—Sir Isaac Newton

Thomas Paine was born January 29, 1737 in England. Soon after Benjamin Franklin encouraged him to come to America, Paine gave the American Revolution, then just starting, a major push forward with his widely read Common Sense. While Paine was in France, he published Parts I and II of Age of Reason. He returned to America, where he died in New York in 1809.

more...

DeRobigne Mortimer Bennett, born in 1818, was the country's most controversial publisher of his time. In less than a decade Bennett accomplished more to popularize freethought in America than anyone before or since. His courageous indictment of organized religion and church hypocrisy, as well as his subsequent persecution, earned him martyr status among freethinkers.

more...

James Hervey Johnson was born August 2, 1901 . His grandfather being a Methodist minister, he was brought up in the Christian religion, attending church and Sunday School until he was 14. He finished high school at 15. After studying the works of Thomas Paine, Robert G. Ingersoll and Charles Darwin as well as other scientific subjects, he saw the falsity of religion and rejected it entirely. He had carefully studied the Bible and other religious books.

more...