The efficacy of the arguments contained in the foregoing expressions,
chosen from among many others, is independent of the weight attachable
to those who uttered them. One and all, they express the attitude of all
who view the subject without bias, and who refuse to allow self-interest
to swerve them from a frank recognition of what is due to the principle
of civic justice. No better summary of the main issue could be found
than the vigorous answer of Robert G. Ingersoll to an interviewer. That
the great Agnostic orator should show strong feeling on the subject, is
not surprising, nor does it in any sense weaken the logical force of his
protest. It is only natural that the victim of a burglary should be more
energetic in his complaint than a third person who has slight interest
in the matter. The churches have had many a fling at the peerless
champion of freedom of thought; but they will find it easier to slur his
memory than to refute his arguments. He says:
"I have seen a memorial asking that church property be taxed like other
property.... Such memorials ought to be addressed to the legislatures
of all the states. The money of the public should only be used for the
benefit of the public. Public money should not be used for what a few
gentlemen think is for the benefit of the public. Personally, I think
it would be for the benefit of the public to have Infidel or
scientific--which is the same thing--lectures delivered in every town,
in every state, on every Sunday; but, knowing that a great many men
disagree with me on this point, I do not claim that such lectures ought
to be paid for with public money. The Methodist church ought not to
be sustained by taxation, nor the Catholic, nor any other church. To
relieve their property from taxation is to appropriate money, to the
extent of that tax, for the support of that church. Whenever a burden
is lifted from one piece of property, it is distributed over the rest
of the property of the state; and to release one kind of property is
to increase the tax on all other kinds.... To exempt the church from
taxation is to pay a part of the priest's salary. The Catholic now
objects to being taxed to support a school in which his religion is not
taught. He is not satisfied with the school that says nothing on the
subject of religion. He insists that it is an outrage to tax him to
support a school where the teacher simply teaches what he knows. And yet
this same Catholic wants his church exempted from taxation, and the
tax of an Atheist or of a Jew increased, when he teaches in his untaxed
church that the Atheist and the Jew will both be eternally damned! Is
it possible for impudence to go further?... In my judgment the church
should be taxed precisely the same as other property. The church may
claim that it is one of the instruments of civilization and therefore
should be exempt. If you exempt that which is useful, you exempt every
trade and every profession....
"There was a time when ministers were supposed to be in the employ of
God, and it was thought that God selected them with great care--that
their profession had something sacred about it. These ideas are no
longer entertained by sensible people. Ministers should be paid like
other professional men, and those who like their preaching should pay
the preacher. They should depend, as actors do, upon their popularity,
upon the amount of sense, or nonsense, that they have for sale. They
should depend upon the market like other people; and if people do not
want to hear sermons badly enough to build churches and pay for them,
and pay the taxes on them, and hire the preacher, let the money be
diverted to some other use. The pulpit should no longer be a pauper. I
do not believe in carrying on any business with the contribution box.
All the sectarian institutions ought to support themselves."