Background
Holyoake was born on April 13, 1817 in Birmingham, England, where his father worked as a whitesmith and his mother as a button maker.
(Excerpt from Rationalism a Treatise for the Times Ration...)
Excerpt from Rationalism a Treatise for the Times Rational Religionists, is still the omcial name by which Mr. Owen's friends are knowinu t discreet usage has long merged it into nationalists - a briefer term, but of sounder import. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(George Jacob Holyoake, was a British secularist, co-opera...)
George Jacob Holyoake, was a British secularist, co-operator, and newspaper editor. He coined the term "secularism" in 1851 and the term "jingoism" in 1878.
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Holyoake was born on April 13, 1817 in Birmingham, England, where his father worked as a whitesmith and his mother as a button maker.
Holyoake attended a dame school, but began working half-days at the same foundry as his father at the age of eight and also learned the whitesmithing trade.
At an early age Holyoake became an Owenite lecturer, and in 1841 was the last person convicted for blasphemy in a public lecture, though this had no theological character and the incriminating words were merely a reply to a question addressed to him from the body of the meeting. He nevertheless underwent six months' imprisonment, and upon his release invented the inoffensive term "secularism" as descriptive of his opinions, and established the Reasoner in their support. He was also the last person indicted for publishing an unstamped newspaper, but the prosecution dropped upon the repeal of the tax. His later years were chiefly devoted to the promotion of the cooperative movement among the working classes. He wrote the history of the Rochdale Pioneers (1857), The History of Co-operation in England (1875), and The Co-operative Movement of Today (1891). He also published (1892) his autobiography, under the title of Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life, and in 1905 two volumes of reminiscences, Bygones worth Remembering. He died at Brighton on the 22nd of January 1906.
(Excerpt from Rationalism a Treatise for the Times Ration...)
(George Jacob Holyoake, was a British secularist, co-opera...)
(Format Paperback Subject Language Arts Disciplines Publis...)
In 1842, Holyoake became the last person convicted for blasphemy in a public lecture, held in April 1842 at the Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute, though this had no theological character and the incriminating words were merely a reply to a question addressed to him from the body of the meeting. Holyoake retained his disbelief in God, but after the Oracle soon came to regard "atheism" as a negative word - hence his preference for "secularism". Holyoake adopted the word "agnostic" when that was coined.
Holyoake married Eleanor Williams in 1839.