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
_Question_. Do you mean to say that all the great living scientists
regard the Cosmogony of Moses as a myth?
_Answer._ I do. I say this: All men of science and men of sense look
upon the Mosaic account as a simple myth. Humboldt, who stands in the
same relation to science that Shakespeare did to the drama, held this
opinion. The same is held by the best minds in Germany, by Huxley,
Tyndall and Herbert Spencer in England, by John W. Draper and others
in the United States. Whoever agrees with Moses is some poor frightened
orthodox gentleman afraid of losing his soul or his salary, and as a
rule, both are exceedingly small.
_Question_. Some people say that you slander the Bible in saying that
God went into partnership with hornets, and declare that there is no
such passage in the Bible.
_Answer._ Well, let them read the twenty-eighth verse of the
twenty-third chapter of Exodus, "And I will send hornets before thee,
which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite and the Hittite from
before thee."
_Question_. Do you find in lecturing through the country that your ideas
are generally received with favor?
_Answer._ Astonishingly so. There are ten times as many freethinkers
as there were five years ago. In five years more we will be in the
majority.
_Question_. Is it true that the churches, as a general thing, make
strong efforts, as I have seen it stated, to prevent people from going
to hear you?
_Answer._ Yes; in many places ministers have advised their congregations
to keep away, telling them I was an exceedingly dangerous man. The
result has generally been a full house, and I have hardly ever failed to
publicly return my thanks to the clergy for acting as my advance agents.
_Question_. Do you ever meet Christian people who try to convert you?
_Answer._ Not often. But I do receive a great many anonymous letters,
threatening me with the wrath of God, and calling my attention to the
uncertainty of life and the certainty of damnation. These letters are
nearly all written in the ordinary Christian spirit; that is to say,
full of hatred and impertinence.
_Question_. Don't you think it remarkable that the _Telegraph_, a
Catholic paper, should quote with extravagant praise, an article from
such an orthodox sheet as the _Gazette_?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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