Download or read book Freethinkers written by Susan Jacoby and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2005-01-07 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative history of the vital role of secularist thinkers and activists in the United States, from a writer of "fierce intelligence and nimble, unfettered imagination" (The New York Times) At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock of human reason. In impassioned, elegant prose, celebrated author Susan Jacoby paints a striking portrait of more than two hundred years of secularist activism, beginning with the fierce debate over the omission of God from the Constitution. Moving from nineteenth-century abolitionism and suffragism through the twentieth century's civil liberties, civil rights, and feminist movements, Freethinkers illuminates the neglected accomplishments of secularists who, allied with liberal and tolerant religious believers, have stood at the forefront of the battle for reforms opposed by reactionary forces in the past and today. Rich with such iconic figures as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Clarence Darrow—as well as once-famous secularists such as Robert Green Ingersoll, "the Great Agnostic"—Freethinkers restores to history generations of dedicated humanists. It is they, Jacoby shows, who have led the struggle to uphold the combination of secular government and religious liberty that is the glory of the American system.
Download or read book Freethought Across the Centuries written by Gerald A. Larue and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guided by Reason written by Steven R. Butler and published by . This book was released on 2021-12-07 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "Golden Age of Freethought" was an approximately fifty-year-long period, from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of U.S. involvement in the First World War, during which time American atheists and agnostics who called themselves "freethinkers," "liberals," or "infidels," sought to strengthen the "wall of separation between church and state" and to reshape American society by appealing to their fellow-citizens to abandon their religious faith and to embrace a culture of science, reason, and rational thought instead. During this era, in which a vibrant freethought press flourished and "liberal" associations could be found in towns and cities all over the country, Texans were among not only some of the most active and enthusiastic participants but also leaders in the movement. Shortly after one of the first (and perhaps the very first) "liberal" associations in the United States was formed in Bell County in 1873, the respected physician that served as its leader was brutally horse-whipped by Christian zealots who objected to his "infidelity." Undeterred, other groups of "liberals" or "freethinkers," many of them highly respected doctors, lawyers, and businessmen, began meeting regularly in towns and cities all across the Texas, such as Austin, Dallas, Denison, Houston, San Antonio, and Waco, just to name a few. For nearly two decades (1875-1894), there was even a town in East Texas called Ingersoll, named in honor of Robert G. Ingersoll, America's celebrated "Great Agnostic:" lecturer, who toured Texas twice, in 1896 and 1898. Periodically, other prominent freethought lecturers also toured the state. In 1890, the formation of a Texas Liberal Association was spearheaded by one of the movement's foremost freethought publishers, J. D. Shaw of The Independent Pulpit. Other Texas-based freethought publications included Capt. Richard Peterson's Common Sense and Dallas printer John R. Spencer's The Agnostic. Many intelligent, well-read Texans were regular contributors to freethought periodicals. In Guided by Reason: The Golden Age of Freethought in Texas, Steven R. Butler has combined original research with first-hand nineteenth century accounts to narrate the previously untold story of a little known but noteworthy era in Texas history.
Download or read book Popular Freethought in America 1825 1850 written by Albert Post and published by Octagon Press, Limited. This book was released on 1974 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 400 Years of Freethought written by Samuel Porter 1838-1896 Putnam and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this seminal work of American religious history, Samuel Porter Putnam traces the evolution of freethinking in America, from the Puritan era to the present day. With deep insight and erudition, he examines the role of skepticism and dissent in shaping American culture and politics. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book The Great Agnostic written by Susan Jacoby and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-08 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography that restores America's foremost 19th-century champion of reason and secularism to the still contested 21st-century public square.
Download or read book Freethought in the United States written by Marshall G. Brown and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1978-07-20 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Freethought on the American Frontier written by Fred Whitehead and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stirring anthology that documents, in poetry, song, stories, memoirs, and essays, the breadth and scope of secularism from the early 19th century to the present. Included are pieces by the notables--Twain, Dreiser, Lindsay, Service, Sandburg, Hughes, Masters, et al.--as well as grassroots contributions. Also included are photographs of authors, historical sites, and The Truth seeker cartoons of Watson Hedges. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Black Freethinkers written by Christopher Cameron and published by Critical Insurgencies. This book was released on 2019-09-15 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black Freethinkers is the first study to offer a comprehensive historical treatment of African American freethought (including atheism, agnosticism, and secular humanism) from the nineteenth century to the present.
