Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll - LatestIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll - Latest
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
What effect had this religion upon the nations of the earth? What have
the nations been fighting about? What was the Thirty Years' War in
Europe for? What was the war in Holland for? Why was it that England
persecuted Scotland? Why is it that England persecutes Ireland even
unto this day? At the bottom of every one of these conflicts you will
find a religious question. The religion of Jesus Christ, as preached
by His church, causes war, bloodshed, hatred, and all uncharitableness;
and why? Because they say a certain belief is necessary to salvation.
They do not say, if you behave yourself pretty well you will get there;
they do not say, if you pay your debts and love your wife, and love
your children, and are good to your friends, and your neighbors, and
your country, you will get there; that will do you no good; you have
got to believe a certain thing. Oh, yes, no matter how bad you are,
you can instantly be forgiven then; and no matter how good you are, if
you fail to believe that, the moment you get to the day of judgment
nothing is left but to damn you forever, and all the angels will shout
"Hallelujah!"
What do they teach today? Every murderer goes to heaven; there is only
one step from the gallows to God; only one jerk between the halter and
heaven. That is taught by this same church. I believe there ought to
be a law to prevent the slightest religious consolation being given to
any man who has been guilty of murder. Let a Catholic understand that
if he imbrues his hands in his brother's blood, he can have no extreme
unction; let it be understood that he can have no forgiveness through
the church; and let the Protestant understand that when he has
committed that crime, the community will not pray him into heaven. Let
him go with his victim. The victim, you know, dying in his sins, goes
to hell, and the murderer has the happiness of seeing him there. And
if heaven grows dull and monotonous, the murderer can again give life
to the nerve of pleasure by watching the agony of his victim. I am
opposed to that kind of forgiveness. And yet that is the religion of
universal peace to everybody.
Now, what is the next thing that I wish to call your attention to?
"We believe in the ultimate prevalence of the Kingdom of Christ over
all the earth."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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