D. M. Bennett
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. DeRobigne Mortimer Bennett (December 23, 1818 – December 6, 1882) was the founder and publisher of Truth Seeker, a radical freethought and reform American periodical.[1] Bennett was a devout member of the Shakers for 13 years before evolving into a "freethinker", founding the Truth Seeker newspaper in 1873.[2] In 1878, Bennett wrote that "Jesuism", rather than Pauline Christianity, was the gospel taught by Peter, John and James.[3]
On 1 September 1873, D.M. and M.W. Bennett released the first tabloid edition of the Truth Seeker. Its masthead announced its purpose as follows:
"Devoted to: science, morals, free thought, free discussions, liberalism, sexual equality, labor reform, progression, free education and whatever tends to elevate and emancipate the human race."
"Opposed to: priestcraft, ecclesiasticism, dogmas, creeds, false theology, superstition, bigotry, ignorance, monopolies, aristocracies, privileged classes, tyranny, oppression, and everything that degrades or burdens mankind mentally or physically." [4] Truth Seeker was extreme for its times, and it persists to this day though in self-resuscitating form. D.M. Bennett is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. His monument, erected by his fellow freethinkers, is covered with his statements.
Bennett was the subject of the biography D. M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker (2006) by Roderick Bradford and a 2009 documentary.[5]
Obscenity Prosecution
United States Postal Inspector Anthony Comstock had Bennett arrested on December 10, 1878, for mailing Cupid's Yokes, a free-love pamphlet. Bennett was prosecuted, subjected to a widely publicized trial, and imprisoned in the Albany Penitentiary.
References
- Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery: New York's Buried Treasure by Jeffrey I. Richman
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<references />, or <references group="..." />Further reading
- Bradford, Roderick (2006). D. M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker (New York: Prometheus Books). ISBN 1-59102-430-7
- Jacoby, Susan (2004). Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (New York: Metropolitan Books). ISBN 0-8050-7442-2
External links
- D. M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker (2009) - 1 hour video documentary by Roderick Bradford
- The Truth Seeker
- Green-Wood Cemetery Burial Search
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