{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-4:the-truth",
  "slug": "the-truth",
  "title": "The Truth",
  "subtitle": "Through millions of ages man slowly developed his brain.",
  "excerpt": "A survey of the human mind's long escape from priestcraft — from fear and ignorance toward honest investigation, intellectual freedom, and the candid love of truth.",
  "year": 1897,
  "volume": 4,
  "category": "Lecture",
  "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/the-truth/",
  "wordCount": 7939,
  "body": "THROUGH millions of ages, by countless efforts to satisfy his wants,\nto gratify his passions, his appetites, man slowly developed his brain,\nchanged two of his feet into hands and forced into the darkness of\nhis brain a few gleams and glimmerings of reason. He was hindered by\nignorance, by fear, by mistakes, and he advanced only as he found the\ntruth—the absolute facts. Through countless years he has groped and\ncrawled and struggled and climbed and stumbled toward the light. He has\nbeen hindered and delayed and deceived by augurs and prophets—by popes\nand priests. He has been betrayed by saints, misled by apostles and\nChrists, frightened by devils and ghosts—enslaved by chiefs and\nkings—robbed by altars and thrones. In the name of education his\nmind has been filled with mistakes, with miracles, and lies, with the\nimpossible, the absurd and infamous. In the name of religion he has been\ntaught humility and arrogance, love and hatred, forgiveness and revenge.\n\nBut the world is changing. We are tired of barbarian bibles and savage\ncreeds.\n\nNothing is greater, nothing is of more importance, than to find amid the\nerrors and darkness of this life, a shining truth.\n\nTruth is the intellectual wealth of the world.\n\nThe noblest of occupations is to search for truth.\n\nTruth is the foundation, the superstructure, and the glittering dome of\nprogress.\n\nTruth is the mother of joy. Truth civilizes, ennobles, and purifies. The\ngrandest ambition that can enter the soul is to know the truth.\n\nTruth gives man the greatest power for good. Truth is sword and shield.\nIt is the sacred light of the soul.\n\nThe man who finds a truth lights a torch.\n\nHow is Truth to be Found?\n\nBy investigation, experiment and reason.\n\nEvery human being should be allowed to investigate to the extent of\nhis desire—his ability. The literature of the world should be open to\nhim—nothing prohibited, sealed or hidden. No subject can be too\nsacred to be understood. Each person should be allowed to reach his own\nconclusions and to speak his honest thought.\n\nHe who threatens the investigator with punishment here, or hereafter, is\nan enemy of the human race. And he who tries to bribe the investigator\nwith the promise of eternal joy is a traitor to his fellow-men.\n\nThere is no real investigation without freedom—freedom from the fear of\ngods and men.\n\nSo, all investigation—all experiment—should be pursued in the light of\nreason.\n\nEvery man should be true to himself—true to the inward light. Each man,\nin the laboratory of his own mind, and for himself alone, should\ntest the so-called facts—the theories of all the world. Truth, _in\naccordance with his reason_, should be his guide and master.\n\nTo love the truth, thus perceived, is mental virtue—intellectual\npurity. This is true manhood. This is freedom.\n\nTo throw away your reason at the command of churches, popes, parties,\nkings or gods, is to be a serf, a slave.\n\nIt is not simply the right, but it is the duty of every man to think—to\ninvestigate for himself—and every man who tries to prevent this\nby force or fear, is doing all he can to degrade and enslave his\nfellow-men.\n\nEvery Man Should be Mentally Honest.\n\nHe should preserve as his most precious jewel the perfect veracity of\nhis soul.\n\nHe should examine all questions presented to his mind, without\nprejudice,—unbiased by hatred or love—by desire or fear. His object\nand his only object should be to find the truth. He knows, if he listens\nto reason, that truth is not dangerous and that error is. He should\nweigh the evidence, the arguments, in honest scales—scales that passion\nor interest cannot change. He should care nothing for authority—nothing\nfor names, customs or creeds—nothing for anything that his reason does\nnot say is true.\n\nOf his world he should be the sovereign, and his soul should wear the\npurple. From his dominions should be banished the hosts of force and\nfear.\n\nHe Should be Intellectually Hospitable.\n\nPrejudice, egotism, hatred, contempt, disdain, are the enemies of truth\nand progress.\n\nThe real searcher after truth will not receive the old because it\nis old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe men\nbecause they are dead, or contradict them because they are alive. With\nhim an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it contains, without\nthe slightest regard to the author. He may have been a king or serf—a\nphilosopher or servant,—but the utterance neither gains nor loses in\ntruth or reason. Its value is absolutely independent of the fame or\nstation of the man who gave it to the world.\n\nNothing but falsehood needs the assistance of fame and place, of robes\nand mitres, of tiaras and crowns.\n\nThe wise, the really honest and intelligent, are not swayed or governed\nby numbers—by majorities.\n\nThey accept what they really believe to be true. They care nothing for\nthe opinions of ancestors, nothing for creeds, assertions and theories,\nunless they satisfy the reason.\n\nIn all directions they seek for truth, and when found, accept it with\njoy—accept it in spite of preconceived opinions—in spite of prejudice\nand hatred.\n\nThis is the course pursued by wise and honest men, and no other course\nis possible for them.