God and my Neighbour | Page 3

Christs, Robertson. Watts, 8s. Supernatural Religion, Cassels. Watts, 6s. The Martyrdom of Man, Winwood Reade. Kegan Paul, 6s. Mutual Aid, Kropotkin. Heinemann, 7s. 6d. The Story of Creation, Clodd. Longmans, 3s. 6d. Buddha and Buddhism, Lillie. Clark, 3s. 6d. _Shall We Understand the Bible?_ Williams. Black, 1s. _What is Religion?_ Tolstoy. Free Age Press, 6d. What I Believe, Tolstoy. Free Age Press, 6d. The Life of Christ, Renan. Scott, 1s. 6d.
I also recommend Herbert Spencer's Principles of Sociology and Lecky's History of European Morals. Of pamphlets there are hundreds. Readers will get full information from Watts & Co., 17 Johnson's Court, London, E.C.
I can warmly recommend The Miracles of Christian Belief and The Claims of Christianity, by Charles Watts, and Christianity and Progress, a penny pamphlet, by G. W. Foote (The Freethought Publishing Company).
I should also like to mention An Easy Outline of Evolution, by Dennis Hird (Watts & Co., 2s. 6d.). This book will be of great help to those who want to scrape acquaintance with the theory of evolution.
Finally, let me ask the general reader to put aside all prejudice, and give both sides a fair hearing. Most of the books I have mentioned above are of more actual value to the public of to-day than many standard works which hold world-wide reputations.
No man should regard the subject of religion as decided for him until he has read The Golden Bough. The Golden Bough is one of those books that unmake history.

CONTENTS
PREFACE
FOREWORDS
THE SIN OF UNBELIEF
ONE REASON
WHAT I CAN AND CANNOT BELIEVE
THE OLD TESTAMENT-- Is the Bible the Word of God? The Evolution of the Bible The Universe Jehovah Bible Heroes The Book of Books Our Heavenly Father Prayer and Praise
THE NEW TESTAMENT-- The Resurrection Gospel Witnesses The Time Spirit Have the Documents been Tampered with? Christianity Before Christ Other Evidences
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION-- What is Christianity?
DETERMINISM-- Can Man Sin against God?
CHRISTIAN APOLOGIES-- Christian Apologies Christianity and Civilisation Christianity and Ethics The Success of Christianity The Prophecies The Universality of Religious Belief Is Christianity the Only Hope? Spiritual Discernment Some Other Apologies Counsels of Despair
CONCLUSION-- The Parting of the Ways

GOD AND MY NEIGHBOUR

THE SIN OF UNBELIEF
Huxley quotes with satirical gusto Dr. Wace's declaration as to the word "Infidel." Said Dr. Wace: "The word infidel, perhaps, carries an unpleasant significance. Perhaps it is right that it should. It is, and it ought to be, an unpleasant thing for a man to have to say plainly that he does not believe in Jesus Christ."
Be it pleasant or unpleasant to be an unbeliever, one thing is quite clear: religious people intend the word Infidel to carry "an unpleasant significance" when they apply to it one. It is in their minds a term of reproach. Because they think it is wicked to deny what they believe.
To call a man an Infidel, then, is tacitly to accuse him of a kind of moral turpitude.
But a little while ago, to be an Infidel was to be socially taboo. But a little while earlier, to be an Infidel was to be persecuted. But a little earlier still, to be an Infidel was to be an outlaw, subject to the penalty of death.
Now, it is evident that to visit the penalty of social ostracism or public contumely upon all who reject the popular religion is to erect an arbitrary barrier against intellectual and spiritual advance, and to put a protective tariff upon orthodoxy to the disadvantage of science and free thought.
The root of the idea that it is wicked to reject the popular religion-- a wickedness of which Christ and Socrates and Buddha are all represented to have been guilty--thrives in the belief that the Scriptures are the actual words of God, and that to deny the truth of the Scriptures is to deny and to affront God.
But the difficulty of the unbeliever lies in the fact that he cannot believe the Scriptures to be the actual words of God.
The Infidel, therefore, is not denying God's words, nor disobeying God's commands: he is denying the words and disobeying the commands of men.
No man who knew that there was a good and wise God would be so foolish as to deny that God. No man would reject the words of God if he knew that God spoke those words.
But the doctrine of the divine origin of the Scriptures rests upon the authority of the Church; and the difference between the Infidel and the Christian is that the Infidel rejects and the Christian accepts the authority of the Church.
Belief and unbelief are not matters of moral excellence or depravity: they are questions of evidence.
The Christian believes the Scriptures because they are the words of God. But he believes they are the words of God because some other man has told him so.
Let him probe the matter to the bottom, and