Thanks for your comment! I think the way I took Corbeil’s description of the secularists as “self-defensive” was that, while they did have an ambitious program, they weren’t really ever in a position to put it into place. They were still an ostracized minority and lacked political power, despite Bradlaugh’s election. This meant their advocacy was mainly focused on securing their own (and others’) basic rights, like freedom of speech, equal rights, etc. This definitely is not meant as a slight to the secularists like Bradlaugh!!

(The issue of racism is an interesting one. Corbeil addresses it in his work, and I do in my book as well, Race in a Godless World. I think there are a lot of contradictions there. Bradlaugh was undoubtedly an advocate for colonized people, but he also dabbled in racial science. That said, I think we need to view people in their historical context and so I am not somehow to throw around the label of “racist” to describe historical figures!)