The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII.: InterviewsIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII.: Interviews
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
_Question_. How did Guiteau impress you and what have you remembered,
Colonel, of his efforts to reply to your lectures?
_Answer_. I do not know that Guiteau impressed me in any way. He
appeared like most other folks in search of a place or employment.
I suppose he was in need. He talked about the same as other people,
and claimed that I ought to help him because he was from Chicago.
The second time he came to see me he said that he hoped I had no
prejudice against him on account of what he had said about me. I
told him that I never knew he had said anything against me. I
suppose now that he referred to what he had said in his lectures.
He went about the country replying to me. I have seen one or two
of his lectures. He used about the same arguments that Mr. Black
uses in his reply to my article in the _North American Review_,
and denounced me in about the same terms. He is undoubtedly a man
who firmly believes in the Old Testament, and has no doubt concerning
the New. I understand that he puts in most of his time now reading
the Bible and rebuking people who use profane language in his
presence.
_Question_. You most certainly do not see any foundation for the
accusations of preachers like Sunderland, Newman and Power, _et
al_, that the teaching of a secular liberalism has had anything to
do with the shaping of Guiteau's character or the actions of his
vagabond life or the inciting to his murderous deeds?
_Answer_. I do not think that the sermon of Mr. Power was in good
taste. It is utterly foolish to charge the "Stalwarts" with
committing or inciting the crime against the life of the President.
Ministers, though, as a rule, know but little of public affairs,
and they always account for the actions of people they do not like
or agree with, by attributing to them the lowest and basest motives.
This is the fault of the pulpit--always has been, and probably
always will be. The Rev. Dr. Newman of New York, tells us that
the crime of Guiteau shows three things: First, that ignorant men
should not be allowed to vote; second, that foreigners should not
be allowed to vote; and third, that there should not be so much
religious liberty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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