{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-11:a-wooden-god",
  "slug": "a-wooden-god",
  "title": "A Wooden God",
  "subtitle": "On the deification of the Bible.",
  "excerpt": "A short essay on the veneration of the Bible as a substitute idol — what happens when the reverence owed to thought gets transferred to a volume.",
  "year": 1879,
  "volume": 11,
  "category": "Essay",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/a-wooden-god/",
  "wordCount": 3079,
  "body": "To the Editor:\n\nTo-day Messrs. Wright, Dickey, O'Connor, and Murch, of the select\ncommittee on the causes of the present depression of labor, presented\nthe majority special report upon Chinese immigration.\n\nThese gentlemen are in great fear for the future of our most holy and\nperfectly authenticated religion, and have, like faithful watchmen,\nfrom the walls and towers of Zion, hastened to give the alarm. They have\ninformed Congress that \"Joss has his temple of worship in the Chinese\nquarters, in San Francisco. Within the walls of a dilapidated structure\nis exposed to the view of the faithful the god of the Chinaman, and here\nare his altars of worship. Here he tears up his pieces of paper; here he\noffers up his prayers; here he receives his religious consolations,\nand here is his road to the celestial land;\" that \"Joss is located in a\nlong, narrow room in a building in a back alley, upon a kind of altar;\"\nthat \"he is a wooden image, looking as much like an alligator as like a\nhuman being;\" that the Chinese \"think there is such a place as heaven;\"\nthat \"all classes of Chinamen worship idols;\" that \"the temple is open\nevery day at all hours;\" that \"the Chinese have no Sunday;\" that this\nheathen god has \"huge jaws, a big red tongue, large white teeth, a\nhalf-dozen arms, and big, fiery eyeballs. About him are placed offerings\nof meat and other eatables—a sacrificial offering.\"\n\n*A letter to the Chicago Times, written at Washington, D. C., March\n27,1880.\n\nNo wonder that these members of the committee were shocked at such an\nimage of God, knowing as they did that the only true God was correctly\ndescribed by the inspired lunatic of Patmos in the following words:\n\n\"And there sat in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one like\nunto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt\nabout the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white\nlike wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and\nhis feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his\nvoice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven\nstars: and out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword: and his\ncountenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.\"\n\nCertainly a large mouth filled with white teeth is preferable to one\nused as the scabbard of a sharp, two-edged sword. Why should these\ngentlemen object to a god with big, fiery eyeballs, when their own Deity\nhas eyes like a flame of fire?\n\nIs it not a little late in the day to object to people because they\nsacrifice meat and other eatables to their god? We all know that for\nthousands of years the \"real\" God was exceedingly fond of roasted meat;\nthat he loved the savor of burning flesh, and delighted in the perfume\nof fresh, warm blood.\n\nThe following account of the manner in which the \"living God\" desired\nthat his chosen people should sacrifice, tends to show the degradation\nand religious blindness of the Chinese:\n\n\"Aaron therefore went unto the altar, and slew the calf of the sin\noffering, which was for himself. And the sons of Aaron brought the blood\nunto him: and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it upon the\nhorns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the bottom of the altar:\nBut the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul above the liver of the sin\noffering, he burnt upon the altar; as the Lord commanded Moses. And the\nflesh and the hide he burnt with fire without the camp. And he slew the\nburnt offering; and Aaron's sons presented unto him the blood, which\nhe sprinkled round about upon the altar.   * And he brought the meat\noffering, and took a handful thereof, and burnt it upon the altar.   *\nHe slew also the bullock and the ram for a sacrifice of peace offering,\nwhich was for the people: and Aaron's sons presented unto him the\nblood, which he sprinkled upon the altar round about, and the fat of the\nbullock and of the ram, the rump, and that which covereth the inwards\nand the kidneys, and the caul above the liver, and they put the fat upon\nthe breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar. And the breast and the\nright shoulder Aaron waved for a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses\ncommanded.\"\n\nIf the Chinese only did something like this, we would know that they\nworshiped the \"living\" God. The idea that the supreme head of the\n\"American system of religion\" can be placated with a little meat and\n\"ordinary eatables\" is simply preposterous. He has always asked for\nblood, and has always asserted that without the shedding of blood there\nis no remission of sin.\n\nThe world is also informed by these gentlemen that \"the idolatry of\nthe Chinese produces a demoralizing effect upon our American youth by\nbringing sacred things into disrespect, and making religion a theme of\ndisgust and contempt.\"\n\nIn San Francisco there are some three hundred thousand people. Is it\npossible that a few Chinese can bring our \"holy religion\" into disgust\nand contempt? In that city there are fifty times as many churches as\njoss-houses. Scores of sermons are uttered every week; religious books\nand papers are plentiful as leaves in autumn, and somewhat dryer;\nthousands of Bibles are within the reach of all. And there, too, is the\nexample of a Christian city.