|
Showing 1 - 3 of
3 matches in All Departments
Today 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. In Atheists in American
Politics, one of the first works to take atheism seriously as a
social movement, Meagher highlights key moments within the
political history of atheism and freethought, and examines how the
changing circumstances that surround the movement help explain
political mobilization. In doing so, this book also highlights the
ways that social movements in general gain momentum, and how a
number of interlocking factors are often necessary to enable a
movement to "take off" in American politics.
Today 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. In Atheists in American
Politics, one of the first works to take atheism seriously as a
social movement, Meagher highlights key moments within the
political history of atheism and freethought, and examines how the
changing circumstances that surround the movement help explain
political mobilization. In doing so, this book also highlights the
ways that social movements in general gain momentum, and how a
number of interlocking factors are often necessary to enable a
movement to "take off" in American politics.
|
|