The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12): Dresden Edition—MiscellanyIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Miscellany
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
As to the sincerity of the author, there is not the slightest doubt. He
is willing to give all that he has for the good of his fellow-men. He
is a soldier in what he believes to be a sacred cause, and he has the
courage of his convictions. He is endeavoring to organize society in
accordance with the most radical utterances that have been attributed
to Jesus Christ. The philosophy of Palestine is not adapted to an
industrial and commercial age. Christianity was born when the nation
that produced it was dying. It was a requiem--a declaration that life
was a failure, that the world was about to end, and that the hopes of
mankind should be lifted to another sphere. Tolstoï stands with his back
to the sunrise and looks mournfully upon the shadow. He has uttered many
tender, noble, and inspiring words. There are many passages in his works
that must have been written when his eyes were filled with tears. He has
fixed his gaze so intently on the miseries and agonies of life that he
has been driven to the conclusion that nothing could be better than the
effacement of the human race.
Some men, looking only at the faults and tyrannies of government, have
said: "Anarchy is better." Others, looking at the misfortunes, the
poverty, the crimes, of men, have, in a kind of pitying despair, reached
the conclusion that the best of all is death. These are the opinions of
those who have dwelt in gloom--of the self-imprisoned.
By comparing long periods of time, we see that, on the whole, the race
is advancing; that the world is growing steadily, and surely, better;
that each generation enjoys more and suffers less than its predecessor.
We find that our institutions have the faults of individuals. Nations
must be composed of men and women; and as they have their faults,
nations cannot be perfect. The institution of marriage is a failure to
the extent, and only to the extent, that the human race is a failure.
Undoubtedly it is the best and the most important institution that has
been established by the civilized world. If there is unhappiness in that
relation, if there is tyranny upon one side and misery upon the other,
it is not the fault of marriage. Take homes from the world and only wild
beasts are left.
We cannot cure the evils of our day and time by a return to savagery.
It is not necessary to become ignorant to increase our happiness. The
highway of civilization leads to the light. The time will come when the
human race will be truly enlightened, when labor will receive its due
reward, when the last institution begotten of ignorance and savagery
will disappear. The time will come when the whole world will say that
the love of man for woman, of woman for man, of mother for child, is the
highest, the noblest, the purest, of which the heart is capable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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