\n\nIn every department of human endeavor men are seeking for the truth—for\nthe facts. The statesman reads the history of the world, gathers the\nstatistics of all nations to the end that his country may avoid the\nmistakes of the past. The geologist penetrates the rocks in search of\nfacts—climbs mountains, visits the extinct craters, traverses islands\nand continents that he may know something of the history of the world.\nHe wants the truth.\n\nThe chemist, with crucible and retort, with countless experiments, is\ntrying to find the qualities of substances—to ravel what nature has\nwoven.\n\nThe great mechanics dwell in the realm of the real. They seek by natural\nmeans to conquer and use the forces of nature. They want the truth—the\nactual facts.\n\nThe physicians, the surgeons, rely on observation, experiment and\nreason. They become acquainted with the human body—with muscle, blood\nand nerve—with the wonders of the brain. They want nothing but the\ntruth.\n\nAnd so it is with the students of every science. On every hand they\nlook for facts, and it is of the utmost importance that they give to the\nworld the facts they find.\n\nTheir courage should equal their intelligence. No matter what the dead\nhave said, or the living believe, they should tell what they know. They\nshould have intellectual courage.\n\nIf it be good for man to find the truth—good for him to be\nintellectually honest and hospitable, then it is good for others to know\nthe truths thus found.\n\nEvery man should have the courage to give his honest thought. This makes\nthe finder and publisher of truth a public benefactor.\n\nThose who prevent, or try to prevent, the expression of honest thought,\nare the foes of civilization—the enemies of truth. Nothing can exceed\nthe egotism and impudence of the man who claims the right to express his\nthought and denies the same right to others.\n\nIt will not do to say that certain ideas are sacred, and that man has\nnot the right to investigate and test these ideas for himself.\n\nWho knows that they are sacred? Can anything be sacred to us that we do\nnot know to be true?\n\nFor many centuries free speech has been an insult to God. Nothing has\nbeen more blasphemous than the expression of honest thought. For many\nages the lips of the wise were sealed. The torches that truth had\nlighted, that courage carried and held aloft, were extinguished with\nblood.\n\nTruth has always been in favor of free speech—has always asked to be\ninvestigated—has always longed to be known and understood. Freedom,\ndiscussion, honesty, investigation and courage are the friends and\nallies of truth. Truth loves the light and the open field. It appeals\nto the senses—to the judgment, the reason, to all the higher and nobler\nfaculties and powers of the mind. It seeks to calm the passions, to\ndestroy prejudice and to increase the volume and intensity of reason's\nflame.\n\nIt does not ask man to cringe or crawl. It does not desire the worship\nof the ignorant or the prayers and praises of the frightened. It says to\nevery human being, \"Think for yourself. Enjoy the freedom of a god, and\nhave the goodness and the courage to express your honest thought.\"\n\nWhy should we pursue the truth? and why should we investigate and\nreason? and why should we be mentally honest and hospitable? and why\nshould we express our honest thoughts? To this there is but one answer:\nfor the benefit of mankind.\n\nThe brain must be developed. The world must think. Speech must be free.\nThe world must learn that credulity is not a virtue and that no question\nis settled until reason is fully satisfied.\n\nBy these means man will overcome many of the obstructions of nature. He\nwill cure or avoid many diseases. He will lessen pain. He will lengthen,\nennoble and enrich life. In every direction he will increase his power.\nHe will satisfy his wants, gratify his tastes. He will put roof and\nraiment, food and fuel, home and happiness within the reach of all.\n\nHe will drive want and crime from the world. He will destroy the\nserpents of fear, the monsters of superstition. He will become\nintelligent and free, honest and serene.\n\nThe monarch of the skies will be dethroned—the flames of hell will be\nextinguished. Pious beggars will become honest and useful men. Hypocrisy\nwill collect no tolls from fear, lies will not be regarded as sacred,\nthis life will not be sacrificed for another, human beings will love\neach other instead of gods, men will do right, not for the sake of\nreward in some other world, but for the sake of happiness here. Man\nwill find that Nature is the only revelation, and that he, by his own\nefforts, must learn to read the stories told by star and cloud, by rock\nand soil, by sea and stream, by rain and fire, by plant and flower,\nby life in all its curious forms, and all the things and forces of the\nworld.\n\nWhen he reads these stories, these records, he will know that man must\nrely on himself,—that the supernatural does not exist, and that man\nmust be the providence of man.\n\nIt is impossible to conceive of an argument against the freedom of\nthought—against maintaining your self-respect and preserving the\nspotless and stainless veracity of the soul.\n\nII.\n\nALL that I have said seems to be true—almost self-evident,—and you may\nask who it is that says slavery is better than liberty. Let me tell you.\n\nAll the popes and priests, all the orthodox churches and clergymen, say\nthat they have a revelation from God.\n\nThe Protestants say that it is the duty of every person to read, to\nunderstand, and to believe this revelation—that a man should use his\nreason; but if he honestly concludes that the Bible is not a revelation\nfrom God, and dies with that conclusion in his mind, he will be\ntormented forever. They say:—\"Read,\" and then add: \"Believe, or be\ndamned.\"\n\n\"No matter how unreasonable the Bible may appear to you, you must\nbelieve. No matter how impossible the miracles may seem, you must\nbelieve. No matter how cruel the laws, your heart must approve them\nall!