Why The Rationalist?

There was a Polish magazine "The Rationalist" that had similar profile to our portal before the II World War. Prof. Tadeusz Kotarbinski was one of its editors. The manifesto included in the first issue informed about the content and nature of this magazine: "We are disguised by the confession under pressure. We postulate that the citizens of Poland should have the right to choose whether they want to belong to any religious group or not. We want them to have a choice concerning the presence of priest during ceremonies of baptism, wedding, funeral. GCSE and an access to the university should be available also to people who haven't exposed themselves to irrational teachings of apologists. We want a separation of the Church and the State. We think that our postulates emerge from irrefutable needs of enlightened people. Our postulates head for strengthening decent and beneficial freedoms according to the traditions of our nation as well as nations excelling in introducing those freedoms. We invite everyone who thinks in the same way to cooperate with us, especially we invite teachers. We are not going to propagate our postulates among the masses. We have to reach an agreement, cooperate and defend from powers hampering civil freedom".

We are signing this manifesto using two our hands. Another quotations of prof. Kotarbinski says: "Why are foreigners visiting our hall wondering that the academic year is preceded by mass and the representatives of our Senate take part in the procession of Corpus Christi? It is hard not to blush when the Science kneels down before the doctrine according to which fermented grape juice after some psychophysical rituals becomes blood of someone who died few centuries ago." Religion was not the only one subject matter of "The Rationalist". This magazine also dealt with morality, social matters, education, politics. It covered all topics from the rational point of view. The magazine stopped being published in 1933 after the death of Jozef Landau who was its editor in chief.