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From extensive archival and literary research, Joss Marsh reconstructs a unified and particular account of blasphemy in Victorian England. Rewriting English history from the bottom up, she tells the forgotten stories of more than two hundred working-class “blasphemers,” like Foote, whose stubborn refusal to silence their “hooligan” voices helped secure our rights to speak and write freely today. The new standards of criminality used to judge their “word crimes” rewrote the terms of literary judgment, demoting the Bible to literary masterpiece and raising Literature as the primary standard of Victorian cultural value.”

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Is it rooted in prophesy or paganism?

And why did it take centuries for most Christians to agree on a date for Jesus’ birth?

Dr. Robert Stovold explores the myths and legends around a December festival that dates back to earliest times, investigating the origins of Christmas trees, the divine child and the virgin birth – and finding some surprising connections.

The post Did Christians Steal Christmas? appeared first on The Freethinker.

The post Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man (Freethinker’s Classics, Book 5) appeared first on The Freethinker.

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This collection of his essays illustrates E M Forster’s vital Humanism. It provides an insight into Forster’s beliefs for students and readers of his novels. It will also appeal both to self-declared humanists, and to readers who are seeking an alternative to religious faith.

Contains the essays “What I Believe”, “An Alternative in Humanism”, and “How I Lost My Faith”, plus an introduction and notes by Nicolas Walter.

The post What I Believe: and other essays (Freethinker’s Classics, Book 3) appeared first on The Freethinker.

The post The Necessity of Atheism (Freethinker’s Classics, Book 2) appeared first on The Freethinker.

“Secularism is often accused of being atheistic. It is, however, neither atheistic nor theistic. It ignores the problem of God’s existence… and confines itself to the practical world of experience, without commending or forbidding speculation on matters that transcend it. Unquestionably many Secularists are Atheists also, but others are Theists, and this shows the compatibility of Secularism with either a positive or a negative attitude towards the hypothesis of a supreme universal intelligence.” [from the essay].

In 1890, G.W. Foote (1850-1915) became Charles Bradlaugh’s successor as president of the National Secular Society, but this essay first appeared in 1879 during his breach with Bradlaugh – Foote was expelled from the NSS in 1876 for open opposition to Bradlaugh’s leadership, but the two were reconciled in 1880.

The post Secularism, The True Philosophy of Life: An Exposition and a Defence (Freethinker’s Classics, Book 1) appeared first on The Freethinker.

As president of the National Secular Society from 1971 to 1996, she represented the atheist viewpoint in print, on lecture platforms and soap-boxes, in speaking tours, in university debates, and on radio and TV. From 1981 to 1985 she chaired the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, and she compiled a book on that subject (published by Peter Owen). Other writings include ‘Humanism’ – a book for use in secondary schools – first published in 1973 (6th edition, 2013); a book of satirical verse, ‘Good God!’ (1977); a cassette script, ‘Atheism on a Soap-Box’; and a pamphlet on embryo research, ‘Eggs Are Not People’, which was distributed to all Members of Parliament in 1985. The same year she recorded a radio talk, ‘Why I Am an Atheist’, for the BBC World Service.

This volume of articles, a personal selection from ‘The Freethinker’, covers three-and-a-half decades, from 1966 to 2002 (somewhat intermittently) -beginning with the final emergence of the author’s mature views on religion and bio-ethics and continuing into her eightieth year.

The contemporary scene on which she comments from that perspective includes unprecedented scientific progress, a remarkable transformation of the supposedly immutable RC Church, the decline of other mainstream Churches alongside the upsurge of fundamentalism, the rise of New Age cults, and the growing threat of extremism in Britain.

The post Freethoughts: Atheism, Secularism, Humanism – Selected Egotistically from “The Freethinker” appeared first on The Freethinker.

That alternative is secular scientific humanism – the subject of this book, written mostly from the perspective of European history.

The first edition of this book, intended mainly for teenagers, was published in 1973 as a textbook for secondary schools. This edition (the seventh), again updated and expanded, makes a useful resource for Religious Education teachers in years 9 to 13, to present alongside information on the major world religions. Since humanism is equal to any of them today in numerical importance and esteem, its inclusion in the syllabus helps to make RE objective, fair and balanced.

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