Historical Library

Order books by and about Robert Ingersoll now. Tribute Corwin Robert Green Ingersoll A TRIBUTE TO THOMAS CORWIN. Lebanon, Ohio, March 5, 1899. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: Being for the first time where Thomas Corwin lived and where his ashes rest, I cannot refrain from saying something of what I feel. Thomas Corwin was a natural […]

Truth Of History Robert Green Ingersoll THE TRUTH OF HISTORY. 1887 Thousands of Christians have asked: How was it possible for Christ and his apostles to deceive the people of Jerusalem? How came the miracles to be believed? Who had the impudence to say that lepers had been cleansed, and that the dead had been […]

The Church And Wealth In America Theodore Dreiser Chapter 14 of Tragic America 1931 I decry the power of the Church and its use of that power, in America in particular! Throughout the world, as all know, the churches are so organized as to have the wealth, size and formation of a great corporation, a […]

Letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802) [1] by Thomas Jefferson To Messrs. Nehemiah Dodge and Others, a Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association, in the State of Connecticut January 1, 1802 Gentlemen, The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist […]

The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Section XXI   Luke 18:1 The importunate widow. AND he spake a parable unto them, to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2. Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3. And there […]

The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Section VIII   Luke 12:1 IN the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. […]

Order books by Thomas Paine now. Editor’s Preface THESE occasional pieces were contributed in 1804 to ‘The Prospect;’ or ‘View of the Moral Word,’ a monthly magazine in New York, edited by Elihu Palmer, Paine’s most eminent convert. Palmer, a native of Canterbury, Connecticut, born 1754, after graduation at Dartmouth College entered the Presbyterian ministry […]

Mistakes Of Jesus William Floyd Author of "Social Progress," "People vs. Wall Street," "Our Gods on Trial," "War Resistance." New York THE FREETHOUGHT PRESS ASSOCIATION. Copyright 1932 The Freethought Press Association, Inc. Contents Forward Face The Facts The True Jesus Scriptures Unauthentic Faith In Jesus Documentary Evidence Retain The Good Christianity Must Go Antiquated Theology […]

The Warfare of Science With Theology Chapter XI From “The Prince Of The Power Of The Air” To Meteorology by Andrew Dickson White I. Growth of a Theological Theory. The beliefs of classical antiquity regarding storms, thunder, and lightning Development of a sacred science of meteorology by the fathers of the Church Theories of Cosmas […]

The Warfare of Science With Theology Chapter VIII The “Fall Of Man” And Anthropology by Andrew Dickson White The “Fall Of Man” And Anthropology The two antagonistic views regarding the life of man on the earth The theory of “the Fall” among ancient peoples Inheritance of this view by the Christian Church Appearance among the […]

The CHAIRMAN: Mr. Roberts will now occupy six minutes out of the twelve remaining, and then Mr. Bradlaugh will reply till ten o’clock. Mr. ROBERTS: Ladies and gentlemen; if Mr. Bradlaugh would strictly confine himself to accuracy in his representations of what I say, my arguments would not suffer in his hands. I have not […]

THURSDAY, 15th JUNE, 1876, IN THE TEMPERANCE HALL, BIRMINGHAM. MR. GEORGE H. ST. CLAIR IN THE CHAIR. THE CHAIRMAN: Ladies and Gentlemen, we are met together to hear a very important question discussed by two gentlemen very competent to discuss it. The question is, "Are the Scriptures the authentic and reliable records of Divine revelation?" […]

Mr. BRADLAUGH: The remark has been made that if we take this book as a human production we cannot understand it. How useful that is. We have no other books of a similar character to which similar objections apply? Have we Lord Amberley’s new book, in which he has two sub-divisions, one of which he […]

What Did Jesus Teach? Charles Bradlaugh THE language in which Jesus taught has not been preserved to us. Who recorded his actual words, or if any real record ever existed, is all matter of guess. Who translated the words of Jesus into the Greek no one knows. In the compass of four pamphlets, attributed to […]

  Descent of Man [ 1871 ] Charles Darwin [ 1809 – 1882 ]   Chapter XIV – Birds- Continued WHEN the sexes differ in beauty or in the power of singing, or in producing what I have called instrumental music, it is almost invariably the male who surpasses the female. These qualities, as we […]

