The first episode , " Shadows of Doubt " , starts with Miller in the Reading Room at the British Museum describing the purpose of the series , and gives a brief montage of the interviewees . Miller starts his journey in New York City and states that the attacks of 11 September 2001 were " inconceivable without religion " . Miller goes on to describe how he is conducting the series to explore the history of atheism , but he says he is rather " reluctant " to call himself an atheist because " it hardly seems worthwhile having a name for something which scarcely enters my thoughts at all " . There follows a brief montage of people explaining their atheism : Sir Geoffrey Lloyd , Polly Toynbee , Gore Vidal , Steven Weinberg and Colin McGinn . Miller then describes his Jewish upbringing sitting in the pews of the New London Synagogue in St John 's Wood
attacks of 11 September 2001
September 11 attacks
Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief