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
_Answer._ I do not. All the churches must make common cause. All
superstitions lead to Rome; all facts lead to science. In a few
years all the churches will be united. This will unite all forms of
liberalism. When that is done the days of superstition, of arrogance,
of theology, will be numbered. It is very laughable to see a Catholic
quoting scientific men in favor of Moses, when the same men would have
taken great pleasure in swearing that the Catholic Church was the
worst possible organization. That church should forever hold its peace.
Wherever it has had authority it has destroyed human liberty. It reduced
Italy to a hand organ, Spain to a guitar, Ireland to exile, Portugal to
contempt. Catholicism is the upas tree in whose shade the intellect of
man has withered. The recollection of the massacre of St. Bartholomew
should make a priest silent, and the recollection of the same massacre
should make a Protestant careful.
I can afford to be maligned by a priest, when the same party denounces
Garibaldi, the hero of Italy, as a "pet tiger" to Victor Emmanuel. I
could not afford to be praised by such a man. I thank him for his abuse.
_Question_. What do you think of the point that no one is able to judge
of these things unless he is a Hebrew scholar?
_Answer._ I do not think it is necessary to understand Hebrew to decide
as to the probability of springs gushing out of dead bones, or of
the dead getting out of their graves, or of the probability of ravens
keeping a hotel for wandering prophets. I hardly think it is necessary
even to be a Greek scholar to make up my mind as to whether devils
actually left a person and took refuge in the bodies of swine. Besides,
if the Bible is not properly translated, the circulation ought to stop
until the corrections are made. I am not accountable if God made a
revelation to me in a language that he knew I never would understand. If
he wishes to convey any information to my mind, he certainly should do
it in English before he eternally damns me for paying no attention to
it.
_Question_. Are not many of the contradictions in the Bible owing to
mistranslations?
_Answer._ No. Nearly all of the mistranslations have been made to help
out the text. It would be much worse, much more contradictory had it
been correctly translated. Nearly all of the _mistakes_, as Mr. Weller
would say, have been made for the purposes of harmony.
_Question_. How many errors do you suppose there are?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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