\n\nWhy should we send missionaries to China if we can not convert the\nheathen when they come here? When missionaries go to a foreign land,\nthe poor, benighted people have to take their word for the blessings\nshowered upon a Christian people; but when the heathen come here they\ncan see for themselves. What was simply a story becomes a demonstrated\nfact. They come in contact with people who love their enemies. They see\nthat in a Christian land men tell the truth; that they will not take\nadvantage of strangers; that they are just and patient, kind and tender;\nthat they never resort to force; that they have no prejudice on account\nof color, race, or religion; that they look upon mankind as brethren;\nthat they speak of God as a universal Father, and are willing to work,\nand even to suffer, for the good not only of their own countrymen, but\nof the heathen as well. All this the Chinese see and know, and why\nthey still cling to the religion of their country is to me a matter of\namazement.\n\nWe all know that the disciples of Jesus do unto others as they would\nthat others should do unto them, and that those of Confucius do not unto\nothers anything that they would not that others should do unto them.\nSurely, such peoples ought to live together in perfect peace.\n\nRising with the subject, growing heated with a kind of holy indignation,\nthese Christian representatives of a Christian people most solemnly\ndeclare that:\n\n\"Anyone who is really endowed with a correct knowledge of our religious\nsystem, which acknowledges the existence of a living God and an\naccountability to him, and a future state of reward and punishment, who\nfeels that he has an apology for this abominable pagan worship is not a\nfit person to be ranked as a good citizen of the American Union. It is\nabsurd to make any apology for its toleration. It must be abolished,\nand the sooner the decree goes forth by the power of this Government the\nbetter it will be for the interests of this land.\"\n\nI take this, the earliest opportunity, to inform these gentlemen\ncomposing a majority of the committee, that we have in the United States\nno \"religious system\"; that this is a secular Government. That it has\nno religious creed; that it does not believe or disbelieve in a future\nstate of reward and punishment; that it neither affirms nor denies\nthe existence of a \"living God\"; and that the only god, so far as this\nGovernment is concerned, is the legally expressed will of a majority of\nthe people. Under our flag the Chinese have the same right to worship a\nwooden god that you have to worship any other. The Constitution protects\nequally the church of Jehovah and the house of Joss. Whatever their\nrelative positions may be in heaven, they stand upon a perfect equality\nin the United States.\n\nThis Government is an Infidel Government. We have a Constitution with\nman put in and God left out; and it is the glory of this country that we\nhave such a Constitution.\n\nIt may be surprising to you that I have an apology for pagan worship,\nyet I have. And it is the same one that I have for the writers of this\nreport. I account for both by the word superstition. Why should\nwe object to their worshiping God as they please? If the worship is\nimproper, the protestation should come not from a committee of Congress,\nbut from God himself. If he is satisfied that is sufficient.\n\nOur religion can only be brought into contempt by the actions of those\nwho profess to be governed by its teachings. This report will do more\nin that direction than millions of Chinese could do by burning pieces of\npaper before a wooden image. If you wish to impress the Chinese with the\nvalue of your religion, of what you are pleased to call \"The American\nsystem,\" show them that Christians are better than heathens. Prove to\nthem that what you are pleased to call the \"living God\" teaches higher\nand holier things, a grander and purer code of morals than can be found\nupon pagan pages. Excel these wretches in industry, in honesty, in\nreverence for parents, in cleanliness, in frugality; and above all by\nadvocating the absolute liberty of human thought.\n\nDo not trample upon these people because they have a different\nconception of things about which even this committee knows nothing.\n\nGive them the same privilege you enjoy of making a God after their own\nfashion. And let them describe him as they will. Would you be willing\nto have them remain, if one of their race, thousands of years ago, had\npretended to have seen God, and had written of him as follows:\n\n\"There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth\ndevoured: coals were kindled by it,   * and he rode upon a cherub and\ndid fly.\"\n\nWhy should you object to these people on account of their religion? Your\nobjection has in it the spirit of hate and intolerance. Of that spirit\nthe Inquisition was born. That spirit lighted the fagot, made the\nthumbscrew, put chains upon the limbs, and lashes upon the backs of men.\nThe same spirit bought and sold, captured and kidnapped human beings;\nsold babes, and justified all the horrors of slavery.\n\nCongress has nothing to do with the religion of the people. Its members\nare not responsible to God for the opinions of their constituents, and\nit may tend to the happiness of the constituents for me to state that\nthey are in no way responsible for the religion of the members.\nReligion is an individual, not a national, matter. And where the nation\ninterferes with the right of conscience, the liberties of the people are\ndevoured by the monster superstition.\n\nIf you wish to drive out the Chinese, do not make a pretext of religion.\nDo not pretend that you are trying to do God a favor. Injustice in his\nname is doubly detestable. The assassin can not sanctify his dagger by\nfalling on his knees, and it does not help a falsehood if it be uttered\nas a prayer. Religion, used to intensify the hatred of men toward men\nunder the pretence of pleasing God, has cursed this world.\n\nA portion of this most remarkable report is intensely religious. There\nis in it almost the odor of sanctity; and when reading it, one is\nimpressed with the living piety of its authors. But on the twenty-fifth\npage there are a few passages that must pain the hearts of true\nbelievers.