Abner Kneeland - Biography, Religious and social views

Protestant clergyman, born in Gardner, Massachusetts, USA. The son of a Revolutionary War veteran, he preached as a Baptist. Appointed to a Universalist pulpit in Charlestown, MA (1812), he soon grew to doubt the divine origin of the Scriptures. Becoming increasingly radical, he moved to Philadelphia and later New York before breaking with the Universalists in 1829. In 1838, after a series of failed appeals, he was jailed for blasphemy. He migrated west to Iowa the following year, but his plans to found a free-thinking colony there never materialized.

Abner Kneeland (b. Due to his very public stance on these issues, Kneeland became the last man jailed by the United States for blasphemy.

Biography

Early life and ministry

Kneeland was born in Gardner, Massachusetts. Eventually, he and the Universalist Church parted ways after his views became too far removed from Christianity. Kneeland became a free thinker and pantheist, saying that the Universalist's Christian God was "nothing more than a chimera of their own imagination."

Prosecution for blasphemy

Under the colonial charter of Massachusetts, blasphemy was still a crime, albeit one punished extremely rarely. However, perhaps because his other views inflamed the judiciary, Kneeland was charged with having violated the law. Kneeland was convicted and served sixty days in prison.

Emigration and death

Kneeland left Massachusetts after the trial and moved to Iowa, where he started a small utopian community named Salubria (near present day Farmington, Iowa).

Religious and social views

In matters of religion, Kneeland became more and more disenchanted of religion handed down from some prophet and enshrined by tradition.

Kneeland believed in equal treatment for all people, both under the law as well as by society. Kneeland applied this even when religious scripture would seem to indicate different roles. Kneeland was also in favor of birth control.