author
Joseph Lewis
1889–1968
A self-educated freethinker who became one of the most visible atheist voices in mid-20th-century America, he wrote forcefully about religion, reason, and civil liberties. His books and public campaigns helped keep the freethought movement in the public eye for decades.
2 Audiobooks
The Tyranny of God
by Joseph Lewis
An Atheist Manifesto
by Joseph Lewis
About the author
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1889, Joseph Lewis left school at a very young age because of poverty and educated himself through wide reading. He was especially influenced by writers such as Thomas Paine and Robert G. Ingersoll, interests that shaped both his politics and his lifelong criticism of organized religion.
After moving to New York, he became a leading figure in American freethought and served as president of Freethinkers of America. He wrote, published, and promoted books arguing for atheism, secularism, and freedom of expression, and he also became known for legal battles tied to church-state issues and free inquiry.
Lewis was a prolific author whose work aimed at a broad general audience rather than a purely academic one. Remembered as one of the country's most prominent public atheists of his era, he spent much of his life trying to make skeptical and secular ideas accessible to ordinary readers.