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The atheism dispute (German: Atheismusstreit) was an event in German cultural history that lasted between 1798–1800 which had an effect on the German philosophy of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
History
In 1798, Johann Gottlieb Fichte was accused of atheism after publishing that year his essay "Ueber den Grund unsers Glaubens an eine göttliche Weltregierung" ("On the Ground of Our Belief in a Divine World-Governance") which he had written in response to Friedrich Karl Forberg's essay "Development of the Concept of Religion" in his Philosophical Journal. Forberg had claimed that unbelievers could be moral if they act as if an all-seeing and punishing God exists. In his brief essay, Fichte attempted to sketch some of his preliminary ideas on philosophy of religion formulated within his Wissenschaftslehre (doctrine of science). He characterized God as the living moral order of the world.
“On the Ground of Our Belief in a Divine World-Governance” provoked the publication of anonymous essay that accused both Fichte and Forberg of atheism and called for Fichte's dismissal from his post at the University of Jena. In the wake of the dispute, many essays were published in defense and against Fichte, as well as defense by Fichte himself. Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi eventually published his famous open letter to Fichte, which saw the first use of the word nihilism, and in which he equated philosophy in general and Fichte's transcendental philosophy in particular with "nihilism."
This dispute caused German authorities to suppress the original essay as well as threaten the University of Jena itself with preventing enrollment. Fichte was forced to resign his position at Jena and to flee to Berlin as a result of previously made statements in which he threatened to resign if he were subjected to official government reprimand.