The Free Humanist, December 1963, originally founded by Lou Alt, it became the publication of Madalyn Murray, with Lou Alt as a contributing editor and Robert Anton Wilson as associated editor. Minor Forteans, but their presence highlights an interesting set of Fortean relationships, as well as complicating the history of skepticism, free thought, and Forteanism.
The two Forteans are Hugh Robert Orr and Lou Alt. Hugh Robert Orr had been a professor of English, poet, and Unitarian minister. He was associated with the Humanist movement,which developed especially in America during the late 1920s and through the 1930s as a re-working of the “free-thought” movement of post-Civil War America. Thayer and the Fortean Society allied themselves with this movement, and exchanged periodicals with Edwin H. Wilson. A lot of activity was centered around the magazine “The Truth Seeker,” which had been started in the 19th century—and connected to arch free thinker Robert Ingersoll. By the late 1940s—according to “The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief”—“The Truth Seeker” was becoming increasingly conservative, staking out a racist, anti-communist stance.
I don’t know—this period suffers from a dearth of good secondary sources—but I suspect that was part of the reason for the foundation of a splinter organization, the Progressive World Association, which was an combining of five different, smaller humanist groups, among them Orr’s “Orr’s Publications.” This occurred in early 1947, and March of that year witnessed the publication of the first issue of “Progressive World.” Again according to the “New Encyclopedia of Unbelief,” the goal was to crate a national group to speak for atheists, freethinkers, liberals, and humanists, driven by the desires of subscribers and not dues. The goal was to separate church and state functions and remove superstition from the country’s mainstream thoughts: goals that Thayer would have said were those of the Fortean Society, too.
Thayer noted this “atheist schism” in Doubt 18, July 1947, the first mention of Alt, and the first and only mention of Orr. He noted that Orr was allying himself with the new group, while Alt remained with “Truth Seeker.” The Fortean Society played no favorites, though. “As Fort used to say of cosmogonies,” Thayer quipped, “‘What we want is variety.’” He was merely keeping reader aware, and offering them the chance to explore the offerings of both.
Orr remained connected with Progressive World, which did well int he 1950s, and was associated, as well, with the granddaughter of Robert Ingersoll, Eva Ingersoll Brown Wakefield. It underwent divisiveness, too, though, internecine battles, and its own schisms during this period. Orr was at the center of this, editor of the Progressive World, and one of a faction who wanted to keep it headquartered in Clifton, New Jersey. He was also minister of The Fellowship of Humanity. He suffered a heart attack at the lectern on a Sunday morning in 1967, and died a few days later.
Meanwhile, Alt when on to start his own organizations, after remaining with the “Truth Seeker” for a time. Again, the story is stymied to some extent by a lack of good secondary sources on twentieth century humanism and mid-twentieth century skepticism and atheism, but at some point Alt, who was in Philadelphia, created a new magazine—and associated organization—the magazine called “The Liberal.” (It’s possible an early issue of the magazine was also called “The Free Thinker.”). He was, for a time, close enough to the Society to contribute a clipping—it was something on what would now be called cryptozoology, the exact clipping impossible to identify. That good will didn’t last, though: his contribution came in Doubt 20 (March 1948). A year later, Thayer noted existence of Alt’s new group—as well as Alt’s dropping out of the Fortean Society—in Doubt 25 (summer 1949):
“Deplorable”
“Lou Alt, a former MFS, now an atheist kingpin in Philly, permits his publication, called ‘The Liberal’ (God deliver us from a liberal’s caress!.) [sic] to defend dogmatic evolution. The ‘Liberal’s’ challenge is addressed to Jehovah’s Witnesses who publish AWAKE--which is, aside from its mystical nonsense, a well reasoned and well written paper.
“We suggest that the Philly Liberals, Alt & Co, challenge MFS McAtee to debate ‘evolution’ with them. McAtee is no deist and no Witness for Jehovah. In fact, he’s a practicing, teaching biologist, U of Chicago, but he doesn’t hold with Darwin, and he has his own definition of evolution.”
