{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-11:governor-rollins-fast-day-proclamation",
  "slug": "governor-rollins-fast-day-proclamation",
  "title": "Governor Rollins' Fast-Day Proclamation",
  "subtitle": "Reply to the Governor of New Hampshire.",
  "excerpt": "A reply to New Hampshire Governor Frank Rollins' Fast-Day proclamation — on the propriety of a state governor issuing religious edicts in the last years of the nineteenth century.",
  "year": 1898,
  "volume": 11,
  "category": "Reply",
  "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/governor-rollins-fast-day-proclamation/",
  "wordCount": 3990,
  "body": "THE Governor of New Hampshire, undoubtedly a good and sincere man,\nissued a Fast-Day Proclamation to the people of his State, in which I\nfind the following paragraph:\n\n\"The decline of the Christian religion, particularly in our rural\ncommunities, is a marked feature of the times, and steps should be taken\nto remedy it. No matter what our belief may be in religious matters,\nevery good citizen knows that when the restraining influences of\nreligion are withdrawn from a community, its decay, moral, mental\nand financial, is swift and sure. To me this is one of the strongest\nevidences of the fundamental truth of Christianity. I suggest to-day,\nas far as possible on Fast-Day, union meetings be held, made up of all\nshades of belief, including all who are interested in the welfare of our\nState, and that in your prayers and other devotions and in your mutual\ncouncils you remember and consider the problem of the condition of\nreligion in the rural communities. There are towns where no church bell\nsends forth its solemn call from January to January. There are villages\nwhere children grow to manhood unchristened. There are communities where\nthe dead are laid away without the benison of the name of the Christ,\nand where marriages are solemnized only by Justices of the Peace. This\nis a matter worthy of your thoughtful consideration, citizens of New\nHampshire. It does not augur well for the future. You can afford to\ndevote one day in the year to your fellow-men, to work and thought and\nprayer for your children and your children's children.\"\n\nThese words of the Governor have caused surprise, discussion and danger.\nMany ministers have denied that Christianity is declining, and have\nattacked the Governor with the malice of meekness and the savagery of\nhumility. The question is: Is Christianity declining?\n\nIn order to answer this question we must state what Christianity is.\n\nChristians tell us that there are certain fundamental truths that must\nbe believed.\n\nWe must believe in God, the creator and governor of the universe; in\nJesus Christ, his only begotten son; in the Holy Ghost; in the atonement\nmade by Christ; in salvation by faith; in the second birth; in heaven\nfor believers, in hell for deniers and doubters, and in the\ninspiration of the Old and New Testaments. They must also believe in a\nprayer-hearing and prayer-answering God, in special providence, and\nin addition to all this they must practice a few ceremonies. This, I\nbelieve, is a fair skeleton of Christianity. Of course I cannot give\nan exact definition. Christians do not and never have agreed among\nthemselves. They have been disputing and fighting for many centuries,\nand to-day they are as far apart as ever.\n\nA few years ago Christians believed the \"fundamental truths\" They had\nno doubts. They knew that God existed; that he made the world. They\nknew when he commenced to work at the earth and stars and knew when he\nfinished. They knew that he, like a potter, mixed and moulded clay into\nthe shape of a man and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life.\nThey knew that he took from this man a rib and framed the first woman.\n\nIt must be admitted that sensible Christians have outgrown this belief.\nJehovah the gardener, the potter, the tailor, has been dethroned. The\nstory of creation is believed only by the provincial, the stupid, the\ntruly orthodox. People who have read Darwin and Haeckel and had sense\nenough to understand these great men, laugh at the legends of the Jews.\n\nA few years ago most Christians believed that Christ was the son of God,\nand not only the son of God, but God himself.\n\nThis belief is slowly fading from the minds of Christians, from the\nminds of those who have minds.\n\nMany Christians now say that Christ was simply a man—a perfect man.\nOthers say that he was divine, but not actually God—a union of God and\nman. Some say that while Christ was not God, he was as nearly like God\nas it is possible for man to be.\n\nThe old belief that he was actually God—that he sacrificed himself unto\nhimself—that he deserted himself; that he bore the burden of his\nown wrath; that he made it possible to save a few of his children by\nshedding his own blood; that he could not forgive the sins of men until\nthey murdered him—this frightful belief is slowly dying day by\nday. Most ministers are ashamed to preach these cruel and idiotic\nabsurdities. The Christ of our time is not the Christ of the New\nTestament—not the Christ of the Middle Ages; nor of Luther, Wesley or\nthe Puritan fathers.\n\nThe Christ who was God—who was his own son and his own father—who\nwas born of a virgin, cast out devils, rose from the dead, and ascended\nbodily to heaven—is not the Christ of to-day.\n\nThe Holy Ghost has never been accurately defined or described. He has\nalways been a winged influence—a divine aroma; a disembodied essence;\na spiritual climate; an enthusiastic flame; a something sensitive and\nunforgiving; the real father of Jesus Christ.\n\nA few years ago the clergy had a great deal to say about the Holy Ghost,\nbut now the average minister, while he alludes to this shadowy deity\nto round out a prayer, seems ta have but little confidence in him. This\ndeity is and always has been extremely vague. He has been represented\nin the form of a dove; but this form is not associated with much\nintelligence.\n\nFormerly it was believed that all men were by nature wicked, and that it\nwould be perfectly just for God to damn the entire human race. In fact,\nit was thought that God, feeling that he had to damn all his children,\ninvented a scheme by which some could be saved and at the same time\njustice could be satisfied. God knew that without the shedding of blood\nthere could be no remission of sin. For many centuries he was satisfied\nwith the blood of oxen, lambs and doves. But the sins continued to\nincrease. A greater sacrifice was necessary. So God concluded to make\nthe greatest possible sacrifice—to shed his own blood, that is to say,\nto have it shed by his chosen people. This was the atonement—the scheme\nof salvation—a scheme that satisfied justice and partially defeated the\nDevil.\n\nNo intelligent Christians believe in this atonement. It is utterly\nunphilosophic. The idea that man made salvation possible by murdering\nGod is infinitely absurd. This makes salvation the blossom of a\ncrime—the blessed fruit of murder. According to this the joys of heaven\nare born of the agonies of innocence. If the Jews had been civilized—if\nthey had believed in freedom of conscience and had listened kindly and\ncalmly to the teachings of Christ, the whole world, including Christ's\nmother, would have gone to hell.\n\nOur fathers had two absurdities. They balanced each other. They said\nthat God could justly damn his children for the sin of Adam, and that he\ncould justly save his children on account of the sufferings and virtues\nof Christ; that is to say, on account of his own sufferings and virtues.\n\nThis view of the atonement has mostly been abandoned. It is now\npreached, not that Christ bought souls with his blood, but that he has\nennobled souls by his example. The supernatural part of the atonement\nhas, by the more intelligent, been thrown away. So the idea of imputed\nsin—of vicarious vice—has been by many abandoned.\n\nSalvation by faith is growing weak. People are beginning to see that\ncharacter is more important than belief; that virtue is above all\ncreeds. Civilized people no longer believe in a God who will damn an\nhonest, generous man. They see that it is not honest to offer a reward\nfor belief. The promise of reward is not evidence. It is an attempt to\nbribe.\n\nIf God wishes his children to believe, he should furnish evidence.\nHe should not endeavor to make promises and threats take the place\nof facts. To offer a reward for credulity is dishonest and\nimmoral—infamous.\n\nTo say that good people who never heard of Christ ought to be damned for\nnot believing on him is a mixture of idiocy and savagery.\n\nPeople are beginning to perceive that happiness is a result, not a\nreward; that happiness must be earned; that it is not alms. It is also\nbecoming apparent that sins cannot be forgiven; that no power can step\nbetween actions and consequences; that men must \"reap what they sow;\"\nthat a man who has lived a cruel life cannot, by repenting between the\nlast dose of medicine and the last breath, be washed in the blood of the\nLamb, and become an angel—an angel entitled to an eternity of joy.\n\nAll this is absurd, but you may say that it is not cruel. But to say\nthat a man who has lived a useful life; who has made a happy home; who\nhas lifted the fallen, succored the oppressed and battled to uphold\nthe right; to say that such a man, because he failed to believe without\nevidence, will suffer eternal pain, is to say that God is an infinite\nwild beast.\n\nSalvation for credulity means damnation for investigation.\n\nAt one time the \"second birth\" was regarded as a divine mystery—as a\nmiracle—a something done by a supernatural power; probably by the Holy\nGhost. Now ministers are explaining this mystery. A change of heart is a\nchange of ideas. About this there is nothing miraculous.\n\nThis happens to most men and women—happens many times in the life\nof one man. If this happens without excitement—as the result of\nthought—it is called reformation. If it occurs in a revival—if it is\nthe result of fright—it is called the \"second birth.\"\n\nA few years ago Christians believed in the inspiration of the Bible.\nThey had no doubts. The Bible was the standard. If some geologist found\na fact inconsistent with the Scriptures he was silenced with a text.\nIf some doubter called attention to a contradiction in the Bible he was\ndenounced as an ungodly and blaspheming wretch. Christians then knew\nthat the universe was only about six thousand years old, and any man who\ndenied this was an enemy of Christ and a friend of the Devil.\n\nAll this has changed. The Bible is no longer the standard. Science has\ndethroned the inspired volume. Even theologians are taking facts\ninto consideration. Only ignorant bigots now believe in the plenary\ninspiration of the Bible.\n\nThe intelligent ministers know that the Holy Scriptures are filled with\nmistakes, contradictions and interpolations. They no longer believe in\nthe flood, in Babel, in Lot's wife or in the fire and brimstone storm.\nThey are not sure about the burning bush, the plagues of Egypt, the\ndivision of the Red Sea or the miracles in the wilderness. All these\nwonders are growing foolish. They belong to the Mother Goose of the\npast, and many clergymen are ashamed to say that they believe them. So,\nthe lengthening of the day in order that General Joshua might have more\ntime to kill, the journey of Elijah to heaven, the voyage of Jonah\nin the fish, and many other wonders of a like kind, have become so\ntransparently false that even a theologian refuses to believe.\n\nThe same is true of many of the miracles of the New Testament. No\nsensible man now believes that Christ cast devils and unclean spirits\nout of the bodies of men and women. A few years ago all Christians\nbelieved all these devil miracles with all the mind they had. A few\nyears ago only Infidels denied these miracles, but now the theologians\nwho are studying the \"Higher Criticism\" are reaching the conclusions of\nVoltaire and Paine. They have just discovered that the objections made\nto the Bible by the Deists are supported by the facts.\n\nAt the same time these \"Higher Critics,\" while they admit that the Bible\nis not true, still insist that it is inspired.\n\nThe other evening I attended Forepaugh & Sell's Circus at Madison Square\nGarden and saw a magnificent panorama of performances. While looking at\na man riding a couple of horses I thought of the \"Higher Critics.\" They\naccept Darwin and cling to Genesis. They admit that Genesis is false in\nfact, and then assert that in a higher sense it is absolutely true.\n\nA lie bursts into blossom and has the perfume of truth. These critics\ndeclare that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and then establish\nthe truth of the declaration by showing that it is filled with\ncontradictions, absurdities and false prophecies.\n\nThe horses they ride, sometimes get so far apart that it seems to me\nthat walking would be easier on the legs.\n\nSo, I saw at the circus the \"Snake Man.\" I saw him tie himself into all\nkinds of knots; saw him make a necktie of his legs; saw him throw back\nhis head and force it between his knees; saw him twist and turn as\nthough his bones were made of rubber, and as I watched him I thought of\nthe mental doublings and contortions of the preachers who have answered\nme.\n\nLet Christians say what they will, the Bible is no longer the actual\nword of God; it is no longer perfect; it is no longer quite true.\n\nThe most that is now claimed for the Bible by the \"Higher Critics\" is,\nthat some passages are inspired; that some passages are true, and that\nGod has left man free to pick these passages out.\n\nThe ministers are preaching Infidelity. What would Lyman Beecher have\nthought of a man like Dr. Abbott? he would have consigned him to hell.\nWhat would John Wesley have thought of a Methodist like Dr. Cadman? He\nwould have denounced him as a child of the Devil. What would Calvin have\nthought of a Presbyterian like Professor Briggs? He would have burned\nhim at the stake, and through the smoke and flame would have shouted,\n\"You are a dog of Satan.\" How would Jeremy Taylor have treated an\nEpiscopalian like Heber Newton?