What harm does superstition do? What harm in believing in fables, in
legends?
To believe in signs and wonders, in amulets, charms and miracles, in
gods and devils, in heavens and hells, makes the brain an insane
ward, the world a madhouse, takes all certainty from the mind, makes
experience a snare, destroys the kinship of effect and cause--the unity
of nature--and makes man a trembling serf and slave. With this belief a
knowledge of nature sheds no light upon the path to be pursued.
Nature becomes a puppet of the unseen powers. The fairy, called the
supernatural, touches with her wand a fact, it disappears. Causes are
barren of effects, and effects are independent of all natural causes.
Caprice is king. The foundation is gone. The great dome rests on
air. There is no constancy in qualities, relations or results. Reason
abdicates and superstition wears her crown.
The heart hardens and the brain softens.
The energies of man are wasted in a vain effort to secure the protection
of the supernatural. Credulity, ceremony, worship, sacrifice and prayer
take the place of honest work, of investigation, of intellectual effort,
of observation, of experience. Progress becomes impossible.
Superstition is, always lias been, and forever will be, the enemy of
liberty.
Superstition created all the gods and angels, all the devils and ghosts,
all the witches, demons and goblins, gave us all the augurs, soothsayers
and prophets, filled the heavens with signs and wonders, broke the chain
of cause and effect, and wrote the history of man in miracles and lies.
Superstition made all the popes, cardinals, bishops and priests, all
the monks and nuns, the begging friars and the filthy saints, all the
preachers and exhorters, all the "called" and "set apart." Superstition
made men fall upon their knees before beasts and stones, caused them to
worship snakes and trees and insane phantoms of the air, beguiled them
of their gold and toil, and made them shed their children's blood
and give their babes to flames. Superstition built the cathedrals and
temples, all the altars, mosques and churches, filled the world with
amulets and charms, with images and idols, with sacred bones and holy
hairs, with martyrs' blood and rags, with bits, of wood that frighten
devils from the breasts of men. Superstition invented and used the
instruments of torture, flayed men and women alive, loaded millions,
with chains and destroyed hundreds of thousands with fire. Superstition
mistook insanity for inspiration and the ravings of maniacs for
prophesy, for the wisdom of God. Superstition imprisoned the virtuous,
tortured the thoughtful, killed the heroic, put chains on the body,
manacles on the brain, and utterly destroyed the liberty of speech.
Superstition gave us all the prayers and ceremonies; taught all
the kneelings, genuflections and prostrations; taught men to hate
themselves, to despise pleasure, to scar their flesh, to grovel in the
dust, to desert their wives and children, to shun their fellow-men, and
to spend their lives in useless pain and prayer. Superstition taught
that human love is degrading, low and vile; taught that monks are purer
than fathers, that nuns are holier than mothers, that faith is superior
to fact, that credulity leads to heaven, that doubt is the road to hell,
that belief is better than knowledge, and that to ask for evidence is to
insult God. Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the
foe of progress, the enemy of education and the assassin of freedom.
It sacrifices the known to the unknown, the present to the future, this
actual world to the shadowy next. It has given us a selfish heaven, and
a hell of infinite revenge; it has filled the world with hatred, war
and crime, with the malice of meekness and the arrogance of humility.
Superstition is the only enemy of science in all the world.
Nations, races, have been destroyed by this monster. For nearly two
thousand years the infallible agent of God has lived in Italy. That
country has been covered with nunneries, monasteries, cathedrals
and temples--filled with all varieties of priests and holy men. For
centuries Italy was enriched with the gold of the faithful. All roads
led to Rome, and these roads were filled with pilgrims bearing gifts,
and yet Italy, in spite of all the prayers, steadily pursued the
downward path, died and was buried, and would at this moment be in
her grave had it not been for Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi. For her
poverty, her misery, she is indebted to the holy Catholic Church, to the
infallible agents of God. For the life she has she is indebted to the
enemies of superstition. A few years ago Italy was great enough to
build a monument to Giordano Bruno--Bruno, the victim of the "Triumphant
Beast;"--Bruno, the sublimest of her sons.
Spain was at one time owner of half the earth, and held within her
greedy hands the gold and silver of the world. At that time all nations
were in the darkness of superstition. At that time the world was
governed by priests. Spain clung to her creed. Some nations began to
think, but Spain continued to believe. In some countries, priests lost
power, but not in Spain. The power behind her throne was the cowled
monk. In some countries men began to interest themselves in science, but
not in Spain. Spain told her beads and continued to pray to the Virgin.
Spain was busy-saving her soul. In her zeal she destroyed herself. She
relied on the supernatural; not on knowledge, but superstition. Her
prayers were never answered. The saints were dead. They could not help,
and the Blessed Virgin did not hear. Some countries were in the dawn of
a new day, but Spain gladly remained in the night. With fire and sword
she exterminated the men who thought. Her greatest festival was the
_Auto da Fe_. Other nations grew great while Spain grew small. Day by
day her power waned, but her faith increased. One by one her colonies
were lost, but she kept her creed. She gave her gold to superstition,
her brain to priests, but she faithfully counted her beads. Only a few
days ago, relying on her God and his priests, on charms and amulets, on
holy water and pieces of the true cross, she waged war against the great
Republic. Bishops blessed her armies and sprinkled holy water on
her ships, and yet her armies were defeated and captured, lier ships
battered, beached and burned, and in her helplessness she sued for
peace. But she has her creed; her superstition is not lost. Poor Spain,
wrecked by faith, the victim of religion!
Portugal, slowly dying, growing poorer every day, still clings to the
faith. Her prayers are never answered, but she makes them still. Austria
is nearly gone, a victim of superstition. Germany is traveling toward
the night. God placed her Kaiser on the throne. The people must obey.
Philosophers and scientists fall upon, their knees and become the
puppets of the divinely crowned.