_To the Editor of the Evening Telegram _:
SOME of the gentlemen who have given their ideas through the columns of
the _Telegram_ have wandered from the questions under discussion. It may
be well enough to state what is really in dispute.
I was called to account for having stated that Christianity did not
bring "tidings of great joy," but a message of eternal grief--that it
filled the future with fear and flame--made God the keeper of an eternal
penitentiary, in which most of the children of men were to be imprisoned
forever, and that, not satisfied with that, it had deprived God of the
pardoning power.
These statements were called "mountainous lies" by the Rev. Dr.
Buckley, and because the _Telegram_ had published the "Christmas Sermon"
containing these statements, he insisted that such a paper should not be
allowed in the families of Christians or of Jews--in other words, that
the _Telegram_ should be punished, and that good people should refuse to
allow that sheet to come into their homes.
It will probably be admitted by all fair-minded people that if the
orthodox creeds be true, then Christianity was and is the bearer of a
message of eternal grief, and a large majority of the human race are to
become eternal convicts, and God has deprived himself of the pardoning
power. According to those creeds, no word of mercy to any of the lost
can ever fall from the lips of the Infinite.
The Universalists deny that such was or is the real message of
Christianity. They insist that all are finally to be saved. If that
doctrine be true, then I admit that Christianity came with "tidings of
great joy."
Personally I have no quarrel with the Univer-salist Church. I have no
quarrel with any creed that expresses hope for all of the human race.
I find fault with no one for filling the future with joy--for dreaming
splendid dreams and for uttering splendid prophecies. I do not object
to Christianity because it promises heaven to a few, but because it
threatens the many with perdition.
It does not seem possible to me that a God who loved men to that degree
that he died that they might be saved, abandons his children the moment
they are dead. It seems to me that an infinite God might do something
for a soul after it has reached the other world.
Is it possible that infinite wisdom can do no more than is done for a
majority of souls in this world?
Think of the millions born in ignorance and filth, raised in poverty and
crime. Think of the millions who are only partially developed in this
world. Think of the weakness of the will, of the power of passion. Think
of the temptations innumerable. Think, too, of the tyranny of man, of
the arrogance of wealth and position, of the sufferings of the weak--and
can we then say that an infinite God has done, in this world, all
that could be done for the salvation of his children? Is it not barely
possible that something may be done in another world? Is there nothing
left for God to do for a poor, ignorant, criminal human soul after it
leaves this world? Can God do nothing except to pronounce the sentence
of eternal pain?
I insist that if the orthodox creed be true, Christianity did not come
with "tidings of great joy," but that its message was and is one of
eternal grief.
If the orthodox creed be true, the universe is a vast blunder--an
infinite crime. Better, a thousand times, that every pulse of life
should cease--better that all the gods should fall palsied from their
thrones, than that the creed of Christendom should be true.
There is another question and that involves the freedom of the press.
The _Telegram_ has acted with the utmost fairness and with the highest
courage. After all, the American people admire the man who takes
his stand and bravely meets all comers. To be an instrumentality of
progress, the press must be free. Only the free can carry a torch.
Liberty sheds light.
The editor or manager of a newspaper occupies a public position, and
he must not treat his patrons as though they were weak and ignorant
children. He must not, in the supposed interest of any ism, suppress the
truth--neither must he be dictated to by any church or any society of
believers or unbelievers. The _Telegram_, by its course, has given
a certificate of its manliness, and the public, by its course, has
certified that it appreciates true courage.
All Christians should remember that facts are not sectarian, and that
the sciences are not bound by the creeds. We should remember that there
are no such things as Methodist mathematics, or Baptist botany, or
Catholic chemistry. The sciences are secular. .
The Rev. Mr. Peters seems to have mistaken the issues--and yet, in some
things, I agree with him. He is certainly right when he says that "Mr.
Buckley's cry to boycott the Telegram is unmanly and un-American," but I
am not certain that he is right when he says that it is un-Christian.
The church has not been in the habit of pursuing enemies with kind
words and charitable deeds. To tell the truth, it has always been rather
relentless. It has preached forgiveness, but it has never forgiven.
There is in the history of Christendom no instance where the church has
extended the hand of friendship to a man who denied the truth of its
creed.
There is in the church no spirit--no climate--of compromise. In the
nature of things there can be none, because the church claims that it
is absolutely right--that there is only one road leading to heaven.
It demands unconditional surrender. It will not bear contradiction.
It claims to have the absolute truth. For these reasons it cannot
consistently compromise, any more than a mathematician could change the
multiplication table to meet the view of some one who should deny that
five times five are twenty-five.
