Twelve score and nine years ago, if you’ll indulge me, the Second Continental Congress, gathered in Philadelphia, did something momentous: they adopted the Declaration of Independence, as (mostly) written by Thomas Jefferson, and thus announced to the world the birth of a new nation, one based explicitly on democratic principles and rooted in radical, atheistic philosophy. That this American achievement was imperfect and marred by the crime of slavery, among others, should not detract from our admiration. The Americans took on a mighty empire and won (with the help of the French, let us not forget), and what was begun in 1776 culminated in the creation of the world’s first and oldest, and possibly even greatest, secular democratic republic.
The history of America is the history of revolution and counter-revolution. It is the story of the unfolding of the promise of the Declaration—an unfolding opposed, and sometimes stemmed and even rolled back, by racists, oligarchs, and theocrats. The land of freedom was also the land of slavery; the epicentre of modern global secularism was also—is also—the epicentre of Christian fundamentalism.
Today, under the second Donald Trump administration, almost everything that actually made America great is being spat upon by people who claim to be American patriots. Christian nationalism is stronger than ever, American imperialism is capital-B back, the rule of law and the system of checks and balances and the democratic process are being subverted. The true America, or at least the best, the noblest America—the America of Thomas Paine—is dying. As I wrote a couple of days ago, with reference to the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925: ‘Scopes was also a battle for the soul of America, another round in a fight that had gone on since 1776: between the radical, democratic, Enlightenment philosophy of Paine, Jefferson, and the rest, and the reactionary, demotic, fanatical spirit of religious enthusiasm.’
And so it continues. 249 years on from that world-historical turning point in Philadelphia, will the America of Paine survive until the Semiquincentennial next year?
As an admirer of America from afar, I hope so, I truly do. (And I hope that I am being more pessimistic than realistic in my assessment that this America is dying. That this America was perhaps never truly born, or, rather, was born disfigured, is another discussion entirely.) The freethought movements in Britain and America have always been close friends, and it is to American freethinkers and secularists that we must look now. (One might begin by checking out The Truth Seeker, edited by Roderick Bradford.)
Meanwhile, the Fourth of July is a good moment to look back on some Freethinker articles and interviews which touch on the subject of America’s soul, to greater or lesser extents; many of these will explain the characterisation I gave above, particularly the mention of America’s roots in ‘radical, atheistic philosophy’. And Patrick Seamus McGhee’s article will explain why hope for the future of America must be rooted in its freethinking past.
In no particular order, then (and note that this is not an exhaustive list):
- How Trump will reshape America’s global role in his image, by Matt Johnson
- The end of American idealism, by Matt Johnson
- American democracy will soon turn 250. Freethought can reinvigorate it. By Patrick Seamus McGhee
- The radical atheism of the American revolutions: interview with Matthew Stewart, by Daniel James Sharp
- Donald Trump is an existential threat to American democracy, by Jonathan Church
- Donald Trump, political violence, and the future of America, by Daniel James Sharp
- White Christian Nationalism is rising in America. Separation of church and state is the antidote. By Rachel Laser
- US Election 2024: Yet Another Farcical and Costly Contest, by Zwan Mahmod
- US Election 2024: On ‘Lesser Evilism’, by Ralph Leonard
- ‘Project 2025 is about accelerating the demise of a functioning democracy’: interview with US Representative Jared Huffman, by Daniel James Sharp
- Books from Bob’s Library #2: Thomas Paine’s ‘Rights of Man’, by Bob Forder
- The rhythm of Tom Paine’s bones, by Eoin Carter
- Faith Watch, February 2024, by Daniel James Sharp
- Faith Watch, March 2024, by Daniel James Sharp
- Christopher Hitchens and the long afterlife of Thomas Paine, by Daniel James Sharp
- Introducing ‘Paine: A Fantastical Visual Biography’, by Polyp, by Paul Fitzgerald
- Reproductive freedom is religious freedom, by Andrew Seidel and Rachel Laser
- Secular conservatives? If only…, by Jacques Berlinerblau
- The Antisemitism Awareness Act will mean the demise of free speech in America, by Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
- Satan Will See You in Court: A Florida Battle for Religious Freedom, by T. ‘Chaz’ Stevens
- Is Democracy Overrated? The Vacuity of Curtis Yarvin and His ‘Dark Elves’, by Jonathan Church
- Against the ‘New Theism’, by Daniel James Sharp
- Can the ‘New Theists’ save the West? by Matt Johnson
- Two types of ‘assimilation’: the US and China, by Grayson Slover
- What has Christianity to do with Western values? by Nick Cohen
- Image of the week: ‘Trumpburster’, by Paul Fitzgerald
- Image of the week: ‘Top Trumps’, by Paul Fitzgerald
- Can Christianity Save Atheism? On Žižek’s Christian Atheism Cringe, by Ralph Leonard
- Image of the week: The Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, by Daniel James Sharp
Happy Independence Day, America.
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