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قراءة كتاب English Secularism: A Confession Of Belief
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English Secularism: A Confession Of Belief
ENGLISH SECULARISM
A CONFESSION OF BELIEF
By George Jacob Holyoake
1896
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
THE OPEN COURT, in which the series of articles constituting this work originally appeared, has given account of many forms of faith, supplementary or confirmatory of its own, and sometimes of forms of opinions dissimilar where there appeared to be instruction in them. It will be an advantage to the reader should its editor state objections, or make comments, as he may deem necessary and useful. English Secularism is as little known in America as American and Canadian Secularisation is understood in Great Britain. The new form of free thought known as English Secularism does not include either Theism or Atheism. Whether Monism, which I can conceive as a nobler and scientific form of Theism, might be a logical addition to the theory of Secularism, as set forth in the following pages, the editor of The Open Court may be able to show. If this be so, every open-minded reader will better see the truth by comparison. Contrast is the incandescent light of argument.
George Jacob Holyoake.
Eastern Lodge,
Brighton, England, February, 1896.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. OPEN THOUGHT THE FIRST STEP TO INTELLIGENCE
CHAPTER II. THE QUESTION STATED
CHAPTER III. THE FIRST STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT: ITS NATURE AND LIMITATION
CHAPTER IV. THE SECOND STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT: ENTERPRISE
CHAPTER V. CONQUESTS OF INVESTIGATION
CHAPTER VI. STATIONARINESS OF CRITICISM
CHAPTER VII. THIRD STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT—SECULARISM
CHAPTER VIII. THREE PRINCIPLES VINDICATED
CHAPTER IX. HOW SECULARISM AROSE
CHAPTER X. HOW SECULARISM WAS DIFFUSED
CHAPTER XI. SECULAR INSTRUCTION DISTINCT FROM SECULARISM
CHAPTER XII. THE DISTINCTIVENESS MADE FURTHER EVIDENT
CHAPTER XIII. SELF-DEFENSIVE FOR THE PEOPLE
CHAPTER XIV. REJECTED TENETS REPLACED BY BETTER
CHAPTER XV. MORALITY INDEPENDENT OF THEOLOGY
CHAPTER XVI. ETHICAL CERTITUDE
CHAPTER XVII. THE ETHICAL METHOD OF CONTROVERSY
CHAPTER XVIII. ITS DISCRIMINATION
CHAPTER XIX. APART FROM CHRISTIANISM
CHAPTER XX. SECULARISM CREATES A NEW RESPONSIBILITY
CHAPTER XXI. THROUGH OPPOSITION TO RECOGNITION
CHAPTER XXII. SELF-EXTENDING PRINCIPLES
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
AMONG the representative freethinkers of the world Mr. George J. Holyoake takes a most prominent position. He is a leader of leaders, he is the brain of the Secularist party in England, he is a hero and a martyr of their cause.
Judged as a man, Mr. Holyoake is of sterling character; he was not afraid of prison, nor of unpopularity and ostracism, nor of persecution of any kind. If he ever feared anything, it was being not true to himself and committing himself to something that was not right. He was an agitator all his life, and as an agitator he was—whether or not we agree with his views—an ideal man. He is the originator of the Secularist movement that was started in England; he invented the name Secularism, and he was the backbone of the Secularist propaganda ever since it began. Mr. Holyoake left his mark in the history