author
William Montgomery Brown
1855–1937
Best remembered as the "Bad Bishop," this Episcopal leader became one of the most controversial religious figures of his time. His journey from church leadership to outspoken criticism of Christianity made him impossible to ignore.
1 Audiobook
Communism and Christianism Analyzed and Contrasted from the Marxian and Darwinian Points of View
by William Montgomery Brown
About the author
Born in Ohio in 1855, William Montgomery Brown became an Episcopal priest and later bishop of Arkansas. Early in his career he was a conventional church leader, but over time his views shifted sharply as he embraced evolution, materialism, and eventually socialism and communism.
That change made him famous. Brown was tried for heresy and deposed in 1925, making him the first Episcopal bishop in the United States removed for heretical teaching. His case drew wide attention because he openly argued against traditional Christian doctrine while continuing to write and speak in public.
He spent his later years as an author and polemicist, publishing books and pamphlets that attacked organized religion and defended his new worldview. He died in 1937, still remembered as a strikingly unusual figure in American religious history.