Freethought Day
Freethought Day is held on October 12. United States. This event in the second decade of the month October is annual. Help us
Freethought is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods such as logic, reason, and empirical observation. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a freethinker is "a person who forms their own ideas and opinions rather than accepting those of other people, especially in religious teaching." In some contemporary thought in particular, free thought is strongly tied with rejection of traditional social or religious belief systems.
Freethought Day is October 12, the annual observance by freethinkers and secularists of the anniversary of the effective end of the Salem Witch Trials.
The seminal event connected to Freethought Day is a letter written by then Massachusetts Governor William Phips in which he wrote to the Privy Council of the British monarchs, William and Mary, on this day in 1692. In this correspondence he outlined the quagmire that the trials had degenerated into, in part by a reliance on "evidence" of a non-objective nature and especially "spectral evidence" in which the accusers claimed to see devils and other phantasms consorting with the accused.
In 2016, the event was renamed "California Freethought Day" to reflect the growth of the event spanning the last 15 years.
Similar holidays and events, festivals and interesting facts
International Newspaper Carrier Day on October 11 (Held on the second Friday in October);
Clergy Appreciation Day in US on October 13 (the second Sunday in October);
National Father–Daughter Day in the United States on October 13 (on the second Sunday of October);
National Coaches Appreciation Week in USA on October 13 (is a time to recognize the contributions of coaches across the U.S. Week begins on the second Sunday of October);
No Bra Day on October 13 (On this day women are encouraged to forgo wearing no bra as a means to encourage breast cancer awareness)