\"\n\nThis is what the church calls the liberty of thought. We read the Bible\nunder the scowl and threat of God. We read by the glare of hell. On one\nside is the devil, with the instruments of torture in his hands. On the\nother, God, ready to launch the infinite curse. And the church says to\nthe readers: \"You are free to decide. God is good, and he gives you the\nliberty to choose.\"\n\nThe popes and the priests say to the poor people: \"You need not read\nthe Bible. You cannot understand it. That is the reason it is called a\nrevelation. We will read it for you, and you must believe what we say.\nWe carry the key of hell. Contradict us and you will become eternal\nconvicts in the prison of God.\"\n\nThis is the freedom of the Catholic Church.\n\nAnd all these priests and clergymen insist that the Bible is superior\nto human reason—that it is the duty of man to accept it—to believe it,\nwhether he really thinks it is true or not, and without the slightest\nregard to evidence or reason.\n\nIt is his duty to cast out from the temple of his soul the goddess\nReason, and bow before the coiled serpent of Fear.\n\nThis is what the church calls virtue.\n\nUnder these conditions what can thought be worth? The brain, swept by\nthe sirocco of God's curse, becomes a desert.\n\nBut this is not all. To compel man to desert the standard of Reason,\nthe church does not entirely rely on the threat of eternal pain to be\nendured in another world, but holds out the reward of everlasting joy.\n\nTo those who believe, it promises the endless ecstasies of heaven. If it\ncannot frighten, it will bribe. It relies on fear and hope.\n\nA religion, to command the respect of intelligent men, should rest on a\nfoundation of established facts. It should appeal, not to passion,\nnot to hope and fear, but to the judgment. It should ask that all the\nfaculties of the mind, all the senses, should assemble and take\ncounsel together, and that its claims be passed upon and tested without\nprejudice, without fear, in the calm of perfect candor.\n\nBut the church cries: \"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt\nbe saved.\" Without this belief there is no salvation. Salvation is the\nreward for belief.\n\nBelief is, and forever must be, the result of evidence. A promised\nreward is not evidence. It sheds no intellectual light. It establishes\nno fact, answers no objection, and dissipates no doubt.\n\nIs it honest to offer a reward for belief?\n\nThe man who gives money to a judge or juror for a decision or verdict\nis guilty of a crime. Why? Because he induces the judge, the juror, to\ndecide, not according to the law, to the facts, the right, but according\nto the bribe.\n\nThe bribe is not evidence.\n\nSo, the promise of Christ to reward those who will believe is a bribe.\nIt is an attempt to make a promise take the place of evidence. He\nwho says that he believes, and does this for the sake of the reward,\ncorrupts his soul.\n\nSuppose I should say that at the center of the earth there is a diamond\none hundred miles in diameter, and that I would give ten thousand\ndollars to any man who would believe my statement. Could such a promise\nbe regarded as evidence?\n\nIntelligent people would ask not for rewards, but reasons. Only\nhypocrites would ask for the money.\n\nYet, according to the New Testament, Christ offered a reward to those\nwho would believe, and this promised reward was to take the place of\nevidence. When Christ made this promise he forgot, ignored, or held in\ncontempt the rectitude of a brave, free and natural soul.\n\nThe declaration that salvation is the reward for belief is inconsistent\nwith mental freedom, and could have been made by no man who thought that\nevidence sustained the slightest relation to belief.\n\nEvery sermon in which men have been told that they could save their\nsouls by believing, has been an injury. Such sermons dull the moral\nsense and subvert the true conception of virtue and duty.\n\nThe true man, when asked to believe, asks for evidence. The true man,\nwho asks another to believe, offers evidence.\n\nBut this is not all.\n\nIn spite of the threat of eternal pain—of the promise of everlasting\njoy, unbelievers increased, and the churches took another step.\n\nThe churches said to the unbelievers, the heretics: \"Although our God\nwill punish you forever in another world—in his prison—the doors of\nwhich open only to receive, we, unless you believe, will torment you\nnow.\"\n\nAnd then the members of these churches, led by priests, popes, and\nclergymen, sought out their unbelieving neighbors—chained them in\ndungeons, stretched them on racks, crushed their bones, cut out their\ntongues, extinguished their eyes, flayed them alive and consumed their\npoor bodies in flames.\n\nAll this was done because these Christian savages believed in the dogma\nof eternal pain. Because they believed that heaven was the reward\nfor belief. So believing, they were the enemies of free thought and\nspeech—they cared nothing for conscience, nothing for the veracity of\na soul,—nothing for the manhood of a man. In all ages most priests have\nbeen heartless and relentless. They have calumniated and tortured. In\ndefeat they have crawled and whined. In victory they have killed. The\nflower of pity never blossomed in their hearts and in their brain.\nJustice never held aloft the scales. Now they are not as cruel. They\nhave lost their power, but they are still trying to accomplish the\nimpossible. They fill their pockets with \"fool's gold\" and think they\nare rich. They stuff their minds with mistakes and think they are wise.\nThey console themselves with legends and myths, have faith in fiction\nand forgery—give their hearts to ghosts and phantoms and seek the aid\nof the non-existent.\n\nThey put a monster—a master—a tyrant in the sky, and seek to enslave\ntheir fellow-men. They teach the cringing virtues of serfs. They abhor\nthe courage of manly men. They hate the man who thinks. They long for\nrevenge.