Freethought Almanac

Lighting a candle in toxic air.
2011-07-23
July 24: Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar (1783) It was on this date, July 24, 1783, that South American liberator and president Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar - Simón Bolívar - was born in Caracas, Venezuela. His parents were wealthy, but they died early. Bolívar inherited a fortune that assured him of a quality education, partly in […]

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2011-07-23
July 23: Alan Hale

Alan Hale and Comet Hale-Bopp (1995) It was on this date, July 23, 1995, that Comet Hale-Bopp was discovered by Alan Hale and, independently, by Thomas Bopp. Working as a shift supervisor in a construction materials company, Bopp, an amateur astronomer, observed the celestial event in Glendale, Arizona. A professional astronomer, Alan Hale made his […]

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2011-07-21
July 21: Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway (1899) It was on this date, July 21, 1899, that the American novelist Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, one of six children. His father was a fervent member of the First Congregational church and his mother sang in the church choir. Despite being reared in a […]

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2011-07-21
July 21: Insulting Monkeys

The famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial was a publicity stunt that exposed the imbecility of fundamentalism.

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2011-07-20
July 20: Erik Axel Karlfeldt

Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864) It was on this date, July 20, 1864, that Nobel-winning Swedish poet Erik Axel Karlfeldt was born in Folkärna, in the rural province of Dalarna, central Sweden. His father was a lawyer, his mother a devout Lutheran. While supporting himself as a teacher, Karlfeldt completed his University of Uppsala studies and […]

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2011-07-20
July 20: The First Movie Kiss

No Kissing on Screen (1910) It was on this date, July 20, 1910, that the Christian Endeavor Society of Missouri began a campaign to ban all motion pictures that depicted kissing between non-relatives – coincidentally on the same year and month that sultry silent screen actress Theda Bara turned 20. Movies were only just beginning […]

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2011-07-19
July 19: Converting the Heathen in America

The Christian conversion of Native American Indians.

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2011-07-18
July 18: William Makepeace Thackeray

Like John Ruskin and Tennyson, he was a Rationalist, but he did not go out of his way to criticize religion.

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2011-07-18
July 18: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

The Pope is infallible, not impeccable, says the "Catholic Encyclopedia."

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2011-07-17
July 17: Phyllis Diller

Phyllis Diller (1917) It was on this date, July 17, 1917, that the comedienne and actress with the distinctive laugh, Phyllis Diller, was born Phyllis Ada Driver in Lima, Ohio. She was a San Francisco housewife with five children when her under-employed husband suggested she try to make a career of the comedic skits she […]

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Ronald Bruce Meyer

Our Fearless Leader.


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September 18: Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski (1933) It was on this date, September 18, 1933, that director Roman Polanski was born Rajmund Roman Thierry Polański in Paris to Polish Jewish parents, neither of whom practiced their religion seriously. The family got caught in Poland as the Nazis overran the country. Polanski's mother, a Roman Catholic, died in the concentration […]



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