The Necessity of Atheism

The Necessity of Atheism, by