\n\nThey warm their hands at the imaginary fires of hell.\n\nI show them that hell does not exist and they denounce me for destroying\ntheir consolation.\n\nHorace Greeley, as the story goes, one cold day went into a country\nstore, took a seat by the stove, unbuttoned his coat and spread out his\nhands.\n\nIn a few minutes, a little boy who clerked in the store said: \"Mr.\nGreeley, there aint no fire in that stove.\"\n\n\"You d——d little rascal,\" said Greeley, \"What did you tell me for, I\nwas getting real warm.\"\n\nIii\n\n\"THE SCIENCE OF THEOLOGY.\"\n\nALL the sciences—except Theology—are eager for facts—hungry for the\ntruth. On the brow of a finder of a fact the laurel is placed.\n\nIn a theological seminary, if a professor finds a fact inconsistent with\nthe creed, he must keep it secret or deny it, or lose his place. Mental\nveracity is a crime, cowardice and hypocrisy are virtues.\n\nA fact, inconsistent with the creed, is denounced as a lie, and the\nman who declares or announces the fact is a blasphemer. Every professor\nbreathes the air of insincerity. Every one is mentally dishonest. Every\none is a pious fraud. Theology is the only dishonest science—the only\none that is based on belief—on credulity,—the only one that abhors\ninvestigation, that despises thought and denounces reason.\n\nAll the great theologians in the Catholic Church have denounced reason\nas the light furnished by the enemy of mankind—as the road that leads\nto perdition. All the great Protestant theologians, from Luther to\nthe orthodox clergy of our time, have been the enemies of reason. All\northodox churches of all ages have been the enemies of science. They\nattacked the astronomers as though they were criminals—the geologists\nas though they were assassins. They regarded physicians as the enemies\nof God—as men who were trying to defeat the decrees of Providence.\nThe biologists, the anthropologists, the archaeologists, the readers of\nancient inscriptions, the delvers in buried cities, were all hated by\nthe theologians. They were afraid that these men might find something\ninconsistent with the Bible.\n\nThe theologians attacked those who studied other religions. They\ninsisted that Christianity was not a growth—not an evolution—but\na revelation. They denied that it was in any way connected with any\nnatural religion.\n\nThe facts now show beyond all doubt that all religions came from\nsubstantially the same source—but there is not an orthodox Christian\ntheologian who will admit the facts. He must defend his creed—his\nrevelation. He cannot afford to be honest. He was not educated in an\nhonest school. He was not taught to be honest. He was taught to believe\nand to defend his belief, not only against argument but against facts.\n\nThere is not a theologian in the whole world who can produce the\nslightest, the least particle of evidence tending to show that the Bible\nis the inspired word of God.\n\nWhere is the evidence that the book of Ruth was written by an inspired\nman? Where is the evidence that God is the author of the Song of\nSolomon? Where is the evidence that any human being has been inspired?\nWhere is the evidence that Christ was and is God? Where is the evidence\nthat the places called heaven and hell exist? Where is the evidence that\na miracle was ever wrought?\n\nThere is none.\n\nTheology is entirely independent of evidence.\n\nWhere is the evidence that angels and ghosts—that devils and gods\nexist? Have these beings been seen or touched? Does one of our senses\ncertify to their existence?\n\nThe theologians depend on assertions. They have no evidence. They\nclaim that their inspired book is superior to reason and independent of\nevidence.\n\nThey talk about probability—analogy—inferences—but they present no\nevidence. They say that they know that Christ lived, in the same way\nthat they know that Caesar lived. They might add that they know Moses\ntalked with Jehovah on Sinai the same way they know that Brigham Young\ntalked with God in Utah. The evidence in both cases is the same,—none\nin either.\n\nHow do they prove that Christ rose from the dead? They find the account\nin a book. Who wrote the book? They do not know. What evidence is this?\nNone, unless all things found in books are true.\n\nIt is impossible to establish one miracle except by another—and that\nwould have to be established by another still, and so on without end.\nHuman testimony is not sufficient to establish a miracle. Each human\nbeing, to be really convinced, must witness the miracle for himself.\n\nThey say that Christianity was established, proven to be true, by\nmiracles wrought nearly two thousand years ago. Not one of these\nmiracles can be established except by impudent and ignorant\nassertion—except by poisoning and deforming the minds of the ignorant\nand the young. To succeed, the theologians invade the cradle, the\nnursery. In the brain of innocence they plant the seeds of superstition.\nThey pollute the minds and imaginations of children. They frighten the\nhappy with threats of pain—they soothe the wretched with gilded lies.\n\nThis perpetual insincerity stamps itself on the face—affects every\nfeature. We all know the theological countenance,—cold, unsympathetic,\ncruel, lighted with a pious smirk,—no line of laughter—no dimpled\nmirth—no touch of humor—nothing human.\n\nThis face is a rebuke, a reprimand to natural joy. It says to the happy:\n\"Beware of the dog\"—\"Prepare for death.\" This face, like the fabled\nGorgon, turns cheerfulness to stone. It is a protest against pleasure—a\nwarning and a threat.\n\nYou see every soul is a sculptor that fashions the features, and in this\nway reveals itself.\n\nEvery thought leaves its impress.