RELIGION has been tried, and in all countries, in all times, has failed.
Religion has never made man merciful.
Remember the Inquisition.
What effect did religion have on slavery?
What effect upon Libby, Saulsbury and Andersonville?
Religion has always been the enemy of science, of investigation and
thought.
Religion has never made man free.
It has never made man moral, temperate, industrious and honest.
Are Christians more temperate, nearer virtuous, nearer honest than
savages?
Among savages do we not find that their vices and cruelties are the
fruits of their superstitions?
To those who believe in the Uniformity of Nature, religion is
impossible.
Can we affect the nature and qualities of substance by prayer? Can we
hasten or delay the tides by worship? Can we change winds by sacrifice?
Will kneelings give us wealth? Can we cure disease by supplication? Can
we add to our knowledge by ceremony? Can we receive virtue or honor as
alms?
Are not the facts in the mental world just as stubborn--just as
necessarily produced--as the facts in the material world? Is not what we
call mind just as natural as what we call body?
Religion rests on the idea that Nature has a master and that this master
will listen to prayer; that this master punishes and rewards; that he
loves praise and flattery and hates the brave and free.
Has man obtained any help from heaven?