Atheists in American Politics - 9781498558594

Atheists in American PoliticsSocial Movement Organizing from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries\nAuthor(s): Richard J. Meagher\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, United States\nImprint: Lexington Books\nISBN-13: 9781498558594, 978-1498558594\nSynopsis\nToday atheists, it seems, are everywhere. Nonbelievers write best-selling books and proudly defend their views in public; they have even hired a lobbyist. But, as political scientist Richard J. Meagher shows, atheist political activism is not a new phenomenon. From the \""Freethought\"" movement of the late 1800s, to postwar \""rationalists\"" and \""humanists,\"" to today's proud atheists, nonbelievers have called for change within a resistant political culture. While atheist organizing typically has been a relatively lonely and sad affair, advances in technology and new political opportunities have helped atheists to finally gain at least some measure of legitimacy in American politics.\n\nIn Atheists in Am.