_Question_. It is said that in the past four or five years you
have changed or modified your views upon the subject of religion;
is this so?
_Answer_. It is not so. The only change, if that can be called
a change, is, that I am more perfectly satisfied that I am right--
satisfied that what is called orthodox religion is a simple
fabrication of mistaken men; satisfied that there is no such thing
as an inspired book and never will be; satisfied that a miracle
never was and never will be performed; satisfied that no human
being knows whether there is a God or not, whether there is another
life or not; satisfied that the scheme of atonement is a mistake,
that the innocent cannot, by suffering for the guilty, atone for
the guilt; satisfied that the doctrine that salvation depends on
belief, is cruel and absurd; satisfied that the doctrine of eternal
punishment is infamously false; satisfied that superstition is of
no use to the human race; satisfied that humanity is the only true
and real religion.
No, I have not modified my views. I detect new absurdities every
day in the popular belief. Every day the whole thing becomes more
and more absurd. Of course there are hundreds and thousands of
most excellent people who believe in orthodox religion; people for
whose good qualities I have the greatest respect; people who have
good ideas on most other subjects; good citizens, good fathers,
husbands, wives and children--good in spite of their religion. I
do not attack people. I attack the mistakes of people. Orthodoxy
is getting weaker every day.
_Question_. Do you believe in the existence of a Supreme Being?
_Answer_. I do not believe in any Supreme personality or in any
Supreme Being who made the universe and governs nature. I do not
say that there is no such Being--all I say is that I do not believe
that such a Being exists. I know nothing on the subject, except
that I know that I do not know and that nobody else knows. But if
there is such a Being, he certainly never wrote the Old Testament.
You will understand my position. I do not say that a Supreme Being
does not exist, but I do say that I do not believe such a Being
exists. The universe--embracing all that is--all atoms, all stars,
each grain of sand and all the constellations, each thought and
dream of animal and man, all matter and all force, all doubt and
all belief, all virtue and all crime, all joy and all pain, all
growth and all decay--is all there is. It does not act because it
is moved from without. It acts from within. It is actor and
subject, means and end.
It is infinite; the infinite could not have been created. It is
indestructible and that which cannot be destroyed was not created.
I am a Pantheist.
_Question_. Don't you think the belief of the Agnostic is more
satisfactory to the believer than that of the Atheist?
_Answer_. There is no difference. The Agnostic is an Atheist.
The Atheist is an Agnostic. The Agnostic says: "I do not know,
but I do not believe there is any God." The Atheist says the same.
The orthodox Christian says he knows there is a God; but we know
that he does not know. He simply believes. He cannot know. The
Atheist cannot know that God does not exist.
_Question_. Haven't you just the faintest glimmer of a hope that
in some future state you will meet and be reunited to those who
are dear to you in this?
_Answer_. I have no particular desire to be destroyed. I am
willing to go to heaven if there be such a place, and enjoy myself
for ever and ever. It would give me infinite satisfaction to know
that all mankind are to be happy forever. Infidels love their
wives and children as well as Christians do theirs. I have never
said a word against heaven--never said a word against the idea of
immortality. On the contrary, I have said all I could truthfully
say in favor of the idea that we shall live again. I most sincerely
hope that there is another world, better than this, where all the
broken ties of love will be united. It is the other place I have
been fighting. Better that all of us should sleep the sleep of
death forever than that some should suffer pain forever. If in
order to have a heaven there must be a hell, then I say away with
them both. My doctrine puts the bow of hope over every grave; my
doctrine takes from every mother's heart the fear of hell. No good
man would enjoy himself in heaven with his friends in hell. No
good God could enjoy himself in heaven with millions of his poor,
helpless mistakes in hell. The orthodox idea of heaven--with God
an eternal inquisitor, a few heartless angels and some redeemed
orthodox, all enjoying themselves, while the vast multitude will
weep in the rayless gloom of God's eternal dungeon--is not calculated
to make man good or happy. I am doing what I can to civilize the
churches, humanize the preachers and get the fear of hell out of
the human heart. In this business I am meeting with great success.
--_Philadelphia Times_, September 25, 1885.