The church does not give its opinion--it claims to know--it demands
belief. Honesty, industry, generosity count for nothing in the absence
of belief. It has taught and still teaches that no man can reach heaven
simply through good and honest deeds. It believes and teaches that the
man who relies upon himself will be eternally punished--and why should
the church forgive a man whom it thinks its God is waiting somewhat
impatiently to damn?
The Rev. Mr. Peters asks--and probably honestly thinks that the
questions are pertinent to the issues involved--"What has infidelity
done for the world? What colleges, hospitals, and schools has it
founded? What has it done for the elevation of public morals?" And he
inquires what science or art has been originated by infidelity. He asks
how many slaves it has liberated, how many inebriates it has reclaimed,
how many fallen women it has restored, and what it did for the relief
of the wounded and dying soldiers; and concludes by asking what life it
ever assisted to higher holiness, and what death it has ever cheered.
Although these questions have nothing whatever to do with the matters
under discussion, still it may be well enough to answer them.
It is cheerfully admitted that hospitals and asylums have been built
by Christians in Christian countries, and it is also admitted that
hospitals and asylums have been built in countries not Christian; that
there were such institutions in China thousands of years before Christ
was born, and that many centuries before the establishment of any
orthodox church there were asylums on the banks of the Nile--asylums for
the old, the poor, the infirm--asylums for the blind and for the insane,
and that the Egyptians, even of those days, endeavored to cure insanity
with kindness and affection. The same is true of India and probably of
most ancient nations.
There has always been more or less humanity in man--more or less
goodness in the human heart. So far as we know, mothers have always
loved their children. There must always have been more good than evil,
otherwise the human race would have perished. The best things in the
Christian religion came from the heart of man. Pagan lips uttered
the sublimest of truths, and all ages have been redeemed by honesty,
heroism, and love.
But let me answer these questions in their order.
_First_--As to the schools.
It is most cheerfully admitted that the Catholics have always been
in favor of education--that is to say, of education enough to make a
Catholic out of a heathen. It is also admitted that Protestants have
always been in favor of enough education to make a Protestant out of a
Catholic. Many schools and many colleges have been established for the
spread of what is called the Gospel and for the education of the clergy.
Presbyterians have founded schools for the benefit of their creed.
The Methodists have established colleges for the purpose of making
Methodists. The same is true of nearly all the sects. As a matter of
fact, these schools have in many important directions hindered rather
than helped the cause of real education. The pupils were not taught to
investigate for themselves. They were not allowed to think. They were
told that thought is dangerous. They were stuffed and crammed with
creeds--with the ideas of others. Their credulity was applauded and
their curiosity condemned. If all the people had been educated in these
sectarian schools, all the people would have been far more ignorant
than they are. These schools have been, and most of them still are, the
enemies of higher education, and just to the extent that they are under
the control of theologians they are hindrances, and just to the extent
that they have become secularized they have been and are a benefit.
Our public-school system is not Christian. It is secular. Yet I admit
that it never could have been established without the assistance of
Christians--neither could it have been supported without the assistance
of others. But such is the value placed upon education that people of
nearly all denominations, and of nearly all religions, and of nearly all
opinions, for the most part agree that the children of a nation should
be educated by the nation. Some religious people are opposed to these
schools because they are not religious--because they do not teach some
creed--but a large majority of the people stand by the public schools
as they are. These schools are growing better and better, simply because
they are growing less and less theological, more and more secular.
Infidelity, or agnosticism, or free thought, has insisted that only that
should be taught in schools which somebody knows or has good reason to
believe.
The greatest professors in our colleges to-day are those who have the
least confidence in the supernatural, and the schools that stand highest
in the estimation of the most intelligent are those that have drifted
farthest from the orthodox creeds. Free thought has always been and ever
must be the friend of education. Without free thought there can be no
such thing--in the highest sense--as a school. Unless the mind is free,
there are no teachers and there are no pupils, in any just and splendid
sense.
The church has been and still is the enemy of education, because it has
been in favor of intellectual slavery, and the theological schools have
been what might be called the deformatories of the human mind.
For instance: A man is graduated from an orthodox university. In this
university he has studied astronomy, and yet he believes that Joshua
stopped the sun. He has studied geology, and yet he asserts the truth
of the Mosaic cosmogony. He has studied chemistry, and yet believes that
water was turned into wine. He has been taught the ordinary theory of
cause and effect, and at the same time he thoroughly believes in the
miraculous multiplication of loaves and fishes. Can such an institution,
with any propriety, be called a seat of learning? Can we not say of such
a university what Bruno said of Oxford: "Learning is dead and Oxford is
its widow."