\n\nThe student of this science of theology must be taught in youth,—in\nhis mother's arms. These lies must be sown and planted in his brain the\nfirst of all. He must be taught to believe, to accept without question.\nHe must be told that it is wicked to doubt, that it is sinful to\ninquire—that Faith is a virtue and unbelief a crime.\n\nIn this way his mind is poisoned, paralyzed. On all other subjects he\nhas liberty—and in all other directions he is urged to study and think.\nFrom his mother's arms he goes to the Sunday school. His poor little\nmind is filled with miracles and wonders. He is told about a God who\nmade the world and who rewards and punishes. He is told that this God\nis the author of the Bible—that Christ is his son. He is told about\noriginal sin and the atonement, and he believes what he hears. No\nreasons are given—no facts—no evidence is presented—nothing\nbut assertion. If he asks questions, he is silenced by more solemn\nassertions and warned against the devices of the evil one. Every Sunday\nschool is a kind of inquisition where they torture and deform the minds\nof children—where they force their souls into Catholic or Protestant\nmoulds—and do all they can to destroy the originality, the\nindividuality, and the veracity of the soul. In the theological seminary\nthe destruction is complete.\n\nWhen the minister leaves the seminary, he is not seeking the truth.\nHe has it. He has a revelation from God, and he has a creed in exact\naccordance with that revelation. His business is to stand by that\nrevelation and to defend that creed. Arguments against the revelation\nand the creed he will not read, he will not hear. All facts that are\nagainst his religion he will deny. It is impossible for him to be\ncandid. The tremendous \"verities\" of eternal joy, of everlasting pain\nare in his creed, and they result from believing the false and denying\nthe true.\n\nInvestigation is an infinite danger, unbelief is an infinite offence\nand deserves and will receive infinite punishment. In the shadow of this\ntremendous \"fact\" his courage dies, his manhood is lost, and in his fear\nhe cries out that he believes, whether he does or not.\n\nHe says and teaches that credulity is safe and thought dangerous. Yet he\npretends to be a teacher—a leader, one selected by God to educate his\nfellow-men.\n\nThese orthodox ministers have been the slanderers of the really great\nmen of our century. They denounced Lyell, the great geologist, for\ngiving facts to the world. They hated and belittled Humboldt, one of the\ngreatest and most intellectual of the race. They ridiculed and derided\nDarwin, the greatest naturalist, the keenest observer, the best judge\nof the value of a fact, the most wonderful discoverer of truth that the\nworld has produced.\n\nIn every orthodox pulpit stood a traducer of the greatest of\nscientists—of one who filled the world with intellectual light.\n\nThe church has been the enemy of every science, of every real thinker,\nand for many centuries has used her power to prevent intellectual\nprogress.\n\nMinisters ought to be free. They should be the heralds of the ever\ncoming day, but they are the bats, the owls that inhabit ruins, that\nhate the light. They denounce honest men who express their thoughts, as\nblasphemers, and do what they can to close their mouths. For their Bible\nthey ask the protection of law. They wish to be shielded from laughter\nby the Legislature. They ask that the arguments of their opponents\nbe answered by the courts. This is the result of a due admixture of\ncowardice, hypocrisy and malice.\n\nWhat valuable fact has been proclaimed from an orthodox pulpit? What\necclesiastical council has added to the intellectual wealth of the\nworld?\n\nMany centuries ago the church gave to Christendom a code of laws,\nstupid, unphilosophic and brutal to the last degree.\n\nThe church insists that it has made man merciful and just. Did it do\nthis by torturing heretics—by extinguishing their eyes—by flaying them\nalive? Did it accomplish this result through the Inquisition—by the\nuse of the thumb-screw, the rack and the fagot? Of what science has the\nchurch been the friend and champion? What orthodox church has opened its\ndoors to a persecuted truth? Of what use has Christianity been to man?\n\nThey tell us that the church has been and is the friend of education.\nI deny it. The church founded colleges not to educate men, but to\nmake proselytes, converts, defenders. This was in accordance with the\ninstinct of self-preservation. No orthodox church ever was, or ever\nwill be in favor of real education. A Catholic is in favor of enough\neducation to make a Catholic out of a savage, and the Protestant is in\nfavor of enough education to make a Protestant out of a Catholic, but\nboth are opposed to the education that makes free and manly men.\n\nSo, ministers say that they teach charity. This is natural. They live on\nalms. All beggars teach that others should give.\n\nSo, they tell us that the church has built hospitals. This is not true.\nMen have not built hospitals because they were Christians, but\nbecause they were men. They have not built them for charity—but in\nself-defence.\n\nIf a man comes to your door with the smallpox, you cannot let him in,\nyou cannot kill him. As a necessity, you provide a place for him. And\nyou do this to protect yourself. With this Christianity has had nothing\nto do.\n\nThe church cannot give, because it does not produce. It is claimed that\nthe church has made men and women forgiving. I admit that the church has\npreached forgiveness, but it has never forgiven an enemy—never. Against\nthe great and brave thinkers it has coined and circulated countless\nlies. Never has the church told, or tried to tell, the truth about an\nhonest foe.\n\nThe church teaches the existence of the supernatural. It believes in\nthe divine sleight-of-hand—in the \"presto\" and \"open sesame\" of the\nInfinite; in some invisible Being who produces effects without causes\nand causes without effects; whose caprice governs the world and who can\nbe persuaded by prayer, softened by ceremony, and who will, as a reward\nfor faith, save men from the natural consequences of their actions.