“What do these notions of men teach? That God created men, with power to violate His laws, and then became vengeful and full of wrath, that they did just what He gave them power to do, and was ready to damn them all, for doing just what they could not help doing? Man’s explanation of the matter does not correspond with the character of God, as given by these same men. They describe Him as omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, a God of infinite wisdom, love and tender mercy. It is stated that God made man, and pronounced him good, but the creeds teach that God afterward found out that He had made a mistake, that His work was evil. He discovered, when too late, that man, whom He had made good and upright, would violate His laws, which was a surprise to Him, and He must find out some excuse, so as to avoid the execution of His own laws. “The whole story is a muddle, evolved from superstition and ignorance, in fact, the whole scheme is of man’s invention, not from the highest ideals of mankind, but from the lowest instincts of the human race. It degrades the character of the Almighty, and places Him on a level with the most ignorant human brute of a tyrant. They make their god, not mine, in the likeness of sinful men, fashion him, giving him their hates and revenges, and in their arrogance, assuming that they know all about him, demand that all the world should bow down and worship this image of their own manufacture. “I had rather be an infidel, and take my chances, than accept the blasphemous nonsense that many people believe about God. I cannot believe that an infinitely all-wise God could be guilty of the mistakes attributed to Him, or that a God of love and tender compassion could be propitiated, and delighted with blood from the slaughter of innocent animals, or the blood of men, or as they call it, ‘the blood of the Son of God.’” The little man was greatly excited, and would have interrupted me, but I kept on. After a pause, he said, “Our belief is founded on the Bible as the inspired word of God; don’t you believe that?” “Yes,” I replied, “as the production of men, some of it the grandest truth ever given to mankind, and other not fit to be put in the same book.