By NYC ATHEISTS MEETING - NYC ATHEISTS
Added: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:15:10 UTC

Atheist Articles in ‘Truth Seeker’ Magazine Judged ‘Obscene’

It is hard to believe, but 130 years ago, you could go to jail for blasphemy and obscenity in the United States. In fact, in 1879 the publisher of a small magazine for freethinkers called “Truth Seeker” was arrested and sentenced to prison for 13 months for obscenity.

The jailed publisher, a man named D.M. Bennett (1818-1882), didn’t think seeking truth was obscene, so he started a petition campaign that went all the way to the White House. But to no avail. Bennett ended up serving his full term in the penitentiary, where he nearly died due to the harsh conditions.

It seems that Bennett had not only affronted society by publishing pamphlets such as “Open Letter to Jesus Christ” and articles on the crimes and immorality of Christian ministers, but worse, Bennett had offended U.S. Post Office Special Agent Anthony Comstock, a religious fanatic and member of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Comstock was militant about keeping what he termed “obscenity” out of the mails—and that included anti-religious publications. Bennett died a few years after his imprisonment and was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

A Young Admirer Carries On

Fast forward to San Diego, 1995, when a young videographer named Roderick Bradford got an assignment to do a half-hour documentary video about a magazine that he had never heard of, called “Truth Seeker,” which by then was being published in San Diego by the person who had purchased it, Bonnie Lange. To make the video, Bradford flew back East, to the Greenwood Cemetery, to film Bennett’s grave.

As Bradford tells it, “I realized that Bennett was an interesting character but when I stood in front of his grave, there was one line on the front of the monument that jumped out at me. It says, ‘Though dead, he still speaks to us and asks that we continue the work that he left unfinished.’”

Those words were to change Bradford’s life. He decided to write a book about D.M. Bennett. After nearly six years of research about Bennett’s life in places like the Library of Congress, Harvard University and at the Shakers compound (Bennett had been a Shaker for 13 years before he became a freethinker), Bradford’s book about Bennett, titled D. M. BENNETT, THE TRUTH SEEKER, was published by Prometheus Press in 2006.

See the Film and Ask Questions

Bradford has also completed a one-hour high-definition video about Bennett and his struggle to publish an uncensored magazine for freethinkers at a time in history when to speak against religion was considered “obscene.”

On July 11th, at the NYC Atheists brunch, Bradford will show his hour-long video about Bennett and then answer questions from the audience about this hero, who was decades ahead of his time in social awareness, who defied censorship and oppression and paid for it with a year of his life.

Come on Sunday to see the film about the not-to-be forgotten D. M. Bennett and to learn more from the author of this biography, who describes himself as a “passionate presenter” of the material. Those who struggled long before us must not be forgotten or we are doomed to have to repeat the inroads they made.

Come to honor not only Bennett but also the author, Roderick Bradford, who was so inspired about Bennett’s life that he decided to devote nearly a decade of his own life to write and produce a video about Bennett.

Bradford’s book will be available for purchase and signing after the film.

EVENT SUMMARY

WHAT:
“D. M. Bennett, The Truth Seeker,” a one-hour film presentation
by author Roderick Bradford, who will answer audience questions
and sign his books afterward.

WHEN:
Sunday, July 11 at 12 noon.

WHERE:
The Press Box Pub & Restaurant
932 Second Avenue (bet. 49th & 50th Sts.)
Second Floor

COST:
Brunch is $20, which includes a selection of Buffet Entrees
and salad, one soft drink, coffee, tax and tip. We think
ou will go back for seconds of the delicious Eggs Benedict.

TAGGED: ANNOUNCEMENTS, LAW, RELIGION