Dr Charles Francis Potter (1885-1962) was an American Unitarian

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

 minister, theologian and author.

In 1923 and 1924, he became nationally known through a series of debates with Dr. John Roach Straton

John Roach Straton

Dr. John Roach Straton was a noted pastor. Straton was born into a Baptist pastor's home, the son of Rev...

, a fundamentalist Christian. The subjects, which Dr. Potter called "part of a crisis in theology," were the infallibility of the Bible, evolution, the Virgin Birth, the divinity of Christ and the Second Coming

Scopes Trial

In 1925 he was adviser on the Bible to Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow

Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...

 in his defense of John Thomas Scopes, a schoolteacher who was charged with teaching evolution

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

 in his classes.

Education

He was born in Marlboro, Mass., where his father was a shoe-factory worker, and received his education at Bucknell University

Bucknell University

Bucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...

, Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 and Newtown Theological Institution.

Dr. Potter began his career as a Baptist minister. He resigned his position in 1925 because, he explained, even a liberal pulpit did not afford all the necessary freedom of expression. The next year he was professor of comparative religion at Antioch College

Antioch College

Antioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was the founder and the flagship institution of the six-campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with politician and...

.

Humanism

His progressive ideas led him to found, in 1929, the First Humanist Society of New York

First Humanist Society of New York

In 1929 Charles Francis Potter founded the First Humanist Society of New York whose advisory board included Julian Huxley, John Dewey, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Mann. Potter was a minister from the Unitarian tradition and in 1930 he and his wife, Clara Cook Potter, published Humanism: A New...

, whose advisory board included Julian Huxley

Julian Huxley

Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS was an English evolutionary biologist, humanist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century evolutionary synthesis...

, John Dewey

John Dewey

John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...

, Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

 and Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...

. Together with Dewey, Potter was also one of the original 34 signees of the first Humanist Manifesto

Humanist Manifesto

Humanist Manifesto is the title of three manifestos laying out a Humanist worldview. They are the original Humanist Manifesto , the Humanist Manifesto II , and Humanism and Its Aspirations...

in 1933. Potter was also the founder, in 1938, of the Euthanasia Society of America.

Humanism as religion

"Humanism is not the abolition of religion," he was quoted as saying., "but the beginning of real religion. By freeing religion of supernaturalism, it will release tremendous reserves of hitherto thwarted power. Man has waited too long for God to do what man ought to do himself and is fully capable of doing." It was to be, he said, "a religion of common sense; and the chief end of man is to improve himself, both as an individual and as a race."

Published works

• The Preacher and I his autobiography, published in 1951.
• The Story of Religion
• What is Humanism?
• Humanism a New Religion
• Humanizing Religion
• Technique of Happiness
• Beyond the Senses
• A Treasury of American Folk Wit and Humor
• Books Jesus Loved
• The Lost Years of Jesus Revealed
• The Great Religious Leaders
• Creative Personality
• Is That in the Bible?

External links

• http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/charlesfrancispotter.html