The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 07 (of 12): Dresden Edition—DiscussionsIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 07 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Discussions
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
It is claimed that these men, Henry D'Arcy and Judge Normile "studied"
to convince themselves "that there was no God, that they went back to
Paganism and lived among the ancients," and "that they soon revelled
in the grossness of Paganism." If they went back to Paganism, they
certainly found plenty of gods. The Pagans filled heaven and earth with
deities. The Catholics have only three, while the Pagans had hundreds.
And yet there were some very good Pagans. By associating with Socrates
and Plato one would not necessarily become a groveling wretch. Zeno was
not altogether abominable. He would compare favorably, at least, with
the average pope. Aristotle was not entirely despicable, although wrong,
it may be, in many things. Epicurus was temperate, frugal and serene. He
perceived the beauty of use, and celebrated the marriage of virtue and
joy. He did not teach his disciples to revel in grossness, although his
maligners have made this charge. Cicero was a Pagan, and yet he uttered
some very sublime and generous sentiments. Among other things, he said
this: "When we say that we should love Romans, but not foreigners, we
destroy the bond of universal brotherhood and drive from our hearts
charity and justice."
Suppose a Pagan had written about "two warm personal friends" of his,
who had joined the Catholic Church, and suppose he had said this:
"Although our two warm personal friends have both died by their own
hands, and although both have gone to the lowest hell, and are now
suffering inconceivable agonies, we have no right to feel any special
concern about them or about their sufferings; and, to speak frankly, we
care nothing for their agonies, nothing for their tears, and we mention
them only to keep other Pagans from joining that blasphemous and
ignorant church. Both of our friends were raised as Pagans, both were
educated in our holy religion, and both had read the works of our
greatest and wisest authors, and yet they fell into apostasy, and
studied day and night, in season and out of season, to convince
themselves that a young carpenter of Palestine was in fact, Jupiter,
whom we call Stator, the creator, the sustainer and governor of all."
It is probable that the editor of the _Watchman_ was perfectly
conscientious in his attack on the dead. Nothing but a sense of
religious duty could induce any man to attack the character of a "warm
personal friend," and to say that although the friend was in hell, he
felt no special concern as to his fate.
The _Watchman_ seems to think that it is hardly probable or possible
that a sane Catholic should become an infidel. People of every religion
feel substantially in this way. It is probable that the Mohammedan is
of the opinion that no sane believer in the religion of Islam could
possibly become a Catholic. Probably there are no sane Mohammedans. I do
not know.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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