The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 08 (of 12): Dresden Edition—InterviewsIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 08 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Interviews
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
_Answer_. When we take into consideration the crime of the man
who blinded his wife, it is impossible not to think of the right
of divorce. Many people insist that marriage is an indissoluble
tie; that nothing can break it, and that nothing can release either
party from the bond. Now, take this case at Far Rockaway. One
year ago the husband tore out one of his wife's eyes. Had she then
good cause for divorce? Is it possible that an infinitely wise
and good God would insist on this poor, helpless woman remaining
with the wild beast, her husband? Can anyone imagine that such a
course would add to the joy of Paradise, or even tend to keep one
harp in tune? Can the good of society require the woman to remain?
She did remain, and the result is that the other eye has been torn
from its socket by the hands of the husband. Is she entitled to
a divorce now? And if she is granted one, is virtue in danger,
and shall we lose the high ideal of home life? Can anything be
more infamous than to endeavor to make a woman, under such
circumstances, remain with such a man? It may be said that she
should leave him--that they should live separate and apart. That
is to say, that this woman should be deprived of a home; that she
should not be entitled to the love of man; that she should remain,
for the rest of her days, worse than a widow. That is to say, a
wife, hiding, keeping out of the way, secreting herself from the
hyena to whom she was married. Nothing, in my judgment, can exceed
the heartlessness of a law or of a creed that would compel this
woman to remain the wife of this monster. And it is not only cruel,
but it is immoral, low, vulgar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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