\n\nThe church denies the eternal, inexorable sequence of events.\n\nWhat Good has the Church Accomplished?\n\nIt claims to have preached peace because its founder said, \"I came not\nto bring peace but a sword.\"\n\nIt claims to have preserved the family because its founder offered a\nhundred-fold here and life everlasting to those who would desert wife\nand children.\n\nSo, it claims to have taught the brotherhood of man and that the gospel\nis for all the world, because Christ said to the woman of Samaria that\nhe came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and declared that\nit was not meet to take the bread of the children and cast it unto dogs.\n\nIn the name of Christ, who threatened eternal revenge, it has preached\nforgiveness.\n\nOf what Use are the Orthodox Ministers?\n\nThey are the enemies of pleasure. They denounce dancing as one of\nthe deadly sins. They are shocked at the wickedness of the waltz—the\npollution of the polka. They are the enemies of the theatre. They\nslander actors and actresses. They hate them because they are rivals.\nThey are trying to preserve the sacredness of the Sabbath. It fills them\nwith malice to see the people happy on that day. They preach against\nexcursions and picnics—against those who seek the woods and the sea,\nthe shadows and the waves. They are filled with holy wrath against\nbicycles and bloomers. They are opposed to divorces. They insist that\nfor the glory of God, husbands and wives who loathe each other should\nbe compelled to live together. They abhor all works of fiction, and love\nthe Bible. They declare that the literary master-pieces of the world are\nunfit to be read. They think that the people should be satisfied with\nsermons and poems about death and hell. They hate art—abhor the marbles\nof the Greeks, and all representations of the human form. They want\nnothing painted or sculptured but hands, faces and clothes. Most of the\npriests are prudes, and publicly denounce what they secretly admire and\nenjoy. In the presence of the nude they cover their faces with their\nholy hands, but keep their fingers apart. They pretend to believe in\nmoral suasion, and want everything regulated by law. If they had the\npower, they would prohibit everything that men and women really enjoy.\nThey want libraries, museums and art galleries closed on the Sabbath.\nThey would abolish the Sunday paper—stop the running of cars and all\npublic conveyances on the holy day, and compel all the people to enjoy\nsermons, prayers and psalms.\n\nThese dear ministers, when they have poor congregations, thunder against\ntrusts, syndicates, and corporations—against wealth, fashion and\nluxury. They tell about Dives and Lazarus, paint rich men in hell and\nbeggars in heaven. If their congregations are rich they turn their guns\nin the other direction.\n\nThey have no confidence in education—in the development of the\nbrain. They appeal to hopes and fears. They ask no one to think—to\ninvestigate. They insist that all shall believe. Credulity is the\ngreatest of virtues, and doubt the deadliest of sins.\n\nThese men are the enemies of science—of intellectual progress. They\nridicule and calumniate the great thinkers. They deny everything that\nconflicts with the \"sacred Scriptures.\" They still believe in the\nastronomy of Joshua and the geology of Moses. They believe in the\nmiracles of the past, and deny the demonstrations of the present. They\nare the foes of facts—the enemies of knowledge. A desire to be happy\nhere, they regard as wicked and worldly—but a desire to be happy in\nanother world, as virtuous and spiritual.\n\nEvery orthodox church is founded on mistake and falsehood. Every good\northodox minister asserts what he does not know, and denies what he does\nknow.\n\nWhat are the Orthodox Clergy Doing for the Good of Mankind?\n\nAbsolutely nothing.\n\nWhat harm are they doing?\n\nOn every hand they sow the seeds of superstition. They paralyze the\nminds, and pollute the imaginations of children. They fill their hearts\nwith fear. By their teachings, thousands become insane. With them,\nhypocrisy is respectable and candor infamous.\n\nThey enslave the minds of men. Under their teachings men waste and\nmisdirect their energies, abandon the ends that can be accomplished,\ndedicate their lives to the impossible, worship the unknown, pray to the\ninconceivable, and become the trembling slaves of a monstrous myth born\nof ignorance and fashioned by the trembling hands of fear.\n\nSuperstition is the serpent that crawls and hisses in every Eden and\nfastens its poisonous fangs in the hearts of men.\n\nIt is the deadliest foe of the human race.\n\nSuperstition is a beggar—a robber, a tyrant.\n\nScience is a benefactor.\n\nSuperstition sheds blood.\n\nScience sheds light.\n\nThe dear preachers must give up the account of creation—the Garden of\nEden, the mud-man, the rib-woman, and the walking, talking, snake. They\nmust throw away the apple, the fall of man, the expulsion, and the gate\nguarded by angels armed with swords. They must give up the flood and the\ntower of Babel and the confusion of tongues. They must give up Abraham\nand the wrestling match between Jacob and the Lord. So, the story of\nJoseph, the enslavement of the Hebrews by the Egyptians, the story of\nMoses in the bullrushes, the burning bush, the turning of sticks into\nserpents, of water into blood, the miraculous creation of frogs, the\nkilling of cattle with hail and changing dust into lice, all must be\ngiven up. The sojourn of forty years in the desert, the opening of the\nRed Sea, the clothes and shoes that refused to wear out, the manna,\nthe quails and the serpents, the water that ran up hill, the talking of\nJehovah with Moses face to face, the giving of the Ten Commandments, the\nopening of the earth to swallow the enemies of Moses—all must be thrown\naway.