Here’s your week in Freethought History. This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s a reminder that, no matter how isolated and alone we may feel at times, we as freethinkers are neither unique nor alone in the world.
Michael Servetus
[I]t is said that he looked like the Christ in whose name he was bound. Around his waist were tied a large bundle of manuscript and a thick octavo printed book. The torch was applied, and as the flames spread to the straw and sulphur and flashed in his eyes, there was a piercing cry that struck terror into the hearts of the bystanders. The faggots were green, the burning was slow, and it was long before in a last agony he cried again, “Jesu, thou Son of the eternal God, have mercy on me!”
Though a believer, Servetus had dared to doubt the prevailing orthodoxy – that is, he had expressed an opinion – and he had been killed for it. He was only 42 years old.
Johann Gutenberg
Annie Besant
Edward Burnett Tylor
Gore Vidal
In the First Amendment to the Constitution, the Founders made it clear that this was not to be a sky-god nation with a national religion like that of England, from whom we had just separated. … This separation was absolute in our original Republic. But the sky-godders do not give up easily… The original gentlemen’s agreement between Church and State was that We the People (the State) will in no way help or hinder any religion while, absently, observing that as religion is a good thing, the little church on Elm Street won’t have to pay a property tax. No one envisaged that the most valuable real estate at the heart of most of our old cities would be tax exempt, as churches and temples and orgone boxes increased their holdings and portfolios. The quo for this huge quid was that religion would stay out of politics and not impose its superstitions on Us the People. The agreement broke down years ago.
Bill McCartney, Founder of Promise Keepers
Robin Lane Fox
The Unauthorized Version is a historian’s view of the Bible. It is a book about evidence and historical truth, not about faith. It is unauthorized because it addresses questions which the Bible itself obscures: its authors, historical growth and historical truth. It is not an unauthorized version because other people have authorized their own version and wish to suppress the truth in mine. Those for whom the Bible is a book of faith wish to discover the truth, too. I write as an atheist, but there are Christian and Jewish scholars whose versions would be far more radical than mine. They will find this historian’s view conservative, even old-fashioned, but there are times when atheists are loyal friends of the truth.
Other birthdays and events this week—
October 2: The “father of town planning,” Scottish biologist Sir Patrick Geddes, was born (1854).
October 2: British inorganic chemist and Nobel Laureate Sir William Ramsay was born (1852).
October 5: Irish musician and humanitarian Bob Geldof was born (1954).
October 5: British writer John Addington Symonds was born (1840).
October 5: The most famous French Encyclopedist, Denis Diderot, was born (1713).
We can look back, but the Golden Age of Freethought is now. You can find full versions of these pages in Freethought history at the links in my blog, FreethoughtAlmanac.com.
