations.