The Gods

Preface

The following lecture was delivered in many cities across the United States beginning in 1872. It was Ingersoll's first major statement of freethought and established him as the foremost advocate for reason and agnosticism in American public life. The text was widely reprinted and distributed, and it remains one of his most celebrated works.

Each nation has created a god, and the god has always resembled his creators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved, and he was invariably found on the side of those in power. Each god was intensely patriotic, and detested all nations but his own. All these gods demanded praise, flattery, and worship. Most of them were pleased with sacrifice, and the smell of innocent blood has ever been considered a divine perfume.

All these gods have insisted upon having a vast number of priests, and the priests have always insisted upon being supported by the people, and the principal business of these priests has been to boast about their god, and to insist that their god was superior to all other gods, and to collect what was due to their god and themselves.

For this work they demanded everywhere a monopoly of education. This monopoly, in most countries, they have enjoyed. And yet, with all their efforts, the gods have been great failures. No one of them was ever able to retain the worship of the world. No one of them could satisfy, forever, the hunger of the human heart.

The Origin of Gods

The theologians first took upon themselves the burden of proving the existence of God. This was, of course, a most difficult undertaking. To prove the existence of a being who is capable of giving rise to the universe; who is infinite; who had neither beginning nor end; who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent; who is a being of perfect justice, perfect mercy, and perfect goodness — this, I take it, is beyond the power of any mortal man.

Of the gods, we know nothing. Nothing has ever been established concerning them. The universe is all we know. The universe is here. We are part of it. We ask: Is it infinite? Has it always existed? Is it now passing away? These are the great questions, and of them we know nothing with certainty.

In the presence of the unknowable, the old theories do not satisfy the heart. The old myths are crumbling. The old gods are dying.

The Progress of Reason

Every fact discovered by science tends to fill the old theological vacuums. Every added truth makes the supernatural more unnecessary.

The Copernican system of astronomy, the Newtonian theory of gravitation, the discovery of the law of conservation of energy, the law of the development of organic life — each of these discoveries has eaten into the domain of the supernatural as fire eats into wood.

Science has taught us to doubt. The Church has taught us to believe. Science says: "Here are facts; from these facts, reason to conclusions." The Church says: "Here are conclusions; accept these conclusions in the name of God, on pain of eternal death."

I am on the side of Science.

The Creed of Science

The man of science does not ask "Is this beautiful, and is it in harmony with my creed?" He asks: "Is it true?" And if it is true, he accepts it, whether beautiful or not.

I know there are people who say: "You cannot afford to be an agnostic." I reply: I cannot afford to be dishonest. Honesty is the rarest virtue in the world — the virtue that requires the most courage.

I had rather be an honest agnostic than a dishonest believer.

"The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so."

The Hope of Freethought

My philosophy is this: Find the good in this world; take care of the suffering; help the unfortunate; love your family; be kind to your neighbors; and if there is another world, your record will stand.

What we want is this: The people should be educated, not frightened. They should be enlightened, not deceived. They should be treated as men and women capable of thought and capable of right action — not as children who must be controlled by supernatural fear.

The church of the future will be the schoolhouse. The priest of the future will be the teacher. The sermon of the future will be the lesson in science.

I believe in the religion of humanity — in the brotherhood of man. I believe that by making this world better we make the next world better, if there is one. And if there is not, we have made this one all that it should be.

On Agnosticism

I do not know what is beyond the grave. I do not know whether this life is all of life or whether it is the beginning of life. I do not know. And because I do not know, I am an agnostic.

The honest man says: "I do not know." The dishonest man says: "I know," when he does not.

An honest God is the noblest work of man.

The noblest thing you can say is: "I am not certain." The most honest creed that was ever written is the question mark.

The full text of "The Gods" is available at Project Gutenberg and the Secular Web Library. The above represents selected passages from this celebrated lecture.