Kersey Graves (November 21, 1813 – September 4, 1883) was a

skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the ...

, atheist, rationalist, spiritualist,

reformist Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can ...

writer, who was popular on the American freethought circuit of the late 19th century.

Life

Graves was born in Brownsville,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. His parents were

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

, and as a young man he followed them in their observance, later moving to the

Hicksite Elias Hicks (March 19, 1748 – February 27, 1830) was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted unorthodox doctrines that led to controversy, which caused the second major schism within the Religious ...

wing of Quakerism. According to one source, Graves did not attend school for more than three or four months in his life, but another source says that he received an "academical education", and at the age of 19 was teaching in a school at Richmond, a career he was to follow for more than twenty years. He was an advocate of Abolitionism, also interested in language reform, and became involved with a number of radical

freethinkers Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...

within Quakerism. In August 1844, he joined a group of about fifty

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...

n settlers in

Wayne County, Indiana Wayne County is a county located in east central Indiana, United States, on the border with Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 68,917. The county seat is Richmond. Wayne County comprises the Richmond, IN Micropolitan Statistica ...

. In the same month, he was disowned by his Quaker meeting group due to his neglect of attendance, and also setting up a rival group. The groups he was associated with later dabbled in

mesmerism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, was a protoscientific theory developed by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century in relation to what he claimed to be an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all liv ...

and

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...

. In July 1845, Graves married the Quaker, Lydia Michiner, at Goschen Meeting House, in Zanesfield, Logan County, Ohio, and they later had five children at their home in Harveysburg, Ohio. They later moved back to Richmond and bought a farm. The Goschen Meeting House was a centre of the

Congregational Friends The Progressive Friends, also known as the Congregational Friends and the Friends of Human Progress, was a loose-knit group of dissidents who left the Hicksite branch of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in the mid-nineteenth century. The separation ...

and were involved with Temperance and Peace, health reform, anti-slavery, women's rights and socialistic utopianism. Graves' Quaker background conditioned him to the philosophy of the

Inner light The inward light, Light of God, Light of Christ, Christ within, That of God, Spirit of God within us, Light within, and inner light are related phrases commonly used within the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) as metaphors for Christ's li ...

, whereby all clergy, creeds, and set liturgy in worship were irrelevant, and a hindrance to God's work. This was intensified by Hicks's brand of Quakerism - Quietism - where an individual's spiritual life was most important and all outward manifestations were invalid. The Congregational Friends were to the left of the

Hicksites Elias Hicks (March 19, 1748 – February 27, 1830) was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted unorthodox doctrines that led to controversy, which caused the second major schism within the Religious Soc ...

, and withdrew further from even Christianity and eventually a belief in God. Graves died at his home just north of Richmond, Indiana on 4 September 1883.

Quotes

* 1875: ''The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors'' ;

I desire to impress upon the minds of my clerical brethren the important fact, that the gospel histories of Christ were written by men who had formerly been Jews (see Acts xxi. 20), and probably possessing the strong proclivity to imitate and borrow which their bible shows was characteristic of that nation ; and being written many years after Christ's death, according to that standard Christian author, Dr. Lardner, it was impossible, under such circumstances, for them to separate (if they had desired to) the real facts and events of his life from the innumerable fictions and fables then afloat everywhere relative to the heathen Gods who had pre-enacted a similar history. Two reasons are thus furnished for their constructing a history of Christ almost identical with that of other Gods.

Writings and legacy

Graves started with the belief that religion corrupted truth, and evolved into a writer claiming that all religious belief was false and that Jesus was fiction. His published works include ''The Biography of Satan; Or, A Historical Exposition of the Devil and His Fiery Dominions. Disclosing the Oriental Origin of the Belief in a Devil and Future Endless Punishment'' (1865; 4th ed. 1924), '' The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Or, Christianity Before Christ'' (1875), and ''The Bible of Bibles; Or, Twenty-Seven "Divine Revelations": Containing a Description of Twenty-seven Bibles, and an Exposition of Two Thousand Biblical Errors in Science, History, Morals, Religion, and General Events; Also a Delineation of the Characters of the Principal Personages of the Christian Bible, and an Examination of Their Doctrines'' (4th ed., Boston: Colby & Rich, 1879). His second book was his most famous and is still quoted by

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

and proponents of the

Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that "the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternative ...

today despite criticism and dismissal by biblical scholars. Graves is discussed in ''The Christ Conspiracy'' and ''Suns of God'' by Dorothy M. Murdock aka Acharya S. His shortcomings are discussed by

Richard Carrier Richard Cevantis Carrier (born December 1, 1969) is an American historian, author, and activist, whose work focuses on empiricism, atheism, and the historicity of Jesus. A long-time contributor to skeptical web sites, including The Secular We ...

. His writings could even have been utilized in ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel ''Angels & Demons''. ''The Da Vinci Code'' follows symbologist Robert Lang ...

''.

Tom Harpur Thomas William Harpur (1929–2017), known as Tom Harpur, was a Canadian biblical scholar, columnist, and broadcaster. An ordained Anglican priest, he was a proponent of the Christ myth theory, the idea that Jesus did not exist but is a fictiona ...

used Graves as a source in '' The Pagan Christ'' and his other books on Jesus Christ in comparative mythology. Atheist activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair was also an admirer of Graves' work.Kersey Graves
by Madalyn Muray O'Hair. Text of "American Atheist Radio Series" program No. 280, first broadcast on February 2, 1974.

Translated works

* ''Biografia di Satana'', Lulu Press, Raleigh (NC), 2018, Italian version of ''Biography of Satan'' (1924), translated by Rev. Marco Lupi Speranza, .

References

External links