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
Here is a man who says, "I am going to join the Methodist Church." What
right has he? Just the same right to join it that I have not to join
it--no more, no less. But if you are a Methodist and I am not, it simply
proves that you do not agree with me, and that I do not agree with
you--that is all. Another man is a Catholic. He was born a Catholic, or
is convinced that Catholicism is right. That is his business, and any
man that would persecute him on that account, is a poor barbarian--a
savage; any man that would abuse him on that account, is a barbarian--a
savage.
Then I take the next step. A man does not wish to belong to any church.
How are you going to judge him? Judge him by the way he treats his wife,
his children, his neighbors. Does he pay his debts? Does he tell the
truth? Does he help the poor? Has he got a heart that melts when he
hears grief's story? That is the way to judge him. I do not care what
he thinks about the bears, or the flood, about bibles or gods. When some
poor mother is found wandering in the street with a babe at her breast,
does he quote Scripture, or hunt for his pocket-book? That is the way
to judge. And suppose he does not believe in any bible whatever? If
Christianity is true, that is his misfortune, and everybody should pity
the poor wretch that is going down the hill. Why kick him? You will get
your revenge on him through all eternity--is not that enough?
So I say, let us judge each other by our actions, not by theories, not
by what we happen to believe--because that depends very much on where we
were born.
If you had been born in Turkey, you probably would have been a
Mohammedan. If I had been born among the Hindoos, I might have been a
Buddhist--I can't tell. If I had been raised in Scotland, on oatmeal, I
might have been a Covenanter--nobody knows. If I had lived in Ireland,
and seen my poor wife and children driven into the street, I think I
might have been a Home-ruler--no doubt of it. You see it depends on
where you were born--much depends on our surroundings.
Of course, there are men born in Turkey who are not Mohammedans, and
there are men born in this country who are not Christians--Methodists,
Unitarians, or Catholics, plenty of them, who are unbelievers--plenty of
them who deny the truth of the Scriptures--plenty of them who say:
"I know not whether there be a God or not." Well, it is a thousand times
better to say that honestly than to say dishonestly that you believe in
God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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