Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism | Susan Jacoby

Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism | Susan Jacoby | The best of the best

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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

Bad Religion and the Agnostic Front

Are you as depressed about the current state of affairs concerning the future of the U.S. constitution, in particular the Bush administration's seeming attempts to dissolve the separation of church and state? Do you get angry when Christian right revisionists attempt to convince the public that there was no such thing in the first place? Well, my hell-bound friends, have I got a book for you! Susan Jacoby's meticulously researched, insightful, and yes, even fair and balanced history of the most despised, yet also most important people in our nation's history is a clarion call that needs to be heard.

Atheists, agnostics and other assorted doubters have been around for as long as others attempted to pass off absurd fairy tales as inerrant fact, but it wasn't until the enlightment that anything like a real "movement" emerged, and not until the founding of the United States, still ironically the most religious nation on earth, has this movement been able to enact any positive changes. The founding fathers were far from perfect men--Jefferson held abotitionist views but still kept and even impregnated one of his slaves--but they understood that a nation built on people from disparate backgrounds, that is, a plurality, must have a public square where even the most controversial opinions can be aired without fear of reprisals. Since religion is the most personal and intractable opinion a person can have, none of these beliefs can be codified into law, lest those with a different set of beliefs be harmed. Therefore, it's up to people whose beliefs aren't hidebound to a single creed--freethinkers--have the responsility to protect the secular public square--for the good of all, including the most religious and even anti-religious among us. Naturally, this core value of Democracy has been under assault ever since by fundamentalists who believe their way is the only way--for everybody. In "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism" Ms. Jacoby offers the stories of those brave and flawed individuals who have helped make this a great nation, even if almost none of today's political representatives would acknowledge it. Aside from Jefferson, whose "godless constitution" continues to protect all Americans more forcefully than any "Patriot Act," there was Thomas Paine, the author of "The Age of Reason," who was ruthlessly stigmatized for his independence. Ernestine L. Rose, a Jewish immigrant and abolitionist orator, one of the few activists of the nineteenth century to proudly label herself an atheist, proved that a true moral and ethical system could be freed from dogma and the supernatural. Lucretia Mott (a devout if rebellious Quaker), Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony laid the framework for women's suffrage and feminism. Then there's Robert Ingersol, a prominent lawyer and orator, nicknamed "the Great Agnostic," whose charisma and lucidity helped to foster the various freethinking groups that exist to this day. Even though he often spoke to crowds who you might think would be hostile to his views, he attained a popularity that would be unheard of today, when statements of faith are de rigeur in order to be elected to almost any political position.

Today's freethinkers have pretty much given up on trying to change people's minds, for fear that they'd be considered proseletysers. As science and reason continue to advance in the rest of the world, threatening to leave America behind, this book is an important reminder of the leadership role we once played. While Ms. Jacoby wears her sympathies and even her politics on her sleeve--she ignores the roles played by more libertarian freethinkers such as H.L. Mencken and Ayn Rand--she never overestimates the importance of her subjects, even though they're almost always underestimated these days. Atheists, agnostics and all stripes of freethinkers have been at the leading edge of the most important social advances of the last 200 years, even if they needed to be joined by religious liberals in order to truly achieve their goals. Maybe this book can help inspire the next evolution (that's right, evolution--it really happens) of freethought for the benefit of everybody, including those who will continue to bask in the comforting but blinding artificial light of faith.

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The best of the best

I consider myself well read in freethought literature, including all of Paine and much of Ingersoll. However, Jocoby's breadth knowledge of these and other important freethinkers exceeds mine by leaps and bounds. Contrary to some of the bad reviews here, I found the prose tightly written and very logical in its presentation. I hope that all freethinkers read this book. I can only hope that the general public will read it as well.

what got left out of your history classes

An excellent, well-researched history of secularism in America. It provides excellent details of the secular foundations on which the USA was built (a history that has been twisted or ignored over the years), and the constant attacks on the separation between religion and the state through the present day. Jacoby puts forth solid arguments as well about why this is something that should worry all Americans, regardless of their faith or lack-their-of. Not the easiest read in the world, but definitely worth your time.

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A good defense of secularism, but too liberal politically

Overall, the author does a good job defending the extremely important advent of secularism. She successfully challenges the revisionists who insist that the founders were all bible-believing Christians. In fact, when you realize just how unorthodox these men were in their spiritual beliefs, you can't help but think how remarkable it is that this country, which was then as now a predominantly Christian-populated nation, was founded by such a ballsy group of heretics.

What's disappointing about this book is the author's implication that secularism is defended these days only by political liberals. As has been mentioned, there are quite a few economic conservative and libertarian thinkers who are very much concerned with defending secularism against the religious right. In fact, because of political correctness (which was fathered by modern liberalism) many critics of religious activists can't be as sharp in their defenses of secularism without being labeled as bigoted and intolerant to religious views.

To address a charge made in a previous review, Christianity is blamed for assisting in the survival of slavery because it's scriptures so heavily defend and condone it. Pro-slavers of the time were able to easily produce verse after ugly verse from the Bible which directly and explicitly condone the practice of slavery, while abolitionists were not able to produce a single verse from the Bible directly and explicitly condemning the practice of slavery. Most southern christians of the time reasonably and understandably believed, therefore, that their god had no moral problem with slavery. It was this "slavery is OK by God" mentality among the populace that was crucial to slavery's survival in the south.

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