Freie Gemeinden and Freidenker

FREIE GEMEINDEN AND FREIDENKER. The development of Freie Gemeinden, or “free congregations,” in Germany was tied to the growing conservative influence of the established Catholic and Protestant churches during the Restoration after 1815. During the 1840s Freie Gemeinden were formed by members of both church groups as a protest against strict orthodoxy and the conservative political position taken by the church hierarchies. These free congregations attempted to avoid hierarchical structures by having “speakers” who substituted for clergymen, and their members arrived at decisions in a democratic way on matters affecting them. The free congregations were by no means atheistic, but they advocated the practice of religion tempered by reason and science. In Germany the high point of membership in the Freie Gemeinden occurred in the early 1850s when they claimed approximately 150,000 adherents. After this point, these groups either lost members or evolved into Freidenker-Vereine (freethinker societies), which were decidedly more atheistically oriented. The purpose of these latter groups was to free people from religious misperceptions, proceeding from a rational and scientific perspective, and to champion the absolute freedom of religious belief or nonbelief.

Among German immigrants to the United States, several free-thought publications existed prior to 1850. The most important of these was the journal Die Fackel (The Torch) published by Samuel Ludvigh from 1843–1869. However, it was the immigration of radical “Forty-Eighters” that gave impetus to the founding of Freie Gemeinden in many cities around the country. The first Freie Gemeinde in the United States was formed on 6 November 1850 in Saint Louis by Franz Schmidt, member of the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848. Several attempts were made to unite local groups into a national organization, but these larger groups generally did not cohere for long. For example, in 1897 the Bund der Freien Gemeinden und Freidenker-Vereine von Nord-Amerika (Association of Free Congregations and Freethinking Societies of North America) was founded in Saint Louis, reporting that it had eight congregations with a total of 814 members but that more congregations existed outside it. Many of the most well-known German Americans of the day were connected with the free congregation movement, including Eduard Schroeter, Friedrich Schünemann-Pott, Karl Heinzen, Adolf Douai and Robert Reitzel. The freethinkers published a large number of papers and journals in cities around the country, most importantly the Freidenker (The Freethinker, 1872–1942, published in Wisconsin and Minnesota). After the turn of the century, membership in these groups declined. The last extant Freethinker Congregation in the United States is located in Sauk City, Wisconsin and still meets there in Freethinkers’ Hall.

As in Germany, the Freie Gemeinden tended to develop into Freidenker-Vereine with a more atheistic viewpoint. The main principles of the Freidenker with respect to religion were that they did not think that belief in God, immortality and the divinity of Jesus was necessary to lead an ethical life. Placing their main emphasis on rationality and a scientific approach to the world, they argued against revealed religion and advocated the total separation of church and state. Politically, the Freidenker supported the equality of the races, sexes and classes. They were in agreement with German American socialists on the necessity of a shorter working day, free public education and other issues affecting the working class. Also, they were often allied closely with German American Turner groups until the latter became more conservative after the United States Civil War and the unification of Germany. The Freidenker often established free schools for children (sometimes in conjunction with socialists) that offered instruction in German, English and the natural sciences.

In the United States free thought was also a significant movement among English-speaking citizens and other ethnic groups (especially the Bohemians) in the late nineteenth century. Thus, the German Freidenker were part of a much larger context of groups advocating atheism, rationalism or secular humanism.

Brown, Marshall G., and Gordon Stein, eds. Freethought in the United States: A Descriptive Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978.

Jacoby, Susan. Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004.

Was sind die freien Gemeinden? Saint Louis: Bund der Freien Gemeinden und Freidenker-Vereine von Nord-Amerika, 1902.