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By Punkerslut
The following is a list of ten incredibly influential Freethinkers. Most of them either called themselves Atheists or Agnostics, but one called himself a Deist. At first, I had planned to organize them in order of how influential they have been on history and change; but it is impossible to have one strict standard to measure each person's individual contribution and devotion to their cause. So, understand that none of these biographies are in any particular order. It is good to note that I did not solely choose individuals that were simply Atheists, but rather individuals who have fought for an ethical cause, for a revolution of their social world.
A Note to Writers
When writing a Freethought paper or essay, any Atheist should have no trouble gathering information concerning the history of rationalism. Undoubtedly, the history of Materialism is paralleled with the history of reform and change. In every reform and change, the clergy and religious have cursed it, much as they continue to curse abortion and Animal Rights. But, among the large hurdling masses of men and women whom will believe whatever they are told as long as the thief have a cross, individuals will arise from these ruins whom will question what they are told. They will not allow the words of a murdered - robed or not - change the way they think. They will think for themselves, not allowing large masses of pious individuals force them to think one way or another. They will not believe anything unless given evidence, thereby disbelieving religion without much difficulty. They were the heroes, the fighters, the champions. When they believed something was wrong, when some great atrocity was committed, it was never the priest who spoke out, nor was it ever the pope. It was the Freethinker, the Skeptic, the Atheist, who had destroyed the chains of injustice and evicted religion from the minds of men. Resources...
Many of the resources used here were from Warren Allen Smith's "Who's Who In Hell" and James A. Haught's "2000 Years of Disbelief." Also, if necessary, I looked up Joseph McCabe's "A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Freethinkers." Furthermore, I included quotes from the works of every individual mention. For some Freethinkers, I had to rely heavily upon biographical accounts of their life due to the obscurity and lack of available information (namely, Giordano Bruno). Also, in the biography of Giordano Bruno, you will notice that Ingersoll stated he was burned on the 16th and Foote stated he was burned on the 17th yet I stated he was burned on the 20th. The reason for this is that the book "Giordano Bruno: His Life and Thought" by Dorothea Waley Singer was an incredibly large book that was well-researched by a Bruno scholar. The other books concerning Bruno were in a compiled list of Freethinkers (in Ingersoll's case, it was "The Great Infidels," and in Foote's case, it was "Infidel Death-beds"). Very little was also available on Henry Stephens Salt, so I had to gather much of my information from a Salt scholar from the Latin Quarter website, which used to be here: http://www.radioafrica.co.uk/henrysalt/. The link, however, is long since dead. Wikipedia is a good source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Stephens_Salt.
Punkerslut,
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