I’m excited to announce the twelfth in the Freethinker’s series of free online seminars for all those interested in freethought history and its enduring relevance. The webinars, hosted by me and lasting around one hour, will feature expert guest speakers, to whom you’ll have a chance to ask your questions. There is no set schedule for these webinars; the best way to stay informed about when they are happening is to sign up for our free fortnightly newsletter, which will also keep you updated on all other things Freethinker.
The webinars will be recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel. (This post will be updated and the video of the webinar—on which more in a moment—will appear below once the recording is available. All posts about these webinars will be accessible here, and all such posts will also be updated in due course when the webinar recordings are available, thus forming a complete catalogue of the series).
Register for Freethought History Webinar #12: The Atheistic Radicalism of America’s Founding and Refounding. With Matthew Stewart.
The webinar will take place on 30 June 2026 at 7 pm UK time (2 pm ET/1 pm CT/12 pm MDT/11 am MST/11 am PT) via Zoom.
About the webinar: With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence coming up, the meaning of America is more hotly contested than ever before. Under the Trump administration, Christian nationalism has taken the reins, imposing its vision of America as a nation founded on ‘Judeo-Christian principles’ and in dire need of a restoration of religion—that is, the Christian religion.
In this webinar, Matthew Stewart will discuss the still under-appreciated role of the philosophy of the radical Enlightenment in the founding and the refounding of the American Republic. The talk will sketch the historical and philosophical narrative presented in his works, Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic (2014) and An Emancipation of the Mind: Radical Philosophy, the War Over Slavery, and the Refounding of America (2024).
About the speaker: Matthew Stewart is an American philosopher and writer. He is the author of the forthcoming Everything You Need to Know: How Philosophy Can Set You Free (November 2026), and, previously, The Truth About Everything: An Irreverent History of Philosophy (1997), Monturiol’s Dream: The Extraordinary Story of the Submarine Inventor Who Wanted to Save the World (2004), The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World (2006), The Management Myth: Debunking the Modern Philosophy of Business (2009), and The 9.9 Percent: The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture (2021). You can find out more about him and his books on his website, here.
You must register to secure your place at the webinar. To do so, click here or on the image below.
With thanks to Bob Forder for suggesting these seminars and helping to organise them.
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