Where Did Freethought Come From?

Freethought had its beginning when people first began to doubt and question.  Because Freethought is all about understanding ourselves and our world through a process of trial and error using the tools of facts and reason.  Many hundreds of years before Christianity got its start, people like Socrates (shown left) had the audacity to ask, for example, whether what is good is loved by god(s) because it is good or whether it is good because it is loved by god(s).  A hundred years before the events claimed to have happened in the New Testament, the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius argued that the world was entirely explicable by natural means.  And many others in ancient times noted the logical absurdity of the idea that an all-powerful deity could also be all-good.

Freethinkers recognize October 12, 1692 as "Freethought Day," a watershed in history when Governor William Phips of the then-colony Massachusetts issued an official edict announcing that the Salem witch trials would no longer accept "spectral" or supernatural evidence that was being offered to support accusations against women and men in Salem. Up until this date, the citizens of Salem were paralyzed by an escalating fit of irrationality and superstition. Although the trials began when a few young girls let their imaginations get the better of them, and began declaring a few marginalized citizens to be practicing witches, the superstitious fervor expanded until even the Governor's wife was accused of witchcraft. At this point, Governor Phips declared that superstitious beliefs were no longer sufficient to legally accuse a fellow citizen of a crime.

As Church of Freethought Founder and Pastor Dr. Tim Gorski observed: 

"Now this is the important part: why did [Phips] do it? Was [he] a Freethinker? No. Was it that people suddenly realized that there are no witches, no demons, no evil spells and the like? No. No, the Phips Edict came about with the complicity of all the devout fundamentalist believers that constituted the community of Salem and the Colony of Massachusetts because they had to.

Winston Churchill once remarked that 'What the wise do in the beginning, fools do in the end.' Churchill also said that 'You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else!'

For, you see, eventually, at some point, and to some degree, people simply have to act rationally. You have to open doors before walking through doorways. You have to turn the key in your ignition before you drive home today. No amount of faith and prayer can allow anyone to do otherwise. And despite all the rhetorical flourishes of the superstitious believers, that’s the way it’s always been and always will be.

Indeed, this truth is becoming more and more important every day. It’s also the essence of the role of the law: to hold people to a standard of dealing with one another that’s based on reason. That’s the basis of every shall and shalt not that there is, not some divine command of 'do it or else.'"

Where Did The NTCOF Come From? 

The Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex may seem to be an odd choice to found the first-ever "Church of Freethought," but Texas in the 19th century was home to a great number of German Freethinkers who settled in and around the South-central hill country. Many of their settlements exist even today, including Millheim, Sisterdale, and Comfort. Texas was an attractive home to these early Freethinkers because of its strong commitment to individual liberty, and the economic opportunities it offered.

A similar attraction brought Dr. Tim Gorski, Mike Sullivan, and their wives to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, which is currently a bustling cosmopolitan center of approximately six million, attracting hundreds of fantastic new people every day. Tim and Mike had both been raised to accept the rule of tradition and superstition as children, but had since grown up and out of the restricting systems of faith-based religion. Finding great value in the disciplines of Freethought, scientific skepticism, and philosophy, Mike and Tim independently tried to find a home in the few secular organizations that were available at the time. Happily, these investigations brought them into contact with each other, where they discovered a shared commitment to Freethought, but also a shared desire to find a place where the social and emotional needs of those who reject superstitious religions could still be satisfied. The need for such an organization was particularly apparent when Tim and his wife Deborah began to raise a family, and wanted an environment in which their childrens' moral and intellectual development could be supported. 

Where Is The NTCOF Now?

The NTCOF currently enjoys a membership of between 200-300 individuals, with between 75-100 in attendance at monthly services. Monthly services are held on the first Sunday of every month at the Wyndham DFW Airport North, and other social events are held at various locations throughout the DFW metroplex. To date, the contributions of the NTCOF family has been substantial, and have continually enhanced the NTCOF's mission and goals. It goes without saying that an organization as robust and dynamic as the NTCOF could not possibly sustain itself without the generous support of its members, both in volunteerism and financial support.  Join us in this unique and vital endeavor to advance rationalism in religion!