Year after year the religious colleges are improving--simply because
they are becoming more and more secular, less and less theological.
Whether infidelity has founded universities or not, it can truthfully be
said that the spirit of investigation, the spirit of free thought, the
attitude of mental independence, contended for by those who are called
infidels, have made schools useful instead of hurtful.
Can it be shown that any infidel has ever raised his voice against
education? Can there be found in the literature of free thought one
line against the enlightenment of the human race? Has free thought ever
endeavored to hide or distort, a fact? Has it not always appealed to the
senses--to demonstration? It has not said, "He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear," but it has said, "He that hath brains to think, let him
think."
The object of a school should be to ascertain truth in every direction,
to the end that man may know the conditions of happiness--and every
school should be absolutely free. No teacher should be bound by anything
except a perceived fact. He should not be the slave of a creed, engaged
in the business of enslaving others.
So much for schools.
Second--As to public morals.
Christianity teaches that all offences can be forgiven. Every church
unconsciously allows people to commit crimes on a credit. I do not
mean by this that any church consciously advocates immorality. I
most cheerfully admit that thousands and thousands of ministers are
endeavoring to do good--that they are pure, self-denying men, trying
to make this world better. But there is a frightful defect in their
philosophy. They say to the bank cashier: You must not steal, you must
not take a dollar--larceny is wrong, it is contrary to all law, human
and divine--but if you do steal every cent in the bank, God will as
gladly, quickly forgive you in Canada as he will in the United States.
On the other hand, what is called infidelity says: There is no being in
the universe who rewards, and there is no being who punishes--every act
has its consequences. If the act is good, the consequences are good; if
the act is bad, the consequences are bad; and these consequences must be
borne by the actor. It says to every human being: You must reap what
you sow. There is no reward, there is no punishment, but there are
consequences, and these consequences are the invisible and implacable
police of nature. They cannot be avoided. They cannot be bribed. No
power can awe them, and there is not gold enough in the world to make
them pause. Even a God cannot induce them to release for one instant
their victim.
This great truth is, in my judgment, the gospel of morality. If all
men knew that they must inevitably bear the consequences of their own
actions--if they absolutely knew that they could not injure another
without injuring themselves, the world, in my judgment, would be far
better than it is.
Free thought has attacked the morality of what is called the atonement.
The innocent should not suffer for the guilty, and if the innocent
does suffer for the guilty, that cannot by any possibility justify the
guilty. The reason a thing is wrong is because it, in some way, causes
the innocent to suffer. This being the very essence of wrong, how can
the suffering of innocence justify the guilty? If there be a world of
joy, he who is worthy to enter that world must be willing to carry his
own burdens in this.
So much for morality.
Third--As to sciences and art.
I do not believe that we are indebted to Christianity for any science.
I do not remember that one science is mentioned in the New Testament.
There is not one word, so far as I remember, about education--nothing
about any science, nothing about art. The writers of the New Testament
seem to have thought that the world was about coming to an end. This
world was to be sacrificed absolutely to the next. The affairs of this
life were not worth speaking of. All people were exhorted to prepare at
once for the other life.
The sciences have advanced in the proportion that they did not interfere
with orthodox theology. To the extent that they were supposed to
interfere with theology they have been obstructed and denounced.
Astronomy was found to be inconsistent with the Scriptures, and the
astronomers were imprisoned and despised. Geology contradicted the
Mosaic account, and the geologists were denounced and persecuted. Every
step taken in astronomy was taken in spite of the church, and every fact
in geology had to fight its way. The same is true as to the science of
medicine. The church wished to cure disease by necromancy, by charm and
prayer, and with the bones of the saints. The church wished man to
rely entirely upon God--that is to say, upon the church--and not upon
himself. The physician interfered with the power and prosperity of the
priest, and those who appealed to physicians were denounced as lacking
faith in God. This state of things existed even in the Old Testament
times. A king failed to send for the prophets, but sent for a physician,
and then comes this piece of grim humor: "And Asa slept with his
fathers."
The great names in science are not those of recognized saints.
Bruno--one of the greatest and bravest of men--greatest of all
martyrs--perished at the stake, because he insisted on the existence of
other worlds and taught the astronomy of Galileo.
Humboldt--in some respects the wisest man known to the scientific
world--denied the existence of the supernatural and "the truths of
revealed religion," and yet he revolutionized the thought of his day and
left a legacy of intellectual glory to the race.
