Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, S.D., and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net A Grammar of Freethought. BY CHAPMAN COHEN. (_Issued by the Secular Society, Ltd._) LONDON: THE PIONEER PRESS, 61 FARRINGDON STREET, E.C. 4. 1921. _The Publishers wish to express their obligation to Mr. H. Cutner for the very tasteful design which adorns the cover of this book._ CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I.--OUTGROWING THE GODS 9 II.--LIFE AND MIND 18 III.--WHAT IS FREETHOUGHT? 37 IV.--REBELLION AND REFORM 51 V.--THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CHILD 61 VI.--THE NATURE OF RELIGION 72 VII.--THE UTILITY OF RELIGION 88 VIII.--FREETHOUGHT AND GOD 101 IX.--FREETHOUGHT AND DEATH 111 X.--THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT 123 XI.--EVOLUTION 134 XII.--DARWINISM AND DESIGN 146 XIII.--ANCIENT AND MODERN 162 XIV.--MORALITY WITHOUT GOD.--I. 172 XV.--MORALITY WITHOUT GOD.--II. 182 XVI.--CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY 193 XVII.--RELIGION AND PERSECUTION 204 XVIII.--WHAT IS TO FOLLOW RELIGION? 223 PREFACE. It must be left for those who read the following pages to decide how far this book lives up to its title. That it leaves many aspects of life untouched is quite clear, but there must be a limit to everything, even to the size and scope of a book; moreover, the work does not aim at being an encyclopaedia, but only an outline of what may fairly be regarded as the Freethought position. Freethought, again, is too fluid a term to permit its teachings being summarized in a set creed, but it does stand for a certain definite attitude of mind in relation to those problems of life with which thoughtful men and women concern themselves. It is that mental attitude which I aim at depicting.