# Freethought and Freedom

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/books/freethought-freedom>

**By** George H. Smith

**Published:** July 17, 2017

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A survey of the history of religious and intellectual liberty in Europe.

Liberty of conscience and freedom of thought are twin, core components of modern life in societies across the world. The ability to pursue one’s vision of the right and the good, coupled with liberty to pursue individual reason and enlightenment, helped produce so much of modern life that we may be apt to forget that libertarian philosophy was not dictated by Nature. _Freethought and Freedom_ surveys the long history of religious and intellectual liberty, exploring their key ideas along the way.

_The essays in this book [originally appeared](https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/freethought-freedom-introduction) as columns on Libertarianism.org._

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