THERE are two ways of accounting for the sacred books and religions of
the world.
One is to say that the sacred books were written by inspired men, and
that our religion was revealed to us by God.
The other is to say that all books have been written by men, without any
aid from supernatural powers, and that all religions have been naturally
produced.
We find that other races and peoples have sacred books and prophets,
priests and Christs; we find too that their sacred books were written by
men who had the prejudices and peculiarities of the race to which they
belonged, and that they contain the mistakes and absurdities peculiar to
the people who produced them.
Christians are perfectly satisfied that all the so-called sacred books,
with the exception of the Old and New Testaments, were written by men,
and that the claim of inspiration is perfectly absurd. So they believe
that all religions, except Judaism and Christianity, were invented
by men. The believers in other religions take the ground that their
religion was revealed by God, and that all others, including Judaism and
Christianity, were made by men. All are right and all are wrong. When
they say that "other" religions were produced by men, they are right;
when they say that their religion was revealed by God, they are wrong.
Now we know that all tribes and nations have had some kind of religion;
that they have believed in the existence of good and evil beings,
spirits or powers, that could be softened by gifts or prayer. Now we
know that at the foundation of every religion, of all worship, is the
pale and bloodless face of fear. Now we know that all religions and all
sacred books have been naturally produced--all born of ignorance, fear
and cunning.
Now we know that the gifts, sacrifices and prayers were all in vain;
that no god received and that no god heard or answered.
A few years ago prayers decided the issue of battle, and priests,
through their influence with God, could give the victory. Now no
intelligent man expects any answer to prayer. He knows that nature
pursues her course without reference to the wishes of men, that the
clouds float, the winds blow, the rain falls and the sun shines without
regard to the human race. Yet millions are still praying, still hoping
that they can gain the protection of some god, that some being will
guard them from accident and disease. Year after year the ministers make
the same petitions, pray for the same things, and keep on in spite of
the fact that nothing is accomplished.
Whenever good men do some noble thing the clergy give their God the
credit, and when evil things are done they hold the men who did the evil
responsible, and forget to blame their God.
Praying has become a business, a profession, a trade, A minister is
never happier than when praying in public. Most of them are exceedingly
familiar with their God. Knowing that he knows everything, they tell him
the needs of the nation and the desires of the people, they advise him
what to do and when to do it. They appeal to his pride, asking him to do
certain things for his own glory. They often pray for the impossible. In
the House of Representatives in Washington I once heard a chaplain
pray for what he must have known was impossible. Without a change of
countenance, without a smile, with a face solemn as a sepulchre, he
said: "I pray thee, O God, to give Congress wisdom." It may be that
ministers really think that their prayers do good and it may be that
frogs imagine that their croaking brings spring.
The men of thought now know that all religions and all sacred books have
been made by men; that no revelation has come from any being superior
to nature; that all the prophecies were either false or made after the
event; that no miracle ever was or ever will be performed; that no God
wants the worship or the assistance of man; that no-prayer has ever
coaxed one drop of rain from the sky, one ray of light from the sun;
that no prayer has stayed the flood, or the tides of the sea, or folded
the wings of the storm; that no prayer has given water to the cracked
and bleeding lips of thirst, or food to the famishing; that no prayer
has stopped the pestilence, stilled the earthquake or quieted the
volcano; that no prayer has shielded the innocent, succored the
oppressed, unlocked the dungeon's door, broke the chains of slaves,
rescued the good and noble from the scaffold, or extinguished the
fagot's flame.
The intelligent man now knows that we live in a natural world, that gods
and devils and the sons of God are all phantoms, that our religion and
our Deity are much like the religion and deities of other nations,
and that the stone god of a savage answers prayer and protects his
worshipers precisely the same, and to just the same extent, as the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.