This site is dedicated to the advancement of Atheistic Humanism

And a New Enlightenment in which mankind is free from ignorance, superstition and fear!

FREE THOUGHT

Free thought is a philosophy, but it is also a process. Basically, free thinkers feel free to question any established views or teachings and are characterized by a belief in reason as the basis for their conclusions or beliefs. Thus, if you believe that everything can be questioned and that you should base your conclusions on reason (rather than on faith, for instance) then free thinking is a part of your philosophy; but, also, it is the process by which you reach your conclusions.

While free thinking can apply to just about any subject, in the area of philosophy, it is normally applied to free thinking about religious dogma – certainly, that is how free thinking is construed on this web site. Anyone who questions established religious dogma can be considered a free thinker.

Free thought is not equivalent to secular humanism, atheism, or agnosticism, though certainly those beliefs result from free thinking. Free thinking includes deism which is a belief in God based on reason rather than on Biblical or other so-called divine revelation and which holds that God created the universe but does not interfere with how it runs. Both of those views are contrary to the Christian dogma of all Christian denominations. Much of the revolutionary thought upon which the United States was founded was based upon the free thinking deistic ideas of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Ethan Allen and Thomas Paine, among others.

Free thinkers have existed throughout recorded time, although the term "free thought" probably was not used until about the 17th century. In terms of applied free thought, its pinnacle was reached in the U. S. Constitution. Since then free thought has been under constant attack from established religions, although it did have a flowering in the United States during what is called the Golden Age of Free Thought from about 1870 to World War I. Never, since the establishment of the government of the United States, has free thought been as under attack as it is today from the religious right which includes fundamental protestant churches as well as the Catholic Church.

The purpose of this web page is to give you a brief overview of free thought. There is a lot of information about free thought on the internet and a search of the words "free thought" will link you to many sites.