The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 01 (of 12): Dresden Edition—LecturesIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 01 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Lectures
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
And I believe, too, in the gospel of Liberty, in giving to others what
we claim for ourselves. I believe there is room everywhere for thought,
and the more liberty you give away, the more you will have. In liberty
extravagance is economy. Let us be just. Let us be generous to each
other.
I believe in the gospel of Intelligence. That is the only lever capable
of raising mankind. Intelligence must be the savior of this world.
Humanity is the grand religion, and no God can put a man in hell in
another world, who has made a little heaven in this. God cannot make a
man miserable if that man has made somebody else happy. God cannot hate
anybody who is capable of loving anybody. Humanity--that word embraces
all there is.
So I believe in this great gospel of Humanity.
"Ah! but," they say, "it will not do. You must believe." I say, No. My
gospel of health will bring life. My gospel of intelligence, my gospel
of good living, my gospel of good-fellowship will cover the world with
happy homes. My doctrine will put carpets upon your floors, pictures
upon your walls. My doctrine will put books upon your shelves, ideas in
your minds. My doctrine will rid the world of the abnormal monsters born
of ignorance and superstition. My doctrine will give us health, wealth
and happiness. That is what I want. That is what I believe in. Give us
intelligence. In a little while a man will find that he can not steal
without robbing himself. He will find that he cannot murder without
assassinating his own joy. He will find that every crime is a mistake.
He will find that only that man carries the cross who does wrong, and
that upon the man who does right the cross turns to wings that will bear
him upward forever. He will find that even intelligent self-love embraces
within its mighty arms all the human race.
"Oh," but they say to me, "you take away immortality." I do not. If we
are immortal it is a fact in nature, and we are not indebted to priests
for it, nor to bibles for it, and it cannot be destroyed by unbelief.
As long as we love we will hope to live, and when the one dies that we
love we will say: "Oh, that we could meet again," and whether we do or
not it will not be the work of theology. It will be a fact in nature. I
would not for my life destroy one star of human hope, but I want it
so that when a poor woman rocks the cradle and sings a lullaby to the
dimpled darling, she will not be compelled to believe that ninety-nine
chances in a hundred she is raising kindling wood for hell.
One world at a time is my doctrine.
It is said in this Testament, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof;" and I say: Sufficient unto each world is the evil thereof.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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