Here’s your Week in Freethought History: This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s an affirmation that we as freethinkers are neither unique nor alone in the world, no matter how isolated and alone we may feel at times. Last Sunday was the 51st birthday of American actor and director […]

Here’s your Week in Freethought History: This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s an affirmation that we as freethinkers are neither unique nor alone in the world, no matter how isolated and alone we may feel at times. Last Sunday, April 29, is the feast-day of the Abbot of […]

(The following is a transcript of a LIVE broadcast by John Mill. “This Week In Freethought” airs on the American Heathen® internet radio show. Air date of this particular segment: 04/28/12) Here’s your Week in Freethought History: This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s an affirmation that we as […]

(The following is a transcript of a LIVE broadcast by John Mill, the radio persona of Ronald Bruce Meyer. “This Week In Freethought” airs on the American Heathen® internet radio show. Air date of this particular segment: 04/21/12) Here’s your Week in Freethought History: This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies […]

It was on this date, February 19, 1473, that Nicolaus Koppernigk, known to science history by his Latinized name, Nicolaus Copernicus, was born in Toruń, what is now known as Thorn in modern Poland. Copernicus lost his father at age 10 and was taken under the wing of his Uncle Lucas, a free-living Polish cleric, […]

It was on this date, February 13, 1635, that a headmaster (Philemon Pormont) was selected to administer the first U.S. public school, Boston Latin School. It is useful to note that, although the first public school in the U.S. was founded by a clergyman, throughout the history of Christianity the churches have been either indifferent […]

It was on this date, January 6, 1412, that Jeanne d’Arc, or Joan of Arc, was born at Domrémy in Champagne, France. Joan grew up on a French farm during the Hundred Years War, the youngest of a family of five, and never learned to write or read. Her story is compelling as drama. Did […]

Pius IX and Original Sin (1854) It was on this date, December 8, 1854 – that the same Pope Pius IX promulgated, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Not to be confused with the "virgin birth" legend of Jesus, this equally absurd doctrine says that, at Mary's conception, she did […]

It was on this date, November 27, 1095, that Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. The purpose of the Crusade was to answer an appeal for help that Urban had received from the Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I Komnenos, to relieve the pressure by the Seljuk Turks on the Eastern […]

The Biblical Flood (2347 BCE) It was on this date, November 18, 2347 BCE, that Noah's Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, after 150 consecutive days of rain. We can be sure that this story is true, because the Judeo-Christian Bible tells us so, the Church Fathers say it was so, the […]