Was Jean Meslier a communist? George H. Smith explores this tricky issue.

George H. Smith explores Shaftesbury’s defense of ridicule and satire in matters of religion.

George H. Smith explores Rand’s contention that America was sliding down a slippery slope to fascism.

George H. Smith begins his series on the historical relationship between religious skepticism and libertarianism.

George H. Smith explains why Mandeville’s ideas about vice made him one of the most notorious writers of his time.

George H. Smith discusses Bernard Mandeville’s defense of legal prostitution and other vices.

George H. Smith discusses the traditional Christian theory of private property and how it was viewed as the result of original sin.

Does the modern libertarian movement have any significant similarities to the early Christian movement? Smith explores this intriguing possibility.

George H. Smith explains some tactics that early freethinkers used in the attempt to avoid punishment for blasphemy and other religious crimes.

George H. Smith explains Locke’s ideas on how we should interpret a philosophic text, and the relationship between labor and private property.

George H. Smith explains the role of the Catholic Church in the French government, and how Jean Meslier reconciled his atheism with his role as a priest.

George H. Smith explains how Locke dealt with some problems in the traditional Christian theory of private property.

George H. Smith explains the significance, for Locke, of the increased productivity caused by labor, and the relationship between money and property.

George H. Smith discusses the mythological thinking that dominated Nazi ideology, as explained in Cassirer’s book The Myth of the State.

George H. Smith explains an important controversy about when the Two Treatises was written and the influence of the Levellers on Locke.

George H. Smith discusses Robert Nozick’s criticisms of Locke’s property theory.

George H. Smith discusses what Bernard Mandeville meant in saying that private vices produce public benefits, and how Francis Hutcheson criticized that theory.

George H. Smith distinguishes “tolerating” religious difference from recognizing a genuine right to religious freedom.