JMR

From Philosopedia.org

JMR

Robertson, John M. A Short History of Freethought, Ancient and Modern (London: Watts & Co., 1915). In his two-volume work issued for the Rationalist Press Association, Robertson compiled a phenomenal number of facts concerning freethought. Polytheists, he revealed, once called the early Christians “atheists” because they did not agree with the image-adoring polytheists. “Infidels” referred then chiefly to Jews and pagans. “Deism” and “naturalism” came into use about the middle of the 16th century. In scholarly fashion, Robertson details the ramifications of freethought. According to Gordon Stein in the Encyclopedia of Unbelief, Robertson wrote 115 or more books and “had perhaps the greatest knowledge of freethought of any freethinker who has ever lived.”