SPECIAL SHOWING OF A NEW DOCUMENTARY ON 19TH CENTURY FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHER D.M. BENNETT

     The 19th century’s most controversial publisher and free-speech martyr is featured in a new, one-hour documentary, D.M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker, that will be shown at 8 p.m. followed by discussion led by Jim Underdown, executive director of the Center for Inquiry.

     DeRobigne Mortimer Bennett (1818-1882), an atheist, founded the "blasphemous" freethought periodical The Truth Seeker and was jailed for his actions. Roderick Bradford, the author of the 2006 book published by Prometheus Books about Bennett by the same name as the documentary, co-produced the documentary in association with Inquiry Media Productions. The video was edited by Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry magazine. 

     “D.M. Bennett challenged the Comstock Law, “ according to the documentary, “which was named after Anthony Comstock, the chief vice-hunter and crusading moralist for the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, a Christian-sponsored organization that promoted social purity.” Bennett was convicted and jailed for defiantly selling an “obscene” free-love pamphlet. Previews of the production can be found at the Council for Secular Humanism of the Center for Inquiry Web site at http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=ingersoll&page=dmbennett