Were 19th century individualist anarchists in America inherently atheistic? Certainly freethought – a common term for atheism in that day – exerted a strong influence on such significant figures as Moses Harman and E.C. Walker who co-edited Lucifer, the Light Bearer. Their freethought was rooted in a deep desire to remove Church authority from marital and sexual matters; too often this authority went beyond moral suasion and was translated into laws that violated the peaceful actions of consenting adults. In short, the Church tended to become the State.

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