Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism — The Tradition America Forgot

Crisis in Perception · Jul 17, 2026 · 27m

How does a political tradition embedded in a nation’s founding institutions come to be remembered as foreign to that nation?

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world.

Using Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby as its lens, this investigation traces the frequently overlooked role of secularist thought in American constitutional government, social reform, civil liberties, and scientific education.

Jacoby argues that America’s freethinkers helped establish a civic tradition grounded in reason, human rights, liberty of conscience…