Acontius (Jacobus—Italian, Giacomo Aconzio). Born at Trent early in sixteenth century. After receiving ordination in the Church of Rome he relinquished that faith and fled to Switzerland in 1557. He subsequently came to England and served Queen Elizabeth as a military engineer. To her he dedicated his Strategems of Satan, published at Basle 1565. This was one of the earliest latitudinarian works, and was placed upon the Index. It was also bitterly assailed by Protestant divines, both in England and on the Continent. An English translation appeared in 1648. Some proceedings were taken against Acontius before Bishop Grindall, of the result of which no account is given. Some passages of Milton’s Areopagitica may be traced to Acontius, who, Cheynell informs us, lived till 1623. Stephen’s Dictionary of National Biography says he is believed to have died shortly after 1566.
Acosta (Uriel). Born at Oporto 1597, the son of a Christianised Jew; he was brought up as a Christian, but on reaching maturity, rejected that faith. He went to Holland, where he published a work equally criticising Moses and Jesus. For this he was excommunicated by the Synagogue, fined and put in prison by the Amsterdam authorities, and his work suppressed. After suffering many indignities from both Jews and Christians, he committed suicide 1647.
Adams (George), of Bristol, sentenced in 1842 to one month’s imprisonment for selling the Oracle of Reason.
Adams (Robert C.), Canadian Freethought writer and lecturer. Author of Travels in Faith from Tradition to Reason (New York, 1884), also Evolution, a Summary of Evidence.
Adler (Felix) Ph. D. American Freethinker, the son of a Jewish rabbi, was b. in Alzey, Germany, 13 Aug. 1851. He graduated at Columbia College, 1870, was professor of Hebrew and Oriental literature at Cornell University from ’74 to May ’76, when he established in New York the Society of Ethical Culture, to which he discourses on Sundays. In 1877 he published a volume entitled Creed and Deed, in which he rejects supernatural religion. Dr. Adler has also contributed many papers to the Radical literature of America.
Ænesidemus. A Cretan sceptical philosopher of the first century. He adopted the principle of Heraclitus, that all things were in course of change, and argued against our knowledge of ultimate causes.
Airy (Sir George Biddell). English Astronomer Royal, b. Alnwick 27 July, 1801. Educated at Cambridge, where he became senior wrangler 1823. During a long life Professor Airy did much to advance astronomical science. His Notes on the Earlier Hebrew Scriptures 1876, proves him to have been a thorough-going Freethinker.
Aitkenhead (Thomas), an Edinburgh student aged eighteen, who was indicted for blasphemy, by order of the Privy Council, for having called the Old Testament “Ezra’s Fables,” and having maintained that God and nature were the same. He was found guilty 24 Dec. 1696, and hanged for blasphemy, 8 Jan. 1697.
Aitzema (Lieuwe van), a nobleman of Friesland, b. at Dorckum 19 Nov. 1600, author of a suppressed History of the Netherlands, between 1621–68. Is classed by Reimmann as an Atheist. Died at the Hague 23 Feb. 1669.
Akbar (Jalal-ed-din Muhammad), the greatest of the emperors of Hindostan, b. 15 Oct. 1542, was famous for his wide administration and improvement of the empire. Akbar showed toleration alike to Christians, Muhammadans, and to all forms of the Hindu faith. He had the Christian gospels and several Brahmanical treatises translated into Persian. The result of his many conferences on religion between learned men of all sects, are collected in the Dabistan. Akbar was brought up as a Muhammadan, but became a Theist, acknowledging one God, but rejecting all other dogmas. Died Sept. 1605.