The Death of God
A controversial theologian, William Hamilton belonged to the “Death of God” movement, a small group dedicated to reforming Christianity without the presence of a Judeo-Christian deity. 1966 was a pivotal year for the movement as not only did they get coverage in Playboy, but they were also the focus of TIME Magazine. In this opinion piece written by Hamilton in August of 1966, he lays out the atheist argument against a society based on God while arguing that society could still be based on Christian principle. This piece is a great representation of how religious thought began to change in the late 1960s, as not only did atheism finally find a public voice, but so did Eastern religions, the occult, and human potential faiths. Playboy applauded these types of discussions because as Hefner had noted his in philosophy, if a power structure such as the government must be questioned, so should the church as well.