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
Now, then, to come to the point, to answer the interrogatory often flung
at us from the pulpit, What institutions have Infidels built? In the
first place, there have not been many Infidels for many years and, as
a rule, a known Infidel cannot get very rich, for the reason that the
Christians are so forgiving and loving they boycott him. If the average
Infidel, freely stating his opinion, could get through the world
himself, for the last several hundred years, he has been in good luck.
But as a matter of fact there have been some Infidels who have done
some good, even from a Christian standpoint. The greatest charity ever
established in the United States by a man--not by a community to get rid
of a nuisance, but by a man who wished to do good and wished that
good to last after his death--is the Girard College in the city of
Philadelphia. Girard was an Infidel. He gained his first publicity by
going like a common person into the hospitals and taking care of those
suffering from contagious diseases--from cholera and smallpox. So there
is a man by the name of James Lick, an Infidel, who has given the finest
observatory ever given to the world. And it is a good thing for an
Infidel to increase the sight of men. The reason people are theologians
is because they cannot see. Mr. Lick has increased human vision, and
I can say right here that nothing has been seen through the telescope,
calculated to prove the astronomy of Joshua. Neither can you see with
that telescope a star that bears a Christian name. The reason is
that Christianity was opposed to astronomy. So astronomers took their
revenge, and now there is not one star that glitters in all the vast
firmament of the boundless heavens that has a Christian name. Mr.
Carnegie has been what they call a public-spirited man. He has given
millions of dollars for libraries and other institutions, and he
certainly is not an orthodox Christian.
Infidels, however, have done much better even than that. They have
increased the sum of human knowledge. John W. Draper, in his work on
"The Intellectual Development of Europe," has done more good to the
American people and to the civilized world than all the priests in it.
He was an Infidel. Buckle is another who has added to the sum of human
knowledge. Thomas Paine, an Infidel, did more for this country than any
other man who ever lived in it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account