Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism | Susan Jacoby

Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism | Susan Jacoby | Essential history for freethinkers

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	Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism Susan Jacoby Holt Paperbacks, 2005 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 74 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Know-Something Party

In recent decades, as America has been overrun by the "religiously correct" (a term that Susan Jacoby may have coined for this book), we have forgotten that our country's political system was built upon the separation of church and state and the desire to keep religious dogma out of practical governmental matters. Jacoby shows that in the past, this separation was supported both by opponents and proponents of organized religion. The church and state argument is the focus of most of this book, as Jacoby outlines the intellectual history of the strain of thought that has long strived to prevent dominant dogmas from monopolizing American life, for the good of popular self-government. These rational thinkers have been variously categorized as secularists, progressives, humanists, or freethinkers.

Jacoby highlights important historical personages like Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll, as well as entire movements such as women's suffrage. feminism, and civil rights, who have all used rational thought to improve American history and society. Jacoby shoots down modern stereotypes claiming that the Founding Fathers envisioned a Christian nation, when in reality they kept the Constitution non-religious for very important reasons. We also learn that religious groups that would like to break down the fundamentally American separation of church and state have continually used predictable know-nothing epithets such as communist, socialist, or atheist to denigrate rationalist thinkers, while the modern religious right has been behaving just like groups they formerly opposed, such as the Catholics when that church had more political clout in the past.

The final chapter of this book is a bit of problem as Jacoby slams the religious right and the current American administration for their certainly repressive and unconstitutional religious megalomania, and this could be seen as a detriment to Jacoby's otherwise rational analysis. But she also criticizes modern secularists and freethinkers for their cowardice and submission in the face of name-calling and power plays by the Right. So in the end, Jacoby has provided a solid intellectual history of a type of thought that has been far more important in American history than is currently acknowledged, and also issues a pretty strong call to arms for the rationalists who are still numerous but silent. [~doomsdayer520~]

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Essential history for freethinkers

Susan Jacoby's "Freethinkers: a history of American secularism" is a recounting of some American history that has been ignored and forgotten in the current wave of public religiosity and pietistic posturing by politicians of every stripe. Yet it's history that is essential for anyone who wants to have a true understanding of the critical role freethinkers have played in the creation of the society we live in today.

Whether she is rediscovering Tom Paine or writing about the controversy over Sunday mail delivery in the early part of the 19th century, Jacoby's narrative is lively and insightful. Her book is a celebration of two hundred years of secular activism and a reminder that the greatest legacy of the American Revolution was the creation of a government that was founded not on the authority of gods or religions but on the rational consent of human beings.

Jacoby's book was just published last year, so she brings the story of American freethought up to the present and notes the conflict between a society that is, in many ways, more secular than ever and the strident religious sectarianism that threatens to undermine the separation between religion and government and the right of all Americans to freedom "from" religion.

The story of freethought in America is filled with heroes and heroines. Some of the names-Paine, Jefferson, Madison, Ingersoll, Sanger- will be familiar. Others, like Ernestine L. Rose, Lucretia Mott, William Lloyd Garrison, and Vashti McCollum, may not be. One of the points Jacoby makes in her survey is that freethinkers' contributions to American life have been edited out of most history texts.

Speaking of Lucretia Mott, Jacoby writes, "The neglect and misrepresentation of Mott is one more example of the fragmented historical record of Enlightenment-rooted American dissent."

She goes on to note that the secularists who have been most marginalized are those who were unabashedly antireligious. In the pages of this book, Jacoby tells the story of a culture war that has raged-at some times more stridently than others-since the inception of the American experiment in constitutional democracy. From the outset there has been a constant and ongoing effort by various Christian sects to gain recognition, advantages and privileges for their beliefs and their institutions.

Jacoby sees that process intensifying today. With President George W. Bush in the White House, the efforts of the Religious Right have gained a strong ally.

"It is time to revive the evocative and honorable freethinker, with its insistence that Americans think for themselves instead of relying on received opinion," she writes. "The combination of free and thought embodies every ideal that secularists still hold out to a nation founded not on dreams of justice in heaven but on the best human hopes for a more just earth."

This is a good read. I highly recommend it.

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A Much Needed Breeze Through American History

If Susan Jacoby does nothing more in this book, Freethinkers, than pull Robert Ingersoll out of an undeserved obscurity, this book is very worthwhile. But the even better news is that the author does much more than that. This book is a fresh look at American secularists and their impact on American society and the struggle to disown either them entirely (such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the early feminist movement) or the secular element in their ideas (as is continually happening with the Founding Fathers, such as Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams, never mind the ever prickly Paine) or to allow them to quietly disappear (as is the case with Ingersoll). The author places these people back into an historical narrative that follows the origins of the American government as a secular body and the continuous fight to change that. Some of the personalities feel slight shoe-horned in, such as Lincoln, but this, on the whole, is a bold and exiciting book with a frightening ending as the religiously correct break down the wall established at the beginning of the founding. This story is timely but reading it, one realizes that it always has been. A well done work.

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Got Thought?

Freethinkers has made it to the top of my must read books for people who care about the direction this country is moving in. In words more eloquent and passionate than I could ever hope to use, Susan Jacoby presents ideas and opinions regarding religion, spirituality, and the separation of church and state that I have been grappling with for years. Despite the subtitle, this book is not just a history of our country, but also a call for a renewal of the Freethought movement.

Secularism, we are reminded, is the idea that humans can make laws and ethical decisions without the input of any god (or gods as various religions would have it). This idea is written into our Constitution and is the backbone of the separation of church and state. By attacking secularism, Americans have been attacking their own way of life; the one that allows them to worship or not worship and express opinions as they wish. The only radical idea being put forth in this book is that we should return to the political mode of operation that brought us all of our most important social advancements (namely Civil Rights, the Vote for Women, greater equality in general [at least technically if not in practice]; the list goes on). Simply put, we are a country of many ideals. Therefore, we must use our reason to make overarching decisions, not the blind faith of fundamental religion.

Another idea put forth in Freethinkers is one very immediately personal to me. Simply: I have a right to not have a religion in this country. While this may seem obvious, it is an important revelation for a young woman who has only recently discovered that she trusts her own mind over the doctrine of her church. In a culture where a lack of religion is regarded with distrust and pity, a little support for nonbeliever is always appreciated. Actually, while Freethinkers doesn't have much good to say about religion, it is not an attack on any of those "certain institutions". Rather, Jacoby simply insists that religiously minded people should keep their faith out of politics.

Finally, Freethinker encourages us to do simply that Think Freely. Do your own research. Make your own decisions. Reclaim words that conservatives use negatively such as feminist, liberal, humanist, and revel in the fact that these words express a personal strength great enough to shape a nation. It is time to reclaim our heritage and lead our country in the direction of Reason.

I won't say that the clear bias, even one I agree with, doesn't set off my accuracy meter slightly, but the facts as presented seem in line with what I have learned over the years. If you question the legitimacy of anything in this book, I suggest you go out and research the topic yourself (there are extensive chapter by chapter footnotes in the back and use original sources if you are serious). After all, just be doing that you will be answering the call of Freethought.

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Every home should have this

Ms. Jacoby's book is well-researched and thoroughly documented. It is ignorance of history that allows political spin to mislead the public, and the author sets out to inform the reader about the true foundation of our system of democracy. It is a long-overdue work that will give readers the ability to learn of the work and struggle of those who contributed greatly to our society but were either kicked under the historical rug or whose views have been manipulated to fit current political agendas. Every home should have a copy of this important work on our history.

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