Richard Carlile, reformer and avowed atheist, writing from a cell where he was serving time for committing free speech, calls upon men of science to come forth and wrest “the truth from the foul grasp and persecution of superstition; and obtain for the island of Great Britain the noble appellation of the focus of truth; whence mankind shall be illuminated, and the black and pestiferous clouds of persecution and superstition be banished from the face of the earth; as the only sure prelude to universal peace and harmony among the human race.” This eloquent entreaty was printed and published by Carlile in 1821, a couple years after the Peterloo massacre which he’d witnessed first hand. It was an important advancement in the public discussion of disbelief — the very thing that got him into so much trouble with the church-state establishment.