The Origin Of Species (1872) Charles Darwin   Chapter XIV: Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs Classification FROM the most remote period in the history of the world organic beings have been found to resemble each other in descending degrees, so that they can be classed in groups under groups. This classification […]

  The Voyage of the Beagle (1839) Charles Darwin   Chapter XII: Central Chile Valparaiso — Excursion to the Foot of the Andes — Structure of the Land — Ascend the Bell of Quillota — Shattered Masses of Greenstone — Immense Valleys — Mines — State of Miners — Santiago — Hot-baths of Cauquenes — […]

  The Voyage of the Beagle (1839) Charles Darwin   Chapter VIII: Banda Oriental and Patagonia Excursion to Colonia del Sacramiento — Value of an Estancia — Cattle, how counted — Singular Breed of Oxen — Perforated Pebbles — Shepherd Dogs — Horses broken-in, Gauchos riding — Character of Inhabitants — Rio Plata — Flocks […]

Secularism: Its Relation to the Social Problems of the Day (1894) by Charles Watts SECULARISM, in dealing with the social problems of the day, relies upon human reason, not upon "divine" faith; upon fact, not upon fiction; upon experience, not upon a supposed supernatural revelation. It can discover no value in what is termed spiritual […]

This speech, given before a Liberal League, probably in the late 1870’s, is transcribed from one of Stanton’s handwritten manuscripts, untitled and undated, in her Library of Congress papers. It gives a flavor of Stanton’s stalwart support of the separation of church and state and her views on religion’s harm to women and society. — […]

[Back To Chapter 9] A Biographical Appreciation of Robert Green Ingersoll by Herman E. Kittredge   CHAPTER 10 THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION UPON WHICH HE STOOD Before attempting an estimate of those views the dissemination of which constituted the life-work of Ingersoll, let us carefully and candidly examine the foundation upon which he stood. Let us […]

Giordano Bruno: The Forgotten Philosopher by John J. Kessler, Ph.D., Ch.E.   Filosofo, arso vivo a Roma, PER VOLONTA DEL PAPA IL 17 FEBBRAIO 1600 In the year 1548 an Italian boy was born in the little town of Nola, not far from Vesuvius. Although, he spent the greater part of his life in hostile […]

Chapter XVII Of Infinity 1. Infinity, in its original intention, attributed to space, duration, and number. He that would know what kind of idea it is to which we give the name of infinity, cannot do it better than by considering to what infinity is by the mind more immediately attributed; and then how the […]

Chapter IV Idea of Solidity 1. We receive this idea from touch. The idea of solidity we receive by our touch: and it arises from the resistance which we find in body to the entrance of any other body into the place it possesses, till it has left it. There is no idea which we […]

Chapter IX Of the Imperfection of Words 1. Words are used for recording and communicating our thoughts. From what has been said in the foregoing chapters, it is easy to perceive what imperfection there is in language, and how the very nature of words makes it almost unavoidable for many of them to be doubtful […]

Chapter IV Of the Reality of Knowledge 1. Objection. “Knowledge placed in our ideas may be all unreal or chimerical.” I doubt not but my reader, by this time, may be apt to think that I have been all this while only building a castle in the air; and be ready to say to me: […]

Big Blue Books by Joseph McCabe The Vatican’s Last Crime How The Pope Of Peace Traded In Blood How The Cross Courted The Swastika For Eight Year The Vatican Buries International Law Hitler Dupes The Vatican The War And Papal Intrigue The Pious Traitors Of Belgium And France The Pope And The Italian Jackal Atheist […]

Order books by and about Joseph McCabe now. The Holy Faith Of Romanists How Catholics Are Hypnotized About Their Weird Creed by Joseph McCabe Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius The Black International No. 16 Contents Chapter I – What Is The Roman Creed? Chapter II – The Pope And Popery Chapter III – The System Of […]

SECTION I THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CHURCH CHAPTER VI THE PAPACY IN THE DEPTHS THE Catholic theory is that God, for his inscrutable reasons – this is said in low and reverential tones permitted the Papacy to contract a stain at times from the age in which it lived. The plain historical truth is […]

Order books by and about Joseph McCabe now. The Story Of Religious Controversy Chapter VI by Joseph McCabe The Human Origin of Morals Contents Theories of Moral Law Evolution and Morals Religion and Morals Moral Eccentricities The Christian Ethic Theories Of Moral Law THERE are few subjects on which so much solemn nonsense has been […]