Thayer was quite wrong about McAtee’s affiliation—he was with the government—but the notice is clarifying for other reasons. Thayer believed that much (all?) of science was itself superstition, something to be held temporarily. Alt’s championing of a particular version of science struck him as against the humanist code. It is also worth noting that the Jehovah’s Witnesses were one the most important groups in strengthening the free-thinkers’ desire: the wall between church and state.
Some eight years later, the rift between Alt and Thayer seemed to have healed, as in Doubt 53 (February 1957), Thayer praised Alt’s works and named him as a member again. This was pat of a round up of goings-on in the free-thinker community—the announcement of a new free-thought magazine for India—“where,” Thayer said ridiculously, tipping his own racial insensitivities—“priests and cows are a greater burden on the people that the British ever were.” The magazine was “The Indian Rationalist.” He also announced a new St. Louis group and its publication “The American Rationalist.” Finally, he came around to offering caresses to a liberal:
“Our congratulations to MFS Alt and his colleagues in Philadelphia. The Friendship Liberal League has bought its own building and opened it as the Thomas Paine Center, at 5233 North 5th Street. Stop in, say hello and buy a book.”
At some point before 1964, Alt split with “The Liberal” and started putting out yet another magazine, this one called “The Free Humanist.” It wouldn’t be worth mentioning, except that it became caught up in wider currents of free-thought and the transformation of Forteanism in the years after Thayer’s death. In 1964, Alt offered his entire operation—books, records, bank account, and mailing list—to Madalyn Murray (later: O’Hair). She was fresh from winning a supreme court case that outlawed the reading of Bibles in school (as religious instruction) and was under intense public attack. Murray took over the list, and transformed it first into “The American Atheist" and then into “The American Freethinker.”
Alt remained on through the changes. In 1965, at least, with Murray editor, he was a contributing editor. Of Fortean interest, one of the Associate editors was Robert Anton Wilson, whose Discordianism would be a substantial influence on alternative thought in the 1960s and 1970s, and who himself had been influenced by Charles Fort. Wilson rather exceeds the (self-imposed) boundaries on the work I am doing, but one can see the connections between Forteanism of the immediate post-War years and that of a more distant period.
The two Forteans are Hugh Robert Orr and Lou Alt. Hugh Robert Orr had been a professor of English, poet, and Unitarian minister. He was associated with the Humanist movement,which developed especially in America during the late 1920s and through the 1930s as a re-working of the “free-thought” movement of post-Civil War America. Thayer and the Fortean Society allied themselves with this movement, and exchanged periodicals with Edwin H. Wilson. A lot of activity was centered around the magazine “The Truth Seeker,” which had been started in the 19th century—and connected to arch free thinker Robert Ingersoll. By the late 1940s—according to “The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief”—“The Truth Seeker” was becoming increasingly conservative, staking out a racist, anti-communist stance.
I don’t know—this period suffers from a dearth of good secondary sources—but I suspect that was part of the reason for the foundation of a splinter organization, the Progressive World Association, which was an combining of five different, smaller humanist groups, among them Orr’s “Orr’s Publications.” This occurred in early 1947, and March of that year witnessed the publication of the first issue of “Progressive World.” Again according to the “New Encyclopedia of Unbelief,” the goal was to crate a national group to speak for atheists, freethinkers, liberals, and humanists, driven by the desires of subscribers and not dues. The goal was to separate church and state functions and remove superstition from the country’s mainstream thoughts: goals that Thayer would have said were those of the Fortean Society, too.
Thayer noted this “atheist schism” in Doubt 18, July 1947, the first mention of Alt, and the first and only mention of Orr. He noted that Orr was allying himself with the new group, while Alt remained with “Truth Seeker.” The Fortean Society played no favorites, though. “As Fort used to say of cosmogonies,” Thayer quipped, “‘What we want is variety.’” He was merely keeping reader aware, and offering them the chance to explore the offerings of both.
