Religious Conflict and Intellectual Agency: Robert Ingersoll's Contributions to American Thought and Culture

Robert Green Ingersoll, often called the Great Agnostic, was the most celebrated and the most reviled orator in America during the final decades of the nineteenth century. He attacked revealed religion, ridiculed the faith of millions, yet attracted massive audiences to his lectures in cities and towns across the country. In this essay I explore how Ingersoll was able to maintain his visibility and influence for over a quarter century while simultaneously assaulting what many of his listeners held sacred. I argue that Ingersoll’s lectures ultimately ascribed intellectual agency to individuals whose agency seemed in question, thereby empowering ordinary Americans as participants in the radical changes then shaping the world of thought. Importantly, this message of agency extended to believers and nonbelievers, which helps explain why both the religiously devout and skeptical agnostics flocked to Ingersoll’s lectures. In the end, Ingersoll’s lectures underscore the role of conflict and controversy in a healthy democratic society.