Village Atheists

Starred review from July 11, 2016
Despite widespread invocations of the separation of church and state in the United States, “the upper hand very much belongs to the God-affirming, not the God-denying, in American civic life,” according to historian Schmidt (Heaven’s Bride), who persuasively argues that the citizenship of atheists in America has been suspect from the colonial period and remains unresolved to the present day. The book offers biographical sketches of four exemplary “village atheist” types whose uneven fortunes are chronicled in a nuanced exploration of the lived reality of nonbelief in a nation of the faithful. Readers are introduced to Samuel Porter Putnam (1838–1896), a minister who wrestled with faith on his journey to secularism; Watson Heston (1846–1905), a political cartoonist whose anti-religious art enjoyed far more success than its creator; Charles B. Reynolds (1832–1896), whose experience as a revivalist preacher led to fiery notoriety on the secular lecture circuit; and finally Elmina Drake Slenker (1827–1908), whose atheist beliefs combined with her sexual radicalism brought her to the attention of moral crusader Anthony Comstock. Schmidt, a historian of religion, approaches his subject with the confidence of an expert well-grounded in his sources. He’s sensitive to the intersection of secular identity with the politics of race, class, and gender. Framed by a robust introduction and conclusion that provide a pre- and post-history of 19th-century atheism, this well-written and lively text will be of interest to both scholars and more general readers with an interest in American irreligion.

July 1, 2016
A study of four unconventional crusaders against America's obligatory godliness.The late 19th-century brought out a variety of fascinating, vociferous characters challenging the official, mostly Protestant "moral order," all of them branded as blasphemers. In his scholarly yet elegantly composed narrative, Schmidt (Religion and Politics/Washington Univ., St. Louis; Heaven's Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock, American Mystic, Scholar, Sexologist, Martyr, and Madwoman, 2010, etc.) calls this lonely seeker of truth the village atheist (or, variously, freethinker, infidel, rationalist, agnostic, liberal, secularist, humanist), who had usually broken with his or her early religious upbringing and separated from the perceived hypocritical strictures of the organized church. Despite the country's founding on religious tolerance, writes the author, America was still very much a Christian nation, where unbelievers were ostracized as "wicked godless creatures" and frequently persecuted, as each of these infidels learned keenly. The itinerant secularist Samuel Porter Putnam, born into New England's old Congregationalist order, re-created his spiritual journey as an "antihero" to the model Puritan saint of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. "Leaping off 'the treadmill of conformity, ' " (his adulterous philandering did not help matters), he wrote several seminal volumes, including My Religious Experience (1891) and 400 Years of Freethought (1894). Watson Heston was an influential cartoonist in Missouri, writing for the journal Truth Seeker; Schmidt smartly includes many of his wonderfully barbed illustrations championing civil liberties, tolerance, and free expression. Charles B. Reynolds, a disgruntled Seventh-day Adventist, was hounded for his irreverent lectures in New Jersey and convicted in a notorious 1887 trial for blasphemy. Most outrageous of all is the "obscenity" case of Elmina Drake Slenker, the freethinking activist from Virginia who was nabbed in New York vice czar Anthony Comstock's sting operation for sending advice on marital sex through the mail. Schmidt emphasizes that it was not until the 1961 Supreme Court case Torcaso v. Watkins that atheists were fully protected. A felicitous, informative story from a highly knowledgeabe author.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2016

The village atheist moniker took hold in the late 19th century, recognizing individuals expressing disbelief in highly moralistic, nonsecular communities. It was a stance that endured community-wide ostracism as the nonbeliever became the lone infidel, often considered a blasphemer. Historian Schmidt (religion & politics, Washington Univ. in St. Louis; Restless Souls) explores this fascinating history of freethinkers, secularists, humanists, agnostics, or simply, village atheists, in his latest book through biographical sketches of four pivotal figures who have paved the way for others today. From Samuel Porter Putnam, raised as a Congregationalist only to become swayed by John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), to the much publicized obscenity case of Elmina D. Slenker, a freethinker who was tried for composing and sending sensitive marital advice through the mail, Schmidt highlights their struggles with the community and the law. The author also devotes a chapter to Seventh-day Adventist-turned-secular lecturer Charles B. Reynolds, who was eventually tried for blasphemy as well as the Missouri cartoonist Watson Heston, whose chapter is filled with Heston's distinct sociopolitical illustrations that enraged audiences upon publication. VERDICT Schmidt offers an entertaining yet educational read for those interested in America's secular history and the struggles many faced to become vocal freethinkers without persecution.--Angela Forret, Clive P.L., IA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.