\n\nThe Governor of New Hampshire is right when he says that Christianity\nhas declined. The flames of faith are flickering, zeal is cooling and\neven bigotry is beginning to see the other side. I admit that there\nare still millions of orthodox Christians whose minds are incapable of\ngrowth, and who care no more for facts than a monitor does for bullets.\nSuch obstructions on the highway of progress are removed only by death.\n\nThe dogma of eternal pain is no longer believed by the reasonably\nintelligent. People who have a sense of justice know that eternal\nrevenge cannot be enjoyed by infinite goodness. They know that hell\nwould make heaven impossible. If Christians believed in hell as they\nonce did, the fagots would be lighted again, heretics would be stretched\non the rack, and all the instruments of torture would again be stained\nwith innocent blood. Christianity has declined because intelligence has\nincreased.\n\nMen and women who know something of the history of man, of the horrors\nof plague, famine and flood, of earthquake, volcano and cyclone, of\nreligious persecution and slavery, have but little confidence in special\nprovidence. They do not believe that a prayer was ever answered.\n\nThousands of people who accept Christ as a moral guide have thrown, away\nthe supernatural.\n\nChristianity does not satisfy the brain and heart. It contains too many\nabsurdities. It is unphilosophic, unnatural, impossible. Not to resist\nevil is moral suicide. To love your enemies is impossible. To desert\nwife and children for the sake of heaven is cowardly and selfish. To\npromise rewards for belief is dishonest. To threaten torture for honest\nunbelief is infamous. Christianity is declining because men and women\nare growing better.\n\nThe Governor was not satisfied with saying that Christianity had\ndeclined, but he added this: \"Every good citizen knows that when the\nrestraining influences of religion are withdrawn from a community, its\ndecay, moral, mental and financial is swift and sure.\"\n\nThe restraining influences of religion have never been withdrawn from\nSpain or Portugal, from Austria or Italy. The \"restraining influences\"\nare still active in Russia. Emperor William relies on them in Germany,\nand the same influences are very busy taking care of Ireland. If these\ninfluences should be withdrawn from Spain there would be \"mental, moral\nand financial decay.\" Is not this statement perfectly absurd?\n\nThe fact is that religion has reduced Spain to a guitar, Italy to a\nhand organ and Ireland to exile. What are the restraining influences of\nreligion? I admit that religion can prevent people from eating meat on\nFriday, from dancing in Lent, from going to the theatre on holy days and\nfrom swearing in public. In other words, religion can restrain people\nfrom committing artificial offences. But the real question is: Can\nreligion restrain people from committing natural crimes?\n\nThe church teaches that God can and will forgive sins.\n\nChristianity sells sin on a credit. It says to men and women, \"Be good;\ndo right; but no matter how many crimes you commit you can be forgiven.\"\nHow can such a religion be regarded as a restraining influence! There\nwas a time when religion had power; when the church ruled Christendom;\nwhen popes crowned and uncrowned kings. Was there at that time moral,\nmental and financial growth? Did the nations thus restrained by\nreligion, prosper? When these restraining influences were weakened, when\npopes were humbled, when creeds were denied, did morality, intelligence\nand prosperity begin to decay?\n\nWhat are the restraining influences of religion? Did anybody ever hear\nof a policeman being dismissed because a new church had been organized?\n\nChristianity teaches that the man who does right carries a cross. The\nexact opposite of this is true. The cross is carried by the man who\ndoes wrong. I believe in the restraining influences of intelligence.\nIntelligence is the only lever capable of raising mankind. If you wish\nto make men moral and prosperous develop the brain. Men must be taught\nto rely on themselves. To supplicate the supernatural is a waste of\ntime.\n\nThe only evils that have been caused by the decline of Christianity,\nas pointed out by the Governor, are that in some villages they hear no\nsolemn bells, that the dead are buried without Christian ceremony, that\nmarriages are contracted before Justices of the Peace, and that children\ngo unchristened.\n\nThese evils are hardly serious enough to cause moral, mental and\nfinancial decay. The average church bell is not very musical—not\ncalculated to develop the mind or quicken the conscience. The absence of\nthe ordinary funeral sermon does not add to the horror of death, and\nthe failure to hear a minister say, as he stands by the grave, \"One star\ndiffers in glory from another star. There is a difference between the\nflesh of fowl and fish. Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt\ngood manners,\" does not necessarily increase the grief of the mourners.\nSo far as children are concerned, if they are vaccinated, it does not\nmake much difference whether they are christened or not.\n\nMarriage is a civil contract, and God is not one of the contracting\nparties. It is a contract with which the church has no business to\ninterfere. Marriage with us is regulated by law. The real marriage—the\nuniting of hearts, the lighting of the sacred flame in each—is the work\nof Nature, and it is the best work that nature does. The ceremony of\nmarriage gives notice to the world that the real marriage has taken\nplace. Ministers have no real interest in marriages outside of the fees.\nCertainly marriages by Justices of the Peace cannot cause the mental,\nmoral and financial decay of a State.\n\nThe things pointed out by the Governor were undoubtedly produced by\nthe decline of Christianity, but they are not evils, and they cannot\npossibly injure the people morally, mentally or financially. The\nGovernor calls on the people to think, work and pray. With two-thirds of\nthis I agree. If the people of New Hampshire will think and work without\npraying they will grow morally, mentally and financially. If they pray\nwithout working and thinking, they will decay.\n\nPrayer is beggary—an effort to get something for nothing. Labor is the\nhonest prayer.\n\nI do not think that the good and true in Christianity are declining. The\ngood and true are more clearly perceived and more precious than ever.\nThe supernatural, the miraculous part of Christianity is declining.\nThe New Testament has been compelled to acknowledge the jurisdiction of\nreason. If Christianity continues to decline at the same rate and ratio\nthat it has declined in this generation, in a few years all that is\nsupernatural in the Christian religion will cease to exist. There is a\nconflict—a battle between the natural and the supernatural. The natural\nwas baffled and beaten for thousands of years. The flag of defeat was\ncarried by the few, by the brave and wise, by the real heroes of our\nrace. They were conquered, captured, imprisoned, tortured and burned.\nOthers took their places. The banner was kept in the air. In spite of\ncountless defeats the army of the natural increased. It began to gain\nvictories. It did not torture and kill the conquered. It enlightened\nand blessed. It fought ignorance with science, cruelty with kindness,\nslavery with justice, and all vices with virtues. In this great conflict\nwe have passed midnight. When the morning comes its rays will gild but\none flag—the flag of the natural.\n\nAll over Christendom religions are declining. Only children and the\nintellectually undeveloped have faith—the old faith that defies facts.\nOnly a few years ago to be excommunicated by the pope blanched the\ncheeks of the bravest. Now the result would be laughter. Only a few\nyears ago, for the sake of saving heathen souls, priests would brave all\ndangers and endure all hardships.\n\nI once read the diary of a priest—one who long ago went down the\nIllinois River, the first white man to be borne on its waters. In this\ndiary he wrote that he had just been paid for all that he had suffered.\nHe had added a gem to the crown of his glory—had saved a soul for\nChrist. He had baptized a papoose.\n\nThat kind of faith has departed from the world.\n\nThe zeal that flamed in the hearts of Calvin, Luther and Knox, is\ncold and dead. Where are the Wesleys and Whitfields? Where are the old\nevangelists, the revivalists who swayed the hearts of their hearers with\nwords of flame? The preachers of our day have lost the Promethean fire.\nThey have lost the tone of certainty, of authority. \"Thus saith the\nLord\" has dwindled to \"perhaps.\" Sermons, messages from God, promises\nradiant with eternal joy, threats lurid with the flames of hell—have\nchanged to colorless essays; to apologies and literary phrases; to\ninferences and peradventures.\n\n\"The blood-dyed vestures of the Redeemer are not waving in triumph over\nthe ramparts of sin and rebellion,\" but over the fortresses of faith\nfloat the white flags of truce. The trumpets no longer sound for battle,\nbut for parley. The fires of hell have been extinguished, and heaven\nitself is only a dream. The \"eternal verities\" have changed to doubts.\nThe torch of inspiration, choked with ashes, has lost its flame. There\nis no longer in the church \"a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty\nwind;\" no \"cloven tongues like as of fire;\" no \"wonders in the heaven\nabove,\" and no \"signs in the earth beneath.\" The miracles have faded\naway and the sceptre is passing from superstition to science—science,\nthe only possible savior of mankind.\n"
}