Lectures of Col. R.G. Ingersoll, vol 1 | Page 3

Can you believe that such directions were given by any except an
infinite fiend? Remember that the army receiving these instructions
was one of invasion. Peace was offered on condition that the people
submitting should be the slaves of the invader; but if any should have
the courage to defend their home, to fight for the love of wife and child,
then the sword was to spare none--not even the prattling, dimpled babe.
And we are called upon to worship such a god; to get upon our knees
and tell him that he is good, that he is merciful, that he is just, that he is
love. We are asked to stifle every noble sentiment of the soul, and to
trample under foot all the sweet charities of the heart. Because we
refuse to stultify ourselves--refuse to become liars--we are denounced,
hated, traduced and ostracized here, and this same god threatens to
torment us in eternal fire the moment death allows him to fiercely

clutch our naked helpless souls. Let the people hate, let the god
threaten--we will educate them, and we will despise and defy him.
The book, called the bible, is filled with passages equally horrible,
unjust and atrocious. This is the book to read in schools in order to
make our children loving, kind and gentle! This is the book recognized
in our Constitution as the source of authority and justice!
Strange that no one has ever been persecuted by the Church for
believing God bad, while hundreds of millions have been destroyed for
thinking him good. The orthodox church never will forgive the
Universalist for saying "God is love." It has always been considered as
one of the very highest evidence of true and undefiled religion to insist
that all men, women and children deserve eternal damnation. It has
always been heresy to say, "God will at last save all."
We are asked to justify these frightful passages, these infamous laws of
war, because the bible is the word of God. As a matter of fact, there
never was, and there never can be, an argument, even tending to prove
the inspiration of any book whatever. In the absence of positive
evidence, analogy and experience, argument is simply impossible, and
at the very best, can amount only to a useless agitation of the air. The
instant we admit that a book is too sacred to be doubted, or even
reasoned about, we are mental serfs. It is infinitely absurd to suppose
that a god would address a communication to intelligent beings, and yet
make it a crime, to be punished in eternal flames for them to use their
intelligence for the purpose of understanding his communication. If we
have the right to use our reason, we certainly have the right to act in
accordance with it, and no god can have the right to punish us for such
action.
The doctrine that future happiness depends upon belief is monstrous. It
is the infamy of infamies. The notion that faith in Christ is to be
rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason,
observation, and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for
refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity
and ignorance, called "faith." What man, who ever thinks, can believe
that blood can appease God? And yet, our entire system of religion is
based upon that belief. The Jews pacified Jehovah with the blood of
animals, and according to the christian system, the blood of Jesus
softened the heart of God a little, and rendered possible the salvation of

a fortunate few. It is hard to conceive how the human mind can give
assent to such terrible ideas, or how any sane man can read the bible
and still believe in the doctrine of inspiration.
Whether the bible is true or false, is of no consequence in comparison
with the mental freedom of the race.
Salvation through slavery is worthless. Salvation from slavery is
inestimable.
As long as man believes the bible to be infallible, that is his master.
The civilization of this century is not the child of faith, but of
unbelief--the result of free thought.
All that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable
person that the bible is simply and purely of human invention--of
barbarian invention--is to read it. Read it as you would any other book;
think of it as you would any other; get the bandage of reverence from
your eyes; drive from your heart the phantom of fear; push from the
throne of your brain the cowled form of superstition--then read the holy
bible, and you will be amazed that you ever, for one moment, supposed
a being of infinite wisdom, goodness and purity to be the author of such