Towards a Godless Dominion
Unbelief in Interwar Canada
Book •
Elliot B. Hanowski's 'Towards a Godless Dominion' examines organized unbelief in interwar Canada, focusing on secularist and rationalist groups active in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver.
The book explores how activists used lectures, newspapers, and public events to challenge a society widely considered Christian, and how Christian institutions and clergy responded.
Hanowski situates these movements within broader political currents, including overlaps with socialism and communism, and highlights notable figures and controversies.
Drawing on archival sources and contemporaneous press, he reconstructs both the activism and repression faced by unbelievers, showing Canada’s contested religious landscape.
The study revises assumptions about Canadian tolerance by revealing the intensity of religious conflict in the early twentieth century.
The book explores how activists used lectures, newspapers, and public events to challenge a society widely considered Christian, and how Christian institutions and clergy responded.
Hanowski situates these movements within broader political currents, including overlaps with socialism and communism, and highlights notable figures and controversies.
Drawing on archival sources and contemporaneous press, he reconstructs both the activism and repression faced by unbelievers, showing Canada’s contested religious landscape.
The study revises assumptions about Canadian tolerance by revealing the intensity of religious conflict in the early twentieth century.
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as the guest's new book about unbelief and anti-religious activism in interwar Canada.

Carrie Lynn Evans

Elliot B. Hanowski, "Towards a Godless Dominion: Unbelief in Interwar Canada" (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2023)
Mentioned by 

as the book being discussed in the episode and its subject on interwar Canadian unbelief.


Carrie Figdor

Elliot B. Hanowski, "Towards a Godless Dominion: Unbelief in Interwar Canada" (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2023)



