Editing Freethought (section)

==Symbol==
[[File:Pansy aka.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pansy]] is a symbol of freethought.]]

The [[pansy]] serves as the long-established and enduring symbol of free thought; literature of the [[American Secular Union]] inaugurated its usage in the late 1800s. The reasoning behind the pansy as the symbol of free thought lies both in the flower's name and in its appearance. The pansy derives its name from the [[French language|French]] word ''pensée'', which means "thought". It allegedly received this name because the flower is perceived by some to bear resemblance to a human face, and in mid-to-late summer it nods forward as if deep in thought.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/1997/june_july97/gaylor.html|title=archive.ph|website=archive.ph|access-date=2023-01-02|archive-date=2012-05-23|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120523184444/http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/1997/june_july97/gaylor.html|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> In the 1880s, following examples set by freethinkers in France, Belgium, Spain and Sweden, it was proposed in the United States as "the symbol of religious liberty and freedom of conscience".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pansy of Freethought - Rediscovering A Forgotten Symbol Of Freethought|author=Annie Laurie Gaylor|url=http://www.leicestersecularsociety.org.uk/PHP_redirected/pansy.php|access-date=2023-01-02|website=www.leicestersecularsociety.org.uk|archive-date=2020-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801014522/http://www.leicestersecularsociety.org.uk/PHP_redirected/pansy.php|url-status=live}}</ref>