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
The grand jury satisfied themselves and their consciences simply by
making a report in which they declared that my lecture had "no parallel
in the habits of respectable vagabondism" that I was "an arch-blasphemer
and reviler of God and religion," and recommended that should I ever
attempt to lecture again I should be taught that in Delaware blasphemy
is a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment. I have no doubt that
every member of the grand jury signing this report was entirely honest;
that he acted in exact accord with what he understood to be the demand
of the Christian religion. I must admit that for Christians, the report
is exceedingly mild and gentle.
I have now in the house, letters that passed between certain bishops in
the fifteenth century, in which they discussed the propriety of cutting
out the tongues of heretics before they were burned. Some of the bishops
were in favor of and some against it. One argument for cutting out their
tongues which seemed to have settled the question was, that unless the
tongues of heretics were cut out they might scandalize the gentlemen
who were burning them, by blasphemous remarks during the fire. I would
commend these letters to Judge Comegys and the members of the grand
jury.
I want it distinctly understood that I have nothing against Judge
Comegys or the grand jury. They act as 'most anybody would, raised in
Delaware, in the shadow of the whipping-post and the pillory. We
must remember that Delaware was a slave State; that the Bible
became extremely dear to the people because it upheld that peculiar
institution. We must remember that the Bible was the block on which
mother and child stood for sale when they were separated by the
Christians of Delaware. The Bible was regarded as the title-pages to
slavery, and as the book of all books that gave the right to masters to
whip mothers and to sell children.
There are many offences now for which the punishment is whipping and
standing in the pillory; where persons are convicted of certain crimes
and sent to the penitentiary, and upon being discharged from the
penitentiary are furnished by the State with a dark jacket plainly
marked on the back with a large Roman "C," the letter to be of a light
color. This they are to wear for six months after being discharged,
and if they are found at any time without the dark jacket and the
illuminated "C" they are to be punished with twenty lashes upon the bare
back. The object, I presume, of this law, is to drive from the State all
the discharged convicts for the benefit of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Maryland--that is to say, other Christian communities. A cruel people
make cruel laws.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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