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Truth Seeker is an American periodical published beginning during the 19th century.[1] It was considered the most influential Freethought publication during the period following the Civil War into the first decades of the 20th Century, known as the Golden Age of Freethought. Though there were other influential Freethought periodicals, Truth Seeker was the only one with a national circulation.[1] As of 2018 it is a publication of the Center for Inquiry.[2]

Overview

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In the first issue, on September 1, 1873, editor D. M. Bennett and his wife Mary proclaimed that the publication would devote itself 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."[1]

Subsequent editors included Eugene and George E. Macdonald,[3] Charles Lee Smith (along with his associate editors Woolsey Teller and later Robert E. Kuttner), James Hervey Johnson, Bonnie Lange,[4] Nicholas Rocha,[5] Linda Hironimus,[6] and Roderick Bradford.[7]

In 1988, Madalyn Murray O'Hair put out several issues under the masthead during the course of an unsuccessful attempt to take over the company; however, the courts ruled against her ownership.[8]

Upon James Hervey Johnson's death in 1988, a pair of trusts established in his will jointly funded the periodical's revival under the editorship of Bonnie Lange. Lange rededicated Truth Seeker as "a Journal of Independent Thought" in a break with the previous publishers' questionable biases.[2]

Racist bias in 20th century

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The Truth Seeker was notable for publishing racist content during a long period of its history.[9] Under the editorship of Charles Lee Smith beginning in 1937, Smith, Woolsey Teller and their successor James Hervey Johnson championed antisemitism, scientific racism and white supremacy.[10]

In 1995, authors Mark Fackler and Charles H. Lippy noted:

"Under Smith and Johnson, the paper became more conservative and advocated white supremacy along with atheism. While Northern European ethnocentrism had been an implicit theme since the paper's founding, its open racism and xenophobia offended many readers. In recent years its circulation has declined to less than a thousand. Since 1989 James W. Prescott has been the editor, and circulation has begun to rebound."[11]

Anthropologist Robert Sussman in 2014 described the Truth Seeker as a "virulent anti-Semitic publication".[12]

Revivals and break with racist ideology

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Beginning with the periodical's relaunch in 1988 under Lange, Truth Seeker decisively broke with the racist ideology of its preceding publishers. It also moved away from core freethought issues such as state-church separation, concerning itself for a time with fringe politics and New Age ideas. Following the 1998 publication of a 125th anniversary edition, the periodical's print circulation became irregular and remained so until Lange's death in 2013. In 2014 the assets of Truth Seeker were transferred to the Council for Secular Humanism. Publication resumed in September 2014 on a three-times-yearly schedule, with Roderick Bradford as editor. As of 2018 the magazine's content focuses on the history of freethought, at times examining the publication's own role in that history.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Susan Jacoby. Freethinkers: A history of American Secularism. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books. pp. 155–156.
  2. ^ a b c Flynn, Tom (September 13, 2018). "The Tale of The Truth Seeker". centerforinquiry.org. Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on September 14, 2018. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  3. ^ "George E. Macdonald". ffrf.org.
  4. ^ "Truth Seeker Journal of Freethought Since 1873". truthseekerjournal.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  5. ^ "Title Page of "Truth Seeker" from Volume 139 (2012)". Archived from the original on June 13, 2016.
  6. ^ "Truth Seeker Company". truthseeker.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  7. ^ "Contact Us - The Truth Seeker". thetruthseeker.net.
  8. ^ "Jackson v. Truth Seeker Co., Inc., 884 F. Supp. 370 - Dist. Court, SD California 1994".
  9. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. (2003). Encyclopedia of American Religions. Gale. p. 663. ISBN 978-0787663841 "Around 1950 Smith began to let his dislike of Jews and blacks become visible on the pages of The Truth Seeker, which began to publish an increasing number of racist and anti-Semitic articles. These led to further loss of support and the isolation of the Association from other atheist organizations."
  10. ^ Flynn, Tom. (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief. Prometheus Books. p. 28, p. 719, p. 746. ISBN 978-1-59102-391-3
  11. ^ Fackler, Mark; Lippy, Charles H. (1995). Popular Religious Magazines of the United States. Greenwood Press. p. 471
  12. ^ Sussman, Robert W. (2014). The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea. Harvard University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-674-41731-1
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Category:American political magazines Category:Atheism publications Category:Magazines established in 1873 Category:Magazines published in California

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