Lucretius wrote a natural history where the world and life is created through natural processes (like natural selection) rather than throug a deliberate act of

Lucretius wrote a natural history where the world and life is created through natural processes (like natural selection) rather than throug a deliberate act of design by gods. So the idea is older than Jesus and does not require dinosaur bones. Dinosaur bones just shows that species can go extinct which does not contradict religion AFAIK. More important was the discovery of geological layers which showed the world was much older than suggested in the Bible. Honestly I don’t think the rise of Atheism have that much to do with natural history anyway. The French revolution happened before Darwin. It is about questioning and overthrowing religious authority - you can do that without a theory of evolution. We still don’t know life started but this does not prevent people from becoming atheist.