Orr remained connected with Progressive World, which did well int he 1950s, and was associated, as well, with the granddaughter of Robert Ingersoll, Eva Ingersoll Brown Wakefield. It underwent divisiveness, too, though, internecine battles, and its own schisms during this period. Orr was at the center of this, editor of the Progressive World, and one of a faction who wanted to keep it headquartered in Clifton, New Jersey. He was also minister of The Fellowship of Humanity. He suffered a heart attack at the lectern on a Sunday morning in 1967, and died a few days later.
Meanwhile, Alt when on to start his own organizations, after remaining with the “Truth Seeker” for a time. Again, the story is stymied to some extent by a lack of good secondary sources on twentieth century humanism and mid-twentieth century skepticism and atheism, but at some point Alt, who was in Philadelphia, created a new magazine—and associated organization—the magazine called “The Liberal.” (It’s possible an early issue of the magazine was also called “The Free Thinker.”). He was, for a time, close enough to the Society to contribute a clipping—it was something on what would now be called cryptozoology, the exact clipping impossible to identify. That good will didn’t last, though: his contribution came in Doubt 20 (March 1948). A year later, Thayer noted existence of Alt’s new group—as well as Alt’s dropping out of the Fortean Society—in Doubt 25 (summer 1949):
“Deplorable”
“Lou Alt, a former MFS, now an atheist kingpin in Philly, permits his publication, called ‘The Liberal’ (God deliver us from a liberal’s caress!.) [sic] to defend dogmatic evolution. The ‘Liberal’s’ challenge is addressed to Jehovah’s Witnesses who publish AWAKE--which is, aside from its mystical nonsense, a well reasoned and well written paper.
“We suggest that the Philly Liberals, Alt & Co, challenge MFS McAtee to debate ‘evolution’ with them. McAtee is no deist and no Witness for Jehovah. In fact, he’s a practicing, teaching biologist, U of Chicago, but he doesn’t hold with Darwin, and he has his own definition of evolution.”
Thayer was quite wrong about McAtee’s affiliation—he was with the government—but the notice is clarifying for other reasons. Thayer believed that much (all?) of science was itself superstition, something to be held temporarily. Alt’s championing of a particular version of science struck him as against the humanist code. It is also worth noting that the Jehovah’s Witnesses were one the most important groups in strengthening the free-thinkers’ desire: the wall between church and state.
Some eight years later, the rift between Alt and Thayer seemed to have healed, as in Doubt 53 (February 1957), Thayer praised Alt’s works and named him as a member again. This was pat of a round up of goings-on in the free-thinker community—the announcement of a new free-thought magazine for India—“where,” Thayer said ridiculously, tipping his own racial insensitivities—“priests and cows are a greater burden on the people that the British ever were.” The magazine was “The Indian Rationalist.” He also announced a new St. Louis group and its publication “The American Rationalist.” Finally, he came around to offering caresses to a liberal:
“Our congratulations to MFS Alt and his colleagues in Philadelphia. The Friendship Liberal League has bought its own building and opened it as the Thomas Paine Center, at 5233 North 5th Street. Stop in, say hello and buy a book.”
At some point before 1964, Alt split with “The Liberal” and started putting out yet another magazine, this one called “The Free Humanist.” It wouldn’t be worth mentioning, except that it became caught up in wider currents of free-thought and the transformation of Forteanism in the years after Thayer’s death. In 1964, Alt offered his entire operation—books, records, bank account, and mailing list—to Madalyn Murray (later: O’Hair). She was fresh from winning a supreme court case that outlawed the reading of Bibles in school (as religious instruction) and was under intense public attack. Murray took over the list, and transformed it first into “The American Atheist" and then into “The American Freethinker.”
Alt remained on through the changes. In 1965, at least, with Murray editor, he was a contributing editor. Of Fortean interest, one of the Associate editors was Robert Anton Wilson, whose Discordianism would be a substantial influence on alternative thought in the 1960s and 1970s, and who himself had been influenced by Charles Fort. Wilson rather exceeds the (self-imposed) boundaries on the work I am doing, but one can see the connections between Forteanism of the immediate post-War years and that of a more distant period.
