Village Atheists

A compelling history of atheism in American public life

A much-maligned minority throughout American history, atheists have been cast as a threat to the nation's moral fabric, barred from holding public office, and branded as irreligious misfits in a nation chosen by God. Yet village atheists--as these godless freethinkers came to be known by the close of the nineteenth century--were also hailed for their gutsy dissent from stultifying pieties and for posing a necessary secularist challenge to the entanglements of church and state. In Village Atheists, Leigh Eric Schmidt explores the complex cultural terrain that unbelievers have long had to navigate in their fight to secure equal rights and liberties in American public life. He rebuilds the history of American secularism from the ground up, giving flesh and blood to these outspoken infidels.

Village Atheists demonstrates that the secularist vision for the United States proved to be anything but triumphant in a country where faith and citizenship were--and still are--closely interwoven.

O istorie convingatoare a ateismului in viata publica americana O minoritate mult jignita de-a lungul istoriei americane, ateii au fost aruncati ca o amenintare pentru tesatura morala a natiunii, impiedicati sa detina functii publice si etichetati ca inadecvate ireligioase intr-o natiune aleasa de Dumnezeu. Cu toate acestea, ateii din sat - pe masura ce acesti liber-ganditori fara Dumnezeu au ajuns sa fie cunoscuti pana la sfarsitul secolului al XIX-lea - au fost, de asemenea, salutati pentru disidenta lor curajoasa de a patrunde pietele si pentru ca au pus o provocare secularista necesara pentru incurcarile bisericii si a statului.