339 - Leigh Eric Schmidt (The Church of Saint Thomas Paine)

American Freethought Podcast

I interview Leigh Eric Schmidt, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and author of The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism, which looks at the struggles of 19th century freethinkers to define themselves in contrast to traditional religion and traditional religious organizations.

Buy a copy of The Church of Saint Thomas Paine for yourself!

Learn more about Professor Schmidt and his fellow faculty members at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.

Plus:

There has been a spate of Islamic terrorism-related incidents on the international front. In the UK, Conservative MP Sir David Amess was stabbed to death by a Somali immigrant during a public appearance. In Norway, a recent convert to Islam murdered five people using--of all things--a bow and arrows. And in Afghanistan, ISIS-K claims responsibility for two bombings of Shia mosques that killed 93 worshippers altogether.

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