The rotundity of the earth was discussed and its circumference
scientifically measured hundreds of years before the supposed birth of
Christ, and had not the "God believers" been so persistent in forcing
their belief upon others, and had not Christianity been born, I can see
how the discovery of America would have been accomplished about a
thousand years before the discovery by Columbus; and the incalculable
progress which would have been the consequence would have carried
mankind beyond the boldest imagination of to-day, and placed us a
thousand years nearer civilization.
Hero, a mathematician, who lived at the time when the Greek minds were
the marvel of the world, invented a steam engine, which was used in
experiments and was rapidly nearing completion and perfection, when,
unfortunately, ignorant and destructive Religion, that was madly
trampling upon everything of value, destroyed the famous Alexandrian
Library wherein was kept a model of this engine. It also swept away the
incalculable wealth of knowledge that had required ages to accumulate,
and thereby completely annihilated the most priceless possessions that
the human race ever owned.
But that is not all; it is only a fragment. For history at every stage
of life shows the continual strife between the forces of progress and
the religious fanatic and God believer.
What is that strange form of insanity that prompts people to torture and
to destroy those who seek to emancipate them from the _Tyranny of God_
and from the deluded belief in a hereafter?
The attitude of all, each and every one of us, should ever be the desire
and willingness to greet a new idea, to support a new thought, to try a
new proposal, to do all in our power to uphold the forces of progress,
to lend our help and to devote our energies in any direction that will
ultimately lead us from the cruel forces and narrow limitations that are
our lot to share.
To those who have no thought for these things, who care not what forces
and conditions man must face, who take without thought and give only
through compulsion, whose self-satisfied condition (made possible only
by the heroic work of the martyrs of progress) make of them personal
heroes, whose life is wrapped within the flicker of a day, who do not
know, do not realize, and do not care about the fearful suffering of the
world--I say to them to strut their intoxicated hour and pass away. The
sooner they live their lives and the sooner they die, the better for the
earth. It needs fertilization.
Were we as mentally progressive as we are materially advanced, what a
wonderful and magnificent improvement over the present living conditions
we would be enjoying! Every new invention, every new improvement, would
be immediately and universally installed, and every old and antiquated
instrument and method would be discarded and destroyed. That which now
seems only within the command of the households of the immensely
wealthy, would be as popularly used and enjoyed as the now commonly used
articles in the poorest households.
Think of existing to-day in a predominant percentage of dwellings for
human beings where there is not found the essential bathtub, or the
still more essential toilet room!
Governments are instituted for the people's benefit, and shame upon such
a government, in an enlightened age like to-day, that tolerates such a
condition, when that government possesses the men, the means, the
intellect and the materials to electrify the world!
The first and foremost essential in higher development is the comfort
and conveniences in a home.
These are some of the conditions that the progressive minds of the world
are trying to solve and remedy. It is only a question of how much
longer the majority of people will pay homage to an imaginary God for
imaginary benefits in an imaginary life after death.