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Letters from an Atheist Nation Godless Voices of America in 1903 Thomas Lawson 9781466397354 Books

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Letters from an Atheist Nation Godless Voices of America in 1903 Thomas Lawson 9781466397354 Books

I don't know why I was so shocked by the sheer number of letters in this book. As is pointed out in the preface, between these essays and our modern-day "new" atheism lies the decades-long mini "Dark Ages" of the Cold War, Red Scare, McCarthyism, and conflation of Communism with Atheism, which drove the budding free-thinking, rationalist movement underground for generations.

If we could communicate with these men and women, who range in age from quite old to surprisingly young (people in their 80's who lived through the Civil War, teenagers & people in their 20's, and all ages in between contributed to this project), we would feel completely at home with them, and agree with their conclusions regarding god(s) and the Bible.

The writing is often breathtakingly poetic, but more often straight-forward and matter-of-fact. Yet somehow, this segment of our society seems to have been forgotten by history. All we keep hearing about these days is how our country was founded on Christian principles, and our seemingly recent abandonment of those principles has led to the horrible state our country is in today. I am as guilty as the next person of believing that there is something new and modern about our current questioning of religion.

But when you think about the popularity back then of people like Ingersoll and Twain, there must have been an audience for them, right? The people in this book are members of that audience. I consider them my brothers and sisters.


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Letters from an Atheist Nation Godless Voices of America in 1903 Thomas Lawson 9781466397354 Books Reviews

With the growth in people coming out as atheist / non-believers these days and the higher profile that our section of society is garnering, we sometimes forget that there are many who have walked this road before us. This book is a reminder that we are not the first. Whilst it is always great to hear from Dawkins, Hitchens and going back further Russell and Ingersoll, to me these are the real voices. The voices that could be our grandfathers, uncles and ourselves. And for me that alone would be enough of a reason to buy this book. The hard work that has gone into what is clearly a labor of love is a bonus. I would also suggest that if you are a theist you don't just dismiss this book without taking the time to read it. We really aren't that different in many ways. This may help you see that.
A few weeks ago, when the edition of this book first came out, I wrote "I guess I'll have to get a , or else borrow my daughter's, to keep reading this book--but the introductory portion featured on the book's page certainly leaves a reader hungry for more. How about a print version, though? It'd seem to me to be a worthwhile project."

The book's traditional print version is now available, and I reiterate my thanks to Thomas Lawson for resurrecting, as it were, an obscure but important facet of Kentucky history as well as that of American freethought. The only difference I see between these colorful and variegated testimonies of nonbelief, and similar missives available in blog postings on the Internet today, is that the 1903 letter writers were, by and large, quite a bit more articulate and mannerly than their Internet journalistic heirs. Even so, some of the writers do have an annoying tendency--as do their contemporaries--to employ "shock language" to stir up, as it were, the fretful complacency of their fundamentalist Christian counterparts. But the issues are still the same--and are still waiting to be addressed by the American public at large.
Admittedly, I haven't finished reading this yet; I just /had/ to stop halfway through to say how fascinating I'm finding the stories. Some of them echo my own experiences and beliefs very closely, while others add new facets I've never even considered. Some of the language and references are, understandably, rather dated, but the stories told within are still entirely relevant today. I recommend this not only for atheists and other non-theists, but also those theists who want to better understand the motivations of their non-believing family and friends.
A somewhat repetitive but still amazing, and occasionally brilliant, collection. The historical notes and contemporary background are helpful, as are the print and Internet bibliographies.
It is nice to see so many freethinking individuals from our past. Too bad a couple of world wars came along and revived the religious fervor of the church which has roots deeply embedded into the government bureaucracy.
i liked this piece of work so much, I bought both the book, and the kindle versions. I could go on and on about this book, however, the best thing I could say is it should be put on the school list of mandatory reading. A great demonstration of why we keep our constitution separate from religion. Great piece of history! If I could give this book more stars, I would.
What an unexpected delight this book has been for me! In the past ten years I've been reading everything from Dan Barker to Richard Dawkins to Sam Harris to Christopher Hitchens and a whole many more of the "new" atheists, and then, of late, I've acquired the complete works of the incomparable Robert Ingersoll. But I've got to say how eloquent these ordinary letter-writers were in expressing their doubts about the god of the bible and Christianity in general. These writings are as good as any I've read anywhere. Many of these writers were indeed influenced by Ingersoll. Some even mentioned having seen him in-person ( this was 1903, and Ingersoll had died only four years earlier ). I definitely recommend this book to any and all of my New Atheist friends. It's a real treasure. Thanks to Tom Lawson for bringing these letters back for us!
I don't know why I was so shocked by the sheer number of letters in this book. As is pointed out in the preface, between these essays and our modern-day "new" atheism lies the decades-long mini "Dark Ages" of the Cold War, Red Scare, McCarthyism, and conflation of Communism with Atheism, which drove the budding free-thinking, rationalist movement underground for generations.

If we could communicate with these men and women, who range in age from quite old to surprisingly young (people in their 80's who lived through the Civil War, teenagers & people in their 20's, and all ages in between contributed to this project), we would feel completely at home with them, and agree with their conclusions regarding god(s) and the Bible.

The writing is often breathtakingly poetic, but more often straight-forward and matter-of-fact. Yet somehow, this segment of our society seems to have been forgotten by history. All we keep hearing about these days is how our country was founded on Christian principles, and our seemingly recent abandonment of those principles has led to the horrible state our country is in today. I am as guilty as the next person of believing that there is something new and modern about our current questioning of religion.

But when you think about the popularity back then of people like Ingersoll and Twain, there must have been an audience for them, right? The people in this book are members of that audience. I consider them my brothers and sisters.