Darwin--greatest of scientists--so great that our time will probably
be known as "Darwin's Century"--had not the slightest confidence in any
possible phase of the so-called supernatural. This great man left the
creed of Christendom without a foundation. He brought as witnesses
against the inspiration of the Scriptures such a multitude of facts,
such an overwhelming amount of testimony, that it seems impossible to
me that any unprejudiced man can, after hearing the testimony, remain
a believer in evangelical religion. He accomplished more than all the
schools, colleges, and universities that Christianity has founded. He
revolutionized the philosophy of the civilized world.
The writers who have done most for science have been the most bitterly
opposed by the church. There is hardly a valuable book in the libraries
of the world that cannot be found on the "Index Expurgatorius." Kant
and Fichte and Spinoza were far above and beyond the orthodox-world.
Voltaire did more for freedom than any other man, and yet the church
denounced him with a fury amounting to insanity--called him an atheist,
although he believed not only in God, but in special providence. He was
opposed to the church--that is to say, opposed to slavery, and for that
reason he was despised.
And what shall I say of D'Holbach, of Hume, of Buckle, of Draper,
of Haeckel, of Buechner, of Tyndall and Huxley, of Auguste Comte, and
hundreds and thousands of others who have filled the scientific world
with light and the heart of man with love and kindness?
It may be well enough, in regard to art, to say that Christianity is
indebted to Greece and Rome for its highest conceptions, and it may be
well to add that for many centuries Christianity did the best it could
to destroy the priceless marbles of Greece and Rome. A few were buried,
and in that way were saved from Christian fury.
The same is true of the literature of the classic world. A few fragments
were rescued, and these became the seeds of modern literature. A few
statues were preserved, and they are to-day models for all the world.
Of course it will be admitted that there is much art in Christian lands,
because, in spite of the creeds, Christians, so-called, have turned
their attention to this world. They have beautified their homes, they
have endeavored to clothe themselves in purple and fine linen. They have
been forced from banquets or from luxury by the difficulty of camels
going through the eyes of needles or the impossibility of carrying water
to the rich man. They have cultivated this world, and the arts have
lived. Did they obey the precepts that they find in their sacred
writings there would be no art, they would "take no thought for the
morrow," they would "consider the lilies of the field."
Fourth--As to the liberation of slaves.
It was exceedingly unfortunate for the Rev. Mr. Peters that he spoke of
slavery. The Bible upholds human slavery--white slavery. The Bible was
quoted by all slaveholders and slave-traders. The man who went to Africa
to steal women and children took the Bible with him. He planted himself
firmly on the Word of God. As Whittier says of Whitefield:
"He bade the slave ship speed from coast to coast,
Fanned by the wings of the Holy Ghost."
So when the poor wretches were sold to the planters, the planters
defended their action by reading the Bible. When a poor woman was sold,
her children torn from her breast, the auction block on which she stood
was the Bible; the auctioneer who sold her quoted the Scriptures; the
man who bought her repeated the quotations, and the ministers from
the pulpit said to the weeping woman, as her child was carried away:
"Servants, be obedient unto your masters."
Freethinkers in all ages have been opposed to slavery. Thomas Paine
did more for human liberty than any other man who ever stood upon the
western world. The first article he ever wrote in this country was one
against the institution of slavery. Freethinkers have also been in favor
of free bodies. Freethinkers have always said "free hands," and the
infidels, the wide world over, have been friends of freedom.
Fifth--As to the reclamation of inebriates.
Much has been said, and for many years, on the subject of
temperance--much has been uttered by priests and laymen--and yet there
seems to be a subtle relation between rum and religion. Scotland is
extremely orthodox, yet it is not extremely temperate. England is
nothing if not religious, and London is, par excellence, the
Christian city of the world, and yet it is the most intemperate. The
Mohammedans--followers of a false prophet--do not drink.
Sixth--As to the humanity of infidelity.
Can it be said that people have cared for the wounded and dying only
because they were orthodox?
Is it not true that religion, in its efforts to propagate the creed of
forgiveness by the sword, has caused the death of more than one hundred
and fifty millions of human beings? Is it not true that where the church
has cared for one orphan it has created hundreds? Can Christianity
afford to speak of war?
The Christian nations of the world to-day are armed against each
other. In Europe, all that can be gathered by taxation--all that can be
borrowed by pledging the prosperity of the future--the labor of those
yet unborn--is used for the purpose of keeping Christians in the field,
to the end that they may destroy other Christians, or at least prevent
other Christians from destroying them. Europe is covered with churches
and fortifications, with temples and with forts--hundreds of thousands
of priests, millions of soldiers, countless Bibles and countless
bayonets--and that whole country is oppressed and impoverished for the
purpose of carrying on war. The people have become deformed by labor,
and yet Christianity boasts of peace.