Download or read book Freethought and Atheism in Central and Eastern Europe written by Tomáš Bubík and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-26 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first comprehensive overview of atheism, secularity and non-religion in Central and Eastern Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In contrast to scholarship that has focused on the ‘decline of religion’ and secularization theory, the book builds upon recent trends to focus on the ‘rise of non-religion’ itself. While the label of ‘post-communism’ might suggest a generalized perception of the region, this survey reveals that the precise developments in each country before, after and even during the communist era are surprisingly diverse. A multinational team of contributors provide interdisciplinary case studies covering Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. This approach utilises perspectives from social and intellectual history in combination with sociology of religion in order to cover the historical development of secularity and secular thought, complemented with sociological data. The study is framed by methodological and analytical chapters. Offering an important geographical perspective to the study of freethought, atheism, secularity and non-religion, this wide-ranging book will be of significant interest to scholars of twentieth-century social and intellectual history, sociology of religion and non-religion, cultural and religious studies, philosophy and theology.
Download or read book Freethought and Freedom written by George H. Smith and published by Cato Institute. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberty of conscience and freedom of thought are twin, core components of modern life in societies across the world. The ability to pursue one?s vision of the right and the good, coupled with liberty to pursue individual reason and enlightenment, helped produce so much of modern life that we may be apt to forget that libertarian philosophy was not dictated by Nature. Freethought and Freedom surveys the long history of religious and intellectual liberty, exploring their key ideas along the way.
Download or read book Race in a Godless World written by Nathan G. Alexander and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-16 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is modern racism a product of secularisation and the decline of Christian universalism? The debate has raged for decades, but up to now, the actual racial views of historical atheists and freethinkers have never been subjected to a systematic analysis. Race in a Godless World sets out to correct the oversight. It centres on Britain and the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century, a time when popular atheist movements were emerging and scepticism about the truth of Christianity was becoming widespread. Covering racial and evolutionary science, imperialism, slavery and racial prejudice in theory and practice, it provides a much-needed account of the complex and sometimes contradictory ideas espoused by the transatlantic community of atheists and freethinkers. It also reflects on the social dimension of irreligiousness, exploring how working-class atheists’ experiences of exclusion could make them sympathetic to other marginalised groups.
Download or read book Kindly Inquisitors written by Jonathan Rauch and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic “compelling defense of free speech against its new enemies” now in an expanded edition with a foreword by George F. Will (Kirkus Reviews). “A liberal society stands on the proposition that we should all take seriously the idea that we might be wrong. This means we must place no one, including ourselves, beyond the reach of criticism; it means that we must allow people to err, even where the error offends and upsets, as it often will.” So writes Jonathan Rauch in Kindly Inquisitors, which has challenged readers for decades with its provocative analysis of attempts to limit free speech. In it, Rauch makes a persuasive argument for the value of “liberal science” and the idea that conflicting views produce knowledge within society. In this expanded edition of Kindly Inquisitors, a new foreword by George F. Will explores the book’s continued relevance, while a substantial new afterword by Rauch elaborates upon his original argument and brings it fully up to date. Two decades after the book’s initial publication, the regulation of hate speech has grown both domestically and internationally. But the answer to prejudice, Rauch argues, is pluralism—not purism. Rather than attempting to legislate bias and prejudice out of existence, we must pit them against one another to foster a more vigorous and fruitful discussion. It is this process, Rauch argues, that will enable our society to replace hate with knowledge, both ethical and empirical.
Download or read book Great Freethinkers written by James C. Sanford and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grouped into categories that range from religion and psychology to sex and politics, the 1,000 quotations by the world's great iconoclasts and skeptics collected in this volume challenge conventional notions of god, country, science, art, society, and culture. In eclectic harmony, the words of cynics Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, and H. L. Mencken counterbalance those of idealists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Einstein, and Jane Addams. Utopians Emma Goldman and Che Guevara contrast with anti-utopians George Orwell and Albert Camus. Individualists contend with egalitarians as do deists with atheists in these thought-provoking quotations that have been carefully selected from a broad range of writings and chosen on the basis of their wit, eloquence, novelty, and incisiveness.
Download or read book Popular Freethought in America 1825 1850 Etc A Thesis written by Albert POST and published by . This book was released on 1943 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Just Pretend written by Dan Barker and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compares concepts of God to concepts of other mythological beings and stories.
Download or read book The Gospel of Atheism and Freethought According to Sherlock written by Michael Sherlock and published by . This book was released on 2014-06-19 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gospel of Atheism and Freethought - According to Sherlock turns blasphemy into an art form. None of the major religions are safe from Sherlock's unrelenting and antagonistic wit. In this three-part parody-titled atheist gospel, Sherlock shows that the legendary "prophet" of the Islamic faith was a paedophile, that Christianity was built on a textbook scam, that Jesus is not the reason for the season and that there is no reason for Jesus at all. If this book doesn't result in a fatwa or Pat Robertson dropping dead from a massive coronary episode, it will at least provide the atheist reader with food for both thought and laughter.
