Editing American Secular Union

The '''American Secular Union''' ('''ASU''', also sometimes called the "American Secular Union and Freethought Federation") espoused [[secularism]] and [[freethought]] at the end of the 19th century in the [[United States]].

As the [[National Liberal League (United States)|National Liberal League]] suffered crippling factionalism and radicalization over the period 1878 to 1885,  [[Liberalism|liberals]] reorganized in a non-political "American Secular Union" in 1884.  Colonel [[Robert G. Ingersoll|Robert Green Ingersoll]] (1833&ndash;1899) served as the first president of the Union.<ref name=ftt>{{cite web|title= National Liberal League|url= http://www.freethought-trail.org/profile.php?By=Person&Page=30|work= The Freethought Trail|publisher= freethought-trail.org|accessdate=9 Mar 2014}}</ref><ref name=bblau>{{cite book|last= Berlinerblau|first= Jacques|title= How to Be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom|date= 2012|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn= 978-0-547-47334-5|page= [https://archive.org/details/howtobesecularca0000berl/page/92 92]|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/howtobesecularca0000berl/page/92}}</ref> [[Ida Craddock]] was elected Secretary of the Philadelphia chapter of the Union in 1889.<ref>{{Citation | title = Fifty Years of Free Thought | chapter = XII. 1 – Going to jail for a principle. The events of 1879 | accessdate = 2009-08-10 | chapter-url = http://www.skepticfiles.org/think/50v1p2.htm | publisher = Skeptic files | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080509143314/http://www.skepticfiles.org/think/50v1p2.htm | archive-date = 2008-05-09 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

The American Secular Union and Freethought Federation dedicated themselves to the [[separation of church and state]], and for its platform used the nine demands of liberalism,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJMDAAAAMAAJ |title=The New Encyclopedia of Social Reform|page= 39}}</ref> namely:
# that churches and other ecclesiastical property shall be no longer [[Tax exemption|exempt from taxation]]; 
# that the employment of [[chaplain]]s in the [[United States Congress]], in [[State legislature (United States)|state legislatures]]s in the [[United States Army]] and [[United States Navy]], and in [[prison]]s, [[Psychiatric hospital|asylums]], and all institutions supported by public money, shall be discontinued, and that all religious services maintained by national, state, or [[Local government in the United States|municipal governments]] shall be abolished; 
# that all public appropriations for educational and charitable institutions of a sectarian character shall cease; 
# that, while advocating the loftiest instruction in [[moral]]s and the inculcation of the strictest uprightness of conduct, religious teaching and the use of the Bible for religious purposes in [[Public school (government funded)|public schools]] shall be prohibited; 
# that the appointment by the [[President of the United States]] and the [[Governor (United States)|governors]] of the various states of religious [[festival]]s, fasts, and days of [[prayer]] and [[thanksgiving]] shall be discontinued; 
# that the theological [[oath]] in the courts and in other departments of government shall be abolished, and simple [[Affirmation in law|affirmation]] under the pains and penalties of [[perjury]], established in its stead; 
# that all [[Blue law|laws directly or indirectly enforcing]] in any degree the religious and theological [[dogma]]ated, and that all laws shall be conformed to the requirements of [[natural morality]], [[Civil rights|equal rights]] and impartial [[justice]]; 
# that, in harmony with the [[United States Constitution|Constitution of the United States]] and the constitutions of the several states, no special privileges or advantages shall be conceded to Christianity or any other religion; that our entire political system shall be conducted and administered on a purely [[secular]] basis; and that whatever changes are necessary to this end shall be consistently, unflinchingly, and promptly made.

The American Secular Union published over a dozen pamphlets on topics regarding separation of church and state between 1886 and 1928.<ref>{{cite web|last= |url= https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22American+Secular+Union%22|title= List of works published by the American Secular Union|website=google.com}}</ref>

Following Ingersoll's death in 1899 various [[leadership]] changes occurred. The organization withered around 1919.<ref name=ftt/>

== See also ==
* [[Golden Age of Freethought]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links ==
*[http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/secular_union.html Secular Union]

[[Category:Skeptic organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:Separation of church and state in the United States]]