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 think that it is a good thing to have a day of recreation, a
day of rest, a day of joy, not a day of dyspepsia and theology. I am
in favor of operas and theaters, music and happiness on Sunday. I am
opposed to all excesses on any day. If the clergy will take half
the pains to make the people intelligent that they do to make them
superstitious, the world will soon have advanced so far that it can
enjoy itself without excess. The ministers want Sunday for themselves.
They want everybody to come to church because they can go no where
else. It is like the story of a man coming home at three o'clock in the
morning, who, upon being asked by his wife how he could come at such a
time of night, replied, "The fact is, every other place is shut up." The
orthodox clergy know that their churches will remain empty if any other
place remains open. Do not forget to say that I mean orthodox churches,
orthodox clergy, because I have great respect for Unitarians and
Universalists.
AN INTERVIEW ON CHIEF JUSTICE COMEGYS.
* Brooklyn Eagle, 1881.
_Question_. I understand, Colonel Ingersoll, that you have been indicted
in the State of Delaware for the crime of blasphemy?
_Answer._ Well, not exactly indicted. The Judge, who, I believe, is the
Chief Justice of the State, dedicated the new court-house at Wilmington
to the service of the Lord, by a charge to the grand jury, in which he
almost commanded them to bring in a bill of indictment against me, for
what he was pleased to call the crime of blasphemy. Now, as a matter
of fact, there can be no crime committed by man against God, provided
always that a correct definition of the Deity has been given by
the orthodox churches. They say that he is infinite. If so, he is
conditionless. I can injure a man by changing his conditions. Take
from a man water, and he perishes of thirst; take from him air, and
he suffocates; he may die from too much, or too little heat. That is
because he is a conditioned being. But if God is conditionless,
he cannot in any way be affected by what anybody else may do; and,
consequently, a sin against God is as impossible as a sin against the
principle of the lever or inclined plane. This crime called blasphemy
was invented by priests for the purpose of defending doctrines not able
to take care of themselves. Blasphemy is a kind of breastwork behind
which hypocrisy has crouched for thousands of years. Injustice is the
only blasphemy that can be committed, and justice is the only true
worship. Man can sin against man, but not against God. But even if man
could sin against God, it has always struck me that an infinite being
would be entirely able to take care of himself without the assistance of
a Chief Justice. Men have always been violating the rights of men, under
the plea of defending the rights of God, and nothing, for ages, was so
perfectly delightful to the average Christian as to gratify his revenge,
and get God in his debt at the same time. Chief Justice Comegys has
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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