Masaryk jako polarizující osobnost tzv. svobodomyslného náboženského hnutí mezi americkými krajany před první světovou válkou

This study examines the reaction to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk as a religious thinker within the Czech-American community prior to the First World War, in the anticlerical context of the so-called svobodomyslnost (Freethought). In particular, it focuses on the abundant response to Masaryk's visits to America in the years 1902 and 1907. The majority of the freethinkers sympathized with Masaryk, but some of them criticized him as being someone who was unable to completely free himself from "religious superstitions". Masaryk's theories about the inner emptiness of Freethought met with a largely disapproving attitude, without this weakening the general respect in which he was held. The Czech American socialists and representatives of the women's movement had an extremely positive attitude towards him, whereas that of the anarchists and a smaller section of the freethinkers, including František Iška, (as well as members of the traditional churches) was fundamentally disapproving. In the Czech-American setting the positive and negative relationships to Masaryk as a religious thinker from the period before 1914 continually had an effect in the political arena during the First World War.