ABSTRACT
Honest thinking can bring no condemnation from a just God, whether it agrees with or differs from the orthodox. Militant freethought, in essence, gave new answers to old questions. The answers claimed to free the working classes from bondage to the old order of tyranny and superstition. For some, in a sense, they did that. In reality, however, it is the questions one asks, as much as the answers one accepts, that determine the parameters of one's world view. The freethinkers, despite their professed materialism, clearly espoused a metaphysical explanation of the nature and purpose of man. The societies organized opportunities for recreation and fellowship. Secular tea parties were a common occurrence and, on festive occasions, might be accompanied by a dinner or ball. Without denying the importance of the printed word for freethought propagandizing, it is quite safe to speculate that, in most working class neighbourhoods, the tongue proved even mightier than the pen in attracting an audience.
