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Hall for freethinkers burns down in Waco
On this day in 1889, Liberal Hall, the Waco home of the Religious and
Benevolent Association, burned to the ground. The association was
chartered by a group of Waco citizens led by James D. Shaw in 1882 "for
the worship of God, benevolent and religious works." Membership was
drawn from a cross-section of the population of Waco, including lawyer
Edward J. Gurley. The association began to publish a monthly magazine
called the Independent Pulpit in 1883. Edited by Shaw, the
publication served as a forum for many of the members' freethinking
views. The introduction of such an association was bitterly opposed by
churchmen across Central Texas. B. H. Carroll, a Baptist pastor in Waco,
preached a sermon entitled "The Agnostic," in which no attempt was made
to veil the animosity felt by many members of the community. J. B.
Cranfill, editor of the Gatesville Advance, called the
association the "Hell and Damnation Society" and told his readers that
Shaw would turn them from the truth. He described the association as an
"asylum for erratic thinkers on religious subjects." Due to financial
difficulties and the destruction of Liberal Hall the association faded
away after 1889.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- RELIGIOUS AND BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION
- SHAW, JAMES DICKSON
- GURLEY, EDWARD JEREMIAH
- CARROLL, BENAJAH HARVEY
- CRANFILL, JAMES BRITTON BUCHANAN BOONE
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Janis Joplin dies (1970)
- Dallas Health Museum opens (1946)
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