_Question_. Do you enjoy lecturing?
_Answer_. Of course I enjoy lecturing. It is a great pleasure to
drive the fiend of fear out of the hearts of men women and children.
It is a positive joy to put out the fires of hell.
_Question_. Where do you meet with the bitterest opposition?
_Answer_. I meet with the bitterest opposition where the people
are the most ignorant, where there is the least thought, where
there are the fewest books. The old theology is becoming laughable.
Very few ministers have the impudence to preach in the old way.
They give new meanings to old words. They subscribe to the same
creed, but preach exactly the other way. The clergy are ashamed
to admit that they are orthodox, and they ought to be.
_Question_. Do liberal books, such as the works of Paine and
Infidel scientists sell well?
_Answer_. Yes, they are about the only books on serious subjects
that do sell well. The works of Darwin, Buckle, Draper, Haeckel,
Tyndall, Humboldt and hundreds of others, are read by intelligent
people the world over. Works of a religious character die on the
shelves. The people want facts. They want to know about the world,
about all forms of life. They want the mysteries of every day
solved. They want honest thoughts about sensible questions. They
are tired of the follies of faith and the falsehoods of superstition.
They want a heaven here. In a few years the old theological books
will be sold to make paper on which to print the discoveries of
science.
_Question_. In what section of the country do you find the most
liberality?
_Answer_. I find great freedom of thought in Boston, New York,
Chicago, San Francisco, in fact, all over what we call the North.
The West of course is liberal. The truth is that all the intelligent
part of the country is liberal. The railroad, the telegraph, the
daily paper, electric light, the telephone, and freedom of thought
belong together.
_Question_. Is it true that you were once threatened with a criminal
prosecution for libel on religion?
_Answer_. Yes, in Delaware. Chief Justice Comegys instructed the
grand jury to indict me for blasphemy. I have taken by revenge on
the State by leaving it in ignorance. Delaware is several centuries
behind the times. It is as bigoted as it is small. Compare Kansas
City with Wilmington and you will see the difference between
liberalism and orthodoxy.
_Question_. This is Washington's birthday. What do you think of
General Washington?
_Answer_. I suppose that Washington was what was called religious.
He was not very strict in his conduct. He tried to have church
and state united in Virginia and was defeated by Jefferson. It
should make no difference with us whether Washington was religious
or not. Jefferson was by far the greater man. In intellect there
was no comparison between Washington and Franklin. I do not prove
the correctness of my ideas by names of dead people. I depend upon
reason instead of gravestones. One fact is worth a cemetery full
of distinguished corpses. We ask not for the belief of somebody,
but for evidence, for facts. The church is a beggar at the door
of respectability. The moment a man becomes famous, the church
asks him for a certificate that the Bible is true. It passes its
hat before generals and presidents, and kings while they are alive.
It says nothing about thinkers and real philosophers while they
live, except to slander them, but the moment they are dead it seeks
among their words for a crumb of comfort.
_Question_. Will Liberalism ever organize in America?
_Answer_. I hope not. Organization means creed, and creed means
petrifaction and tyranny. I believe in individuality. I will not
join any society except an anti-society society.
_Question_. Do you consider the religion of Bhagavat Purana of
the East as good as the Christian?
_Answer_. It is far more poetic. It has greater variety and shows
vastly more thought. Like the Hebrew, it is poisoned with
superstition, but it has more beauty. Nothing can be more barren
than the theology of the Jews and Christians. One lonely God, a
heaven filled with thoughtless angels, a hell with unfortunate
souls. Nothing can be more desolate. The Greek mythology is
infinitely better.
_Question_. Do you think that the marriage institution is held in
less respect by Infidels than by Christians?
_Answer_. No; there was never a time when marriage was more believed
in than now. Never were wives treated better and loved more; never
were children happier than now. It is the ambition of the average
American to have a good and happy home. The fireside was never
more popular than now.
_Question_. What do you think of Beecher?
_Answer_. He is a great man, but the habit of his mind and the
bent of his early education oppose his heart. He is growing and
has been growing every day for many years. He has given up the
idea of eternal punishment, and that of necessity destroys it all.
The Christian religion is founded upon hell. When the foundation
crumbles the fabric falls. Beecher was to have answered my article
in the _North American Review_, but when it appeared and he saw
it, he agreed with so much of it that he concluded that an answer
would be useless.
--_The Times_, Kansas City, Missouri, February 23, 1884.