I hope it will not be supposed that I have any personal animus against
Christians or Christian ministers, although I am hostile to the Church.
Many ministers and many Christian laymen I have known are admirable men.
Some I know personally are as able and as good as any men I have met;
but I speak of the Churches, not of individuals.
I have known Catholic priests and sisters who were worthy and charming,
and there are many such; but I do not like the Catholic Church. I
have known Tories and Liberals who were real good fellows, and clever
fellows, and there are many such; but I do not like the Liberal and Tory
parties. I have known clergymen of the Church of England who were real
live men, and real English gentlemen, and there are many such; but I do
not like the Church.
I was not always an Agnostic, or a Rationalist, or an "Infidel," or
whatever Christians may choose to call me.
I was not perverted by an Infidel book. I had not read one when I
wavered first in my allegiance to the orthodoxies. I was set doubting by
a religious book written to prove the "Verity of Christ's Resurrection
from the Dead." But as a child I was thoughtful, and asked myself
questions, as many children do, which the Churches would find it hard to
answer to-day.
I have not ceased to believe what I was taught as a child because I have
grown wicked. I have ceased to believe it because, after twenty years'
hard thinking, I _cannot_ believe it.