author
Franklin Steiner
1873–1945
Best known for a skeptical look at the faith of U.S. presidents, this early freethought writer tackled religion and public life with a blunt, research-heavy style. His work survives mainly through reprints and digital archives, where it still attracts readers interested in American secular history.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Franklin Steiner was an American freethought writer active from the late 19th century into the 20th. Public-domain catalogs and library records link him to The Bible, Should It Be in the School Room? and to his best-known book, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, first published in 1936 by Haldeman-Julius Publications.
His writing focused on religion in public life, especially the gap between popular stories about American leaders and the historical record. A later edition of The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents helped keep his work in circulation, and online archives have preserved some of his older writings as well.
I could confirm his lifespan here as 1873–1945 from catalog records, but reliable biographical details beyond his books were scarce in the sources I found. That makes him a somewhat shadowy figure today, remembered more through the arguments he made than through a widely documented personal story.