Cecil Delisle Burns (26 January 1879 – 22 January 1942) was a leading English atheist and

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

writer and lecturer.

Early life

Burns was born in Saint Kitts and Nevis, West Indies, where his father was treasurer of St. Christopher-Nevis in the Leeward Islands. After leaving

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, he was trained in Rome for the priesthood, but left the Church in 1908 and devoted time to the study of social problems in a wider sense. In 1912, he married the painter Margaret Hannay: the sister of Alexander Howard Hannay, art critic of the famous "London Mercury". He was appointed as a regular lecturer at South Place Ethical Society, at Conway Hall in London, in 1918 and continued to lecture there until his health deteriorated in September 1934. He was a lecturer at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

, University of London; the London School of Economics and as Stevenson Lecturer in Citizenship at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

.''The Times'', 23 January 1942

Bibliography

* ''The Devil''. London, 1909. * ''Old Creeds and the New Faith''. London: Francis Griffiths, 1911. * ''The Morality of Nations: an essay on the theory of politics''. London: University of London Press, 1915. * ''The World of States''. London: Headley Bros., 1917. * ''Greek Ideals: the study of social life''. London: Bell, 1917. * ''International Politics''. London: Methuen, 1920. * ''The Principles of Revolution: a study in ideals''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1920. * ''The Contact Between Minds: a metaphysical hypothesis''. London: Macmillan, 1923. * ''A Short History of International Intercourse''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1924. * ''The Philosophy of Labour''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1925. * ''1918-1928: a short history of the world''. London: Victor Gollancz, 1928. * ''An Introduction to the Social Sciences''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1930. * ''Leisure in the Modern World''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1932. * ''The Horizon of Experience: a study of the modern mind''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1933. * ''War and a Changing Civilisation''. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1934. * ''The Challenge to Democracy''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1934. * ''Civilisation: the next step''. London: Nicholson & Watson, 1938. * ''The First Europe: a study of the establishment of medieval Christendom, A.D. 400-800'' London: George Allen & Unwin, 1947.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, C. Delisle 1879 births 1942 deaths 20th-century English writers Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Academics of the London School of Economics Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge British atheists British educational theorists British humanists British critics of religions People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society People associated with the University of Glasgow