\n\nThese good preachers must admit that blowing horns could not throw down\nthe walls of a city, that it was horrible for Jephthah to sacrifice his\ndaughter, that the day was not lengthened and the moon stopped for the\nsake of Joshua, that the dead Samuel was not raised by a witch, that\na man was not carried to heaven in a chariot of fire, that the river\nJordan was not divided by the stroke of a cloak, that the bears did not\ndestroy children for laughing at a prophet, that a wandering soothsayer\ndid not collect lightnings from heaven to destroy the lives of innocent\nmen, that he did not cause rain and make iron float, that ravens did not\nkeep a hotel where preachers got board and lodging free, that the shadow\non a dial was not turned back ten degrees to show that a king was going\nto recover from a boil, that Ezekiel was not told by God how to prepare\na dinner, that Jonah did not take cabin passage in a fish—and that all\nthe miracles in the old Testament are not allegories, or poems, but just\nold-fashioned lies. And the dear preachers will be compelled to admit\nthat there never was a miraculous babe without a natural father, that\nChrist, if he lived, was a man and nothing more. That he did not cast\ndevils out of folks—that he did not cure blindness with spittle and\nclay, nor turn water into wine, nor make fishes and loaves of bread out\nof nothing—that he did not know where to catch fishes with money in\ntheir mouths—that he did not take a walk on the water—that he did\nnot at will become invisible—that he did not pass through closed\ndoors—that he did not raise the dead—that angels never rolled stones\nfrom a sepulchre—that Christ did not rise from the dead and did not\nascend to heaven.\n\nAll these mistakes and illusions and delusions—all these miracles and\nmyths must fade from the minds of intelligent men.\n\nMy dear preachers, I beg you to tell the truth. Tell your congregations\nthat Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch. Tell them that nobody\nknows who wrote the five books. Tell them that Deuteronomy was not\nwritten until about six hundred years before Christ. Tell them that\nnobody knows who wrote Joshua, or Judges, or Ruth, Samuel, Kings, or\nChronicles, Job, or the Psalms, or the Song of Solomon. Be honest,\ntell the truth. Tell them that nobody knows who wrote Esther—that\nEcclesiastes was written long after Christ—that many of the prophecies\nwere written after the events pretended to be foretold had happened.\nTell them that Ezekiel and Daniel were insane. Tell them that nobody\nknows who wrote the gospels, and tell them that no line about Christ\nwritten by a contemporary has been found. Tell them it is all guess—and\nmay be, and perhaps. Be honest. Tell the truth, develop your brains, use\nall your senses and hold high the torch of Reason.\n\nIn a few years the pulpits will be filled with teachers instead of\npreachers—with thoughtful, brave, and honest men. The congregations\nwill be civilized—intellectually honest and hospitable.\n\nNow, most of the ministers insist that the old falsehoods shall\nbe treated with reverence—that ancient lies with long white\nbeards—wrinkled and bald-headed frauds—round-shouldered and toothless\nmiracles, and palsied mistakes on crutches, shall be called allegories,\nparables, oriental imagery, inspired poems. In their presence the\nungodly should remove their hats. They should respect the mould and moss\nof antiquity. They should remember that these lies, these frauds, the\nmiracles and mistakes, have for thousands of years ruled, enslaved, and\ncorrupted the human race.\n\nThese ministers ought to know that their creeds are based on imagined\nfacts and demonstrated by assertion.\n\nThey ought to know that they have no evidence,—nothing but promises\nand threats. They ought to know that it is impossible to conceive of\nforce existing without and before matter—that it is equally impossible\nto conceive of matter without force—that it is impossible to conceive\nof the creation or destruction of matter or force,—that it is\nimpossible to conceive of infinite intelligence dwelling from eternity\nin infinite space, and that it is impossible to conceive of the creator,\nor creation, of substance.\n\nThe God of the Christian is an enthroned guess—a perhaps—an inference.\n\nNo man, and no body of men, can answer the questions of the Whence and\nWhither. The mystery of existence cannot be explained by the intellect\nof man.\n\nBack of life, of existence, we cannot go—beyond death we cannot see.\nAll duties, all obligations, all knowledge, all experience, are for this\nlife, for this world.\n\nWe know that men and women and children exist. We know that happiness,\nfor the most part, depends on conduct.\n\nWe are satisfied that all the gods are phantoms and that the\nsupernatural does not exist.\n\nWe know the difference between hope and knowledge, we hope for happiness\nhere and we dream of joy hereafter, but we do not know. We cannot\nassert, we can only hope. We can have our dream. In the wide night our\nstar can shine and shed its radiance on the graves of those we love. We\ncan bend above our pallid dead and say that beyond this life there are\nno sighs—no tears—no breaking hearts.\n\nConclusion\n\nLET us be honest. Let us preserve the veracity of our souls. Let\neducation commence in the cradle—in the lap of the loving mother.\nThis is the first school. The teacher, the mother, should be absolutely\nhonest.\n\nThe nursery should not be an asylum for lies.\n\nParents should be modest enough to be truthful—honest enough to\nadmit their ignorance. Nothing should be taught as true that cannot be\ndemonstrated.\n\nEvery child should be taught to doubt, to inquire, to demand reasons.