The Free Religious Association (FRA) was formed in 1867 in part by David Atwood Wasson and Reverend William J. Potter. to be, in Potter's words, a "spiritual anti-slavery society" to "emancipate religion from the dogmatic traditions it had been previously bound to." It was opposed not only to organized religion, but also to any supernaturalism in an attempt to affirm the supremacy of individual conscience and individual reason. The FRA carried a message of the perfectibility of humanity, democratic faith in the worth of each individual, the importance of natural rights and the affirmation of the efficacy of reason.

The Early Spread of the FRA

The first public assembly was held in 1867 representing something akin to a spiritual town meeting with an audience ranging from Progressive Quakers, liberal Jews, radical Unitarians, Universalists, agnostics, Spiritualists, and scientific theists. The first person to join the association at the original meeting was the famed American individualist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It caught on and many FRA members helped to lead communes based on their values on equality and self organizing organizations.

The Future of the FRA

Today while it is hard to find an FRA meeting, let alone anything remotely akin to the kind of town meetings of the early Americas, many of their beliefs are alive and well and some could say even growing at an exponential way. Thanks to the force of the internet people today are now completely free and able to join together with almost anyone anywhere in the world that may share the same intentions, ideals, goals, beliefs, and even the most petty of personal preferences in a massive way unprecedented in all of human history.

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