Every day is the anniversary of something. The Freethought Almanac offers 365 days to remember in the history of Freethought. It is a lively look at the people in the history of Freethought — those who were Freethinkers themselves, and those who fought against Freethinkers — as well as notable events in Freethought history.

This collection of essays is not chronological; neither is it topical. But it includes a mix of personalities and events from many periods in history and many fields: education, science, philosophy, government, medicine, history, literature and psychology. This essay-a-day format encourages clicking through to sample by date, or looking for your favorite people, or simply journeying straight through from January 1 to December 31.

Each essay has an important point to make about Freethought and the human condition. The unifying theme is that Enlightenment liberalism has been as much a boon to humanity as religions have been humanity's nemesis. Men and women who were indifferent, or outright opposed, to religion and priestcraft have made priceless contributions to the sum of human happiness — sometimes at the cost of their own lives.

The Freethought Almanac bridges the scholarly and the popular by concentrating on the personalities and events that educated lay readers are likely to be familiar with and interested in. Its aim is to convey a lively message about why the courage to doubt dogmatism has never been a danger to humanity, but rather a source of inspiration and innovation with tremendous tangible benefits for human health, welfare and moral advancement.

I am a broadcaster on FreethoughtRadio.com, where The Freethought Almanac was developed and where it was first heard. I have studied the history of religion and social progress as an independent scholar since 1978. I am an autodidact, not by any means an expert on the subject, but I know the experts. Some of my chief sources are A Rationalist Encyclopædia (1948) by Joseph McCabe (1867-1955, online version in production) and A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1895) by Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918), The Popes and Their Church by McCabe (1918/1953), and the Catholic Encyclopedia (1909/1967). Also consulted are more recent works, including 2000 Years of Disbelief (1996) by James A. Haught, specific biographies and many others.

Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot;
Or he can, but does not want to;
Or he cannot, and does not want to.

If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent.
If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked.
If he neither can, nor wants to,
He is both powerless and wicked.

But if God can abolish evil, and wants to,
Then how comes evil into the world?

— Epicurus
Greek philosopher
341-270 BCE