\nEvery soul should defend itself—should be on its guard against\nfalsehood, deceit, and mistake, and should beware of all kinds of\nconfidence men, including those in the pulpit.\n\nChildren should be taught to express their doubts—to demand reasons.\nThe object of education should be to develop the brain, to quicken the\nsenses. Every school should be a mental gymnasium. The child should be\nequipped for the battle of life. Credulity, implicit obedience, are the\nvirtues of slaves and the enslavers of the free. All should be taught\nthat there is nothing too sacred to be investigated—too holy to be\nunderstood.\n\nEach mind has the right to lift all curtains, withdraw all veils, scale\nall walls, explore all recesses, all heights, all depths for itself, in\nspite of church or priest, or creed or book.\n\nThe great volume of Nature should be open to all. None but the\nintelligent and honest can really read this book. Prejudice clouds and\ndarkens every page. Hypocrisy reads and misquotes, and credulity accepts\nthe quotation. Superstition cannot read a line or spell the shortest\nword. And yet this volume holds all knowledge, all truth, and is the\nonly source of thought. Mental liberty means the right of all to read\nthis book. Here the Pope and Peasant are equal. Each must read\nfor himself—and each ought honestly and fearlessly to give to his\nfellow-men what he learns.\n\nThere is no authority in churches or priests—no authority in numbers or\nmajorities. The only authority is Nature—the facts we know. Facts are\nthe masters, the enemies of the ignorant, the servants and friends of\nthe intelligent.\n\nIgnorance is the mother of mystery and misery, of superstition and\nsorrow, of waste and want.\n\nIntelligence is the only light. It enables us to keep the highway, to\navoid the obstructions, and to take advantage of the forces of nature.\nIt is the only lever capable of raising mankind. To develop the brain\nis to civilize the world. Intelligence reaves the heavens of winged and\nfrightful monsters—drives ghosts and leering fiends from the darkness,\nand floods with light the dungeons of fear.\n\nAll should be taught that there is no evidence of the existence of the\nsupernatural—that the man who bows before an idol of wood or stone\nis just as foolish as the one who prays to an imagined God,—that all\nworship has for its foundation the same mistake—the same ignorance, the\nsame fear—that it is just as foolish to believe in a personal god as in\na personal devil—just as foolish to believe in great ghosts as little\nones.\n\nSo, all should be taught that the forces, the facts in Nature, cannot be\ncontrolled or changed by prayer or praise, by supplication, ceremony,\nor sacrifice; that there is no magic, no miracle; that force can be\novercome only by force, and that the whole world is natural.\n\nAll should be taught that man must protect himself—that there is no\npower superior to Nature that cares for man—that Nature has neither\npity nor hatred—that her forces act without the slightest regard for\nman—that she produces without intention and destroys without regret.\n\nAll should be taught that usefulness is the bud and flower and fruit of\nreal religion. The popes and cardinals, the bishops, priests and parsons\nare all useless. They produce nothing. They live on the labor of others.\nThey are parasites that feed on the frightened. They are vampires that\nsuck the blood of honest toil. Every church is an organized beggar.\nEvery one lives on alms—on alms collected by force and fear. Every\northodox church promises heaven and threatens hell, and these promises\nand threats are made for the sake of alms, for revenue. Every church\ncries: \"Believe and give.\"\n\nA new era is dawning on the world. We are beginning to believe in the\nreligion of usefulness.\n\nThe men who felled the forests, cultivated the earth, spanned the rivers\nwith bridges of steel, built the railways and canals, the great ships,\ninvented the locomotives and engines, supplying the countless wants of\nman; the men who invented the telegraphs and cables, and freighted the\nelectric spark with thought and love; the men who invented the looms and\nspindles that clothe the world, the inventors of printing and the great\npresses that fill the earth with poetry, fiction and fact, that save and\nkeep all knowledge for the children yet to be; the inventors of all the\nwonderful machines that deftly mould from wood and steel the things we\nuse; the men who have explored the heavens and traced the orbits of\nthe stars—who have read the story of the world in mountain range and\nbillowed sea; the men who have lengthened life and conquered pain; the\ngreat philosophers and naturalists who have filled the world with\nlight; the great poets whose thoughts have charmed the souls, the great\npainters and sculptors who have made the canvas speak, the marble live;\nthe great orators who have swayed the world, the composers who have\ngiven their souls to sound, the captains of industry, the producers,\nthe soldiers who have battled for the right, the vast host of useful\nmen—these are our Christs, our apostles and our saints. The triumphs of\nscience are our miracles. The books filled with the facts of Nature are\nour sacred scriptures, and the force that is in every atom and in every\nstar—in everything that lives and grows and thinks, that hopes and\nsuffers, is the only possible god.\n\nThe absolute we cannot know—beyond the horizon of the Natural we cannot\ngo. All our duties are within our reach—all our obligations must be\ndischarged here, in this world. Let us love and labor. Let us wait and\nwork. Let us cultivate courage and cheerfulness—open our hearts to the\ngood—our minds to the true. Let us live free lives. Let us hope that\nthe future will bring peace and joy to all the children of men, and\nabove all, let us preserve the veracity of our souls.\n"
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