The National Liberal League (1876 – c.1885) of the United States advocated

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

and the freedom of religion. The league evolved into the

American Secular Union The American Secular Union (ASU, also sometimes called the "American Secular Union and Freethought Federation") espoused secularism and freethought at the end of the 19th century in the United States. As the National Liberal League suffered cripp ...

in 1884. The

First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis is a non-theistic humanist community and member of the Unitarian-Universalist Association located at 900 Mount Curve, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Once led by the influential minister John H. Dietrich who is known ...

grew directly out of the chapter there.

History

The National Liberal League was one of the first national organizations dedicated to separating church and state. It was presaged by a series of local organizations that emerged before the Civil War that sought to combat Sunday laws, bible-reading in public schools, and other government policies perceived to violate religious liberty. These issues would concern the National Liberal League that formed in the 1870s. Officers included Francis E. Abbott, T.B. Wakeman,

Elizur Wright Elizur Wright III (12 February 1804 – 22 November 1885) was an American mathematician and abolitionist. He is sometimes described in the United States as "the father of life insurance", or "the father of insurance regulation", as he campaigned ...

Robert G. Ingersoll Robert Green Ingersoll (; August 11, 1833 – July 21, 1899), nicknamed "the Great Agnostic", was an American lawyer, writer, and orator during the Golden Age of Free Thought, who campaigned in defense of agnosticism. Personal life Robert Inge ...

, and others. Annual conventions took place in Syracuse (1878) Cincinnati (1879), St. Louis (1882), Milwaukee (1883), and Cleveland (1885). In 1884 ''The Radical Review'' observed that the League "gave promises of great usefulness in the early years of its existence. In the fall of 1878 its activity was crippled by the appearance of some of those internal strifes and dissentions which seem to be the inevitable accompaniment of the development of all reformatory organisations. To screen personal animosities, always contemptible, side issues were introduced, and the essential aim of the League lost sight of. ... The National Liberal League split on the discussion of the constitutionality of the so-called Comstock law of 1873." Ingersoll resigned from his vice-presidency after the 1879 convention, in opposition to an adopted motion to provide a general defense, rather than his preference to exclude distributors of prurient material and only defend "real Freethought". The league evolved into the

around 1885. Circa November 1901, a faction of the American Secular Union split off, and resumed use of the older "National Liberal League" name.

Second Incarnation

The name was again in use circa 1945 by an organization which is claimed to have been unrelated. During Eisenhower's presidency, the National Liberal League questioned the appointment of William Brennan to the Supreme Court. In the 1960s,

James Hervey Johnson James Hervey Johnson (August 2, 1901 in Oregon - August 6, 1988 in San Diego, California) was an American atheist freethinker, writer and editor of '' The Truth Seeker'' (founded 1873), formerly run by Charles Lee Smith. Early years Born in Oreg ...

is reported to have assumed the leadership of the National Liberal League of that era. Current era records14th Story directory of California Companies
/ref> suggest that Johnson relocated operations in his era of the 1947-founded organization to California, that the organization renamed itself in 1966 to the "National League For The Separation Of Church And State", and that subsequent to Johnson's death an organization of that name continued in New York, with leadership passing to

Fred Edwords Fred Edwords, born July 19, 1948, in San Diego, California, is a longtime agnostic or ignostic humanist leader in Washington DC. He served as director of planned giving for the Humanist Foundation, the endowment fund of the American Humanist ...

References

* Equal rights in religion: Report of the Centennial Congress of Liberals, and organization of the National Liberal League, at Philadelphia, on the Fourth of July, 1876. Boston: National Liberal League, 187
Google books
* "The Thirteen Principles: Platform of the National Liberal League." In: The Truth seeker collection of forms, hymns, and recitations: Original and selected; for the use of liberals. NY: D.M. Bennett, 1877; p. 19
Google books
* A Liberal League Fight: Free-lovers and Anti-free-lovers Disputing; lively sessions of the National Liberal League - men and women advocating the unconditional repeal of the obscene literature laws - vile epithets bandied about, mingled with yells and cat-calls - half a hundred bolters - new officers elected. New York Times, October 28, 1878 * Funeral Services of the National Liberal League. Christian foundation, or, Scientific and religious journal, April 1880. * Anthony Comstock. "Infidelity wedded to obscenity: the spouse of the National Liberal League." In: Frauds exposed: or, How the people are deceived and robbed, and youth corrupted. NY: J. H. Brown, 1880
Internet Archive
* Sidney Warren. American Freethought, 1860-1914. New York: Columbia University Press. 1943. * Kyle G. Volk. ''Moral Minorities and the Making of American Democracy''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. * Robert C. Kennedy. Cartoon of the day: “The Tramp’s Millennium," November 8, 1879, by Thomas Nast
HarpWeek, Nov. 2009
Retrieved 2010-09-15 {{Authority control 1876 establishments in the United States 1870s in the United States 1880s in the United States Secularist organizations Political advocacy groups in the United States Separation of church and state in the United States Organizations established in 1876

History

Second Incarnation

See also

References

Further reading