Mar 15
Cesare Beccaria (1738) It was on this date, March 15, 1738, the famous Italian legal reformer Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria-Bonesana, was born in Milan. He opposed the death penalty and believed education would reduce crime – a belief borne out in practice so frequently to this day that only a Christian Dominionist would dispute it. …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=4332
Nov 11
Joseph McCabe (1867) It was on this date, November 11, 1867, that Freethought writer Joseph Martin McCabe was born in Manchester, the product of Protestant East Anglians and Irish Catholic stock. He was named Joseph, after the saint, because he was, from infancy, promised to the priesthood. He entered the priesthood at age 16 and …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3914
Nov 08
Émile Combes and Church-State Separation (1904) It was on this date, November 8, 1904, that leftist French statesman Émile Combes introduced a bill for the separation of Church and State into the legislature of France. Born Justin Louis Émile Combes in Roquecourbe in the Tarn Départment on 6 September 1835, Combes at first studied for …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3863
Oct 30
John Adams (1735) It was on this date, October 30, 1735, that the second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard, where he first intended to study for the orthodox ministry, but the reality of orthodoxy sobered him and he turned to the law. …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3737
Oct 13
Lenny Bruce (1925) It was on this date, October 13, 1925, that American comedian Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider on Long Island, New York. As the name might suggest, Bruce grew up a tough Jewish kid who expressed his ethnicity with humor. “You and I know what a Jew is,” he said. “One …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3638
Oct 05
Denis Diderot (1713) On this date, October 5, 1713, the most famous French Encyclopedist, Denis Diderot, was born in Langres. Educated by the Jesuits (1728-1732), he took the opportunity to read everything that came his way, and then escaped before they could ordain him. Diderot gradually lost his faith between his Essay on Merit and …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3450
Oct 05
Bob Geldof (1954) It was on this date, October 5, 1954, that musician and humanitarian Bob Geldof was born in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland. He was one of the founders in Dublin of the Boomtown Rats. In 1984, after witnessing the starvation in Ethiopia, Geldof wrote “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and got some …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3441
Oct 04
Promise Keepers March on Washington (1997) It was on this date, October 4, 1997, that a group calling themselves the Promise Keepers gathered on the Mall in Washington DC. Promise Keepers calls itself “a Christ-centered organization dedicated to introducing men to Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord; and then helping them to grow as …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3428
Oct 01
Annie Besant (1847) It was on this date, October 1, 1847, that English Atheist-turned-Theosophist Annie Besant (originally Annie Wood), was born in London. Her widowed mother could find only enough work to support herself, so Annie was reared by a friend. At age 19, she was married off to the Rev. Frank Besant, whose narrow …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3401
Sep 28
Friedrich Engels (1820) It was on this date, September 28, 1820, that German political philosopher and Socialist leader Friedrich Engels was born in Barmen, Prussia. His father ran a factory in Manchester, in the north of England, and sent him there as a young man to gain management experience. But Engels was shocked at the …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3261
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