\n\nLeaving their religious views, the members immediately betake themselves\nto philosophy and prediction. Listen:\n\n\"The Chinese race and the American citizen, whether native-born or one\nwho is eligible to our naturalization laws and becomes a citizen, are in\na state of antagonism. They cannot, or will not, ever meet upon common\nground, and occupy together the same social level. This is impossible.\nThe pagan and the Christian travel different paths. This one believes in\na living God; and that one in a type of monsters and the worship of wood\nand stone. Thus in the religion of the two races of men they are as wide\napart as the poles of the two hemispheres. They cannot now and never\nwill approach the same religious altar. The Christian will not recede\nto barbarism, nor will the Chinese advance to the enlightened belt\n(whatever it is) of civilization.   * He cannot be converted to those\nmodern ideas of religious worship which have been accepted by Europe and\nwhich crown the American system.\"\n\nChristians used to believe that through their religion all the nations\nof the earth were finally to be blest. In accordance with that belief\nmissionaries have been sent to every land, and untold wealth has been\nexpended for what has been called the spread of the gospel.\n\nI am almost sure that I have read somewhere that \"Christ died for all\nmen,\" and that \"God is no respecter of persons.\" It was once taught that\nit was the duty of Christians to tell all people the \"tidings of\ngreat joy.\" I have never believed these things myself, but have always\ncontended that an honest merchant was the best missionary. Commerce\nmakes friends, religion makes enemies; the one enriches and the other\nimpoverishes; the one thrives best where the truth is told, the other\nwhere falsehoods are believed. For myself, I have but little confidence\nin any business or enterprise or investment that promises dividends only\nafter the death of the stockholders.\n\nBut I am astonished that four Christian statesmen, four members of\nCongress, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, who seriously\nobject to people on account of their religious convictions, should\nstill assert that the very religion in which they believe—and the\nonly religion established by the \"living God,\" head of the American\nsystem—is not adapted to the spiritual needs of one-third of the human\nrace. It is amazing that these four gentlemen have, in the defence\nof the Christian religion, announced the discovery that it is wholly\ninadequate for the civilization of mankind; that the light of the cross\ncan never penetrate the darkness of China; \"that all the labors of\nthe missionary, the example of the good, the exalted character of our\ncivilization, make no impression upon the pagan life of the Chinese;\"\nand that even the report of this committee will not tend to elevate,\nrefine, and Christianize the yellow heathen of the Pacific coast. In the\nname of religion these gentlemen have denied its power, and mocked at\nthe enthusiasm of its founder. Worse than this, they have predicted for\nthe Chinese a future of ignorance and idolatry in this world, and, if\nthe \"American system\" of religion is true, hell-fire in the next.\n\nFor the benefit of these four philosophers and prophets I will give a\nfew extracts from the writings of Confucius, that will, in my judgment,\ncompare favorably with the best passages of their report:\n\n\"My doctrine is that man must be true to the principles of his nature,\nand the benevolent exercise of them toward others.\n\nWith coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and with my bended arm for\na pillow, I still have joy.\n\nRiches and honor acquired by injustice are to me but floating clouds.\n\nThe man who, in view of gain, thinks of righteousness; who, in view of\ndanger, forgets life, and who remembers an old agreement, however far\nback it extends, such a man may be reckoned a complete man.\n\nRecompense injury with justice, and kindness with kindness.\n\nThere is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's\nlife: Reciprocity is that word.\"\n\nWhen the ancestors of the four Christian Congressmen were barbarians,\nwhen they lived in caves, gnawed bones, and worshiped dried snakes, the\ninfamous Chinese were reading these sublime sentences of Confucius. When\nthe forefathers of these Christian statesmen were hunting toads to\nget the jewels out of their heads, to be used as charms, the wretched\nChinese were calculating eclipses, and measuring the circumference\nof the earth. When the progenitors of these representatives of the\n\"American system of religion\" were burning women charged with nursing\ndevils, the people \"incapable of being influenced by the exalted\ncharacter of our civilization,\" were building asylums for the insane.\n\nNeither should it be forgotten that, for thousands of years, the Chinese\nhave honestly practiced the great principle known as Civil Service\nReform—a something that even the administration of Mr. Hayes has\nreached only through the proxy of promise.\n\nIf we wish to prevent the immigration of the Chinese, let us reform our\ntreaties with the vast empire from whence they came. For thousands of\nyears the Chinese secluded themselves from the rest of the world. They\ndid not deem the Christian nations fit to associate with. We forced\nourselves upon them. We called, not with cards, but with cannon. The\nEnglish battered down the door in the names of opium and Christ. This\ninfamy was regarded as another triumph for the gospel. At last, in\nself-defence, the Chinese allowed Christians to touch their shores.\nTheir wise men, their philosophers, protested, and prophesied that time\nwould show that Christians could not be trusted. This report proves that\nthe wise men were not only philosophers, but prophets.\n\nTreat China as you would England. Keep a treaty while it is in force.\nChange it if you will, according to the laws of nations, but on no\naccount excuse a breach of national faith by pretending that we are\ndishonest for God's sake.\n"
}