Christian ministers are showing a disposition to fight shy of the second
half of the last chapter of Mark, where Jesus is represented as saying
to his apostles, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned." Some of them tell us to look at the
Revised Version, where we shall see in the margin that this portion
of the chapter does not exist in the earliest manuscripts; and they
innocently expect that Freethinkers will therefore quietly drop the
offensive passage. Oh dear no! Before they have any right to claim such
indulgence they must put forth a new edition of the whole Bible, showing
us what they desire excised, and what they wish to retain and are ready
to defend as the infallible word of God. We should then discuss whether
their selection is justifiable, and after that we should discuss whether
the amended Bible is any diviner than the original one. But we cannot
allow them to keep the Bible as it is, to call it God's Word, to revile
people who doubt it, and to persecute people who oppose it; and yet, at
the same time, to evade responsibility for every awkward text. This will
never do. The clergy cannot have the authority of inspiration in their
pulpits and the ease of eclecticism on the platform and in the press.
Besides, although the text in Mark is the most striking piece of
impudent bigotry, there are many passages of Holy Writ that display the
same spirit. The Jews were expressly ordered to kill heretics in this
world, and the victims only escaped eternal damnation because the chosen
people knew nothing at that time of future rewards and punishments. A
glance at the first few pages of _Crimes of Christianity_ will also show
that the earliest apostles of Christianity were thoroughly imbued with
the spirit of persecution. Paul smote Elymas with blindness for opposing
him, and even "the beloved disciple" said "If there come any unto you,
and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him God speed." Paul tells the Galatians, "If any man preach any
other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
These passages plainly imply that the unbeliever is to be shunned like
poison, and that the teacher of unbelief is a devil. What difference is
there between this and the passage in Mark? As a matter of fact, all the
Christian Churches, from the beginning till now, have taught that
faith is necessary to salvation; and this historic consensus of opinion
justifies the Freethinker in regarding bigotry as of the essence of the
Bible.
Now what is belief? It is an automatic act of the mind, over which the
will has absolutely no power. The will might, indeed, turn the eyes from
regarding evidence in a particular direction, or the entire mind from
attending to the subject at all. But given the evidence before you, and
your own powers of thought, and your judgment is a logical necessity.
You cannot help believing what your intellect certifies as true; you
cannot help disbelieving what your intellect certifies as false. If you
were threatened with everlasting torment for believing that twice two
are four, you could not, by the most tremendous effort of volition,
alter your conviction in the slightest degree. You might be induced to
_assert_ that twice two are five, but whatever your tongue might utter,
your belief would remain unchanged.
The effect of threats, therefore, is not to change belief, but to
produce hypocrisy. Yet this much must be allowed. The threats may
succeed _if they are carried out_. Fear will make multitudes _profess_
without _investigating,_ and as liars often come to believe their
own lies, habitual profession produces a state of mind that has a
superficial resemblance to real belief; and, on the other hand, if the
threats of future punishment are supplemented by penal laws against
heresy, there is a process of artificial selection by which independent
minds are eliminated, while the slavish survive. Even when penal laws
are relaxed, social ostracism will have a similar, though perhaps
a weaker effect. Prizes offered to one form of opinion, and losses
inflicted on others, will necessarily make a difference in their
relative success. How slowly Christianity advanced during the first
three centuries, when it was under a cloud! How swiftly it progressed
when Constantine gave it wealth and privileges, and used the temporal
sword to repress or extinguish its enemies!
Nothing is truer than that the religious belief of more than ninety-nine
hundredths of mankind is determined by the geographical accident of
birth. Born in Spain they are Catholics; born in England they are
Protestants; born in Turkey they are Mohammedans; born in India they are
Brahmanists; born in Ceylon they are Buddhists; born in the shadow of a
synagogue they are Jews. Their own minds have not the smallest share in
deciding their faith. They take it at secondhand, as they do their
language and their fashion of dressing. To call their "faith" belief is
absurd. It is simply a prejudice. Belief, in the proper sense of the
word, follows evidence and reflection. What evidence has the ordinary
Christian, and has he ever reflected on his creed for five minutes in
the whole course of his life?
Philosophically speaking, men think as they _can_, and believe as they
_must_; and as belief is independent of the will, and cannot be
affected by motives, it is not a subject for praise or blame, reward or
punishment. Religions, therefore, which promise heaven for belief and
hell for unbelief, are utterly unphilosophical. They are self-condemned.
Truth invites free study. Falsehood shuns investigation, and denounces
that liberty of thought which is fatal to its pretensions.
There is a not too refined, but a very true piece of verse, which was
first published more than a generation ago in a pungent Freethought
journal, and we venture to quote its conclusion. After relating the
chief "flams" of the Bible, it says:
And when with this nonsense you're crammed,
To make you believe it all true,
They say if you don't you'll be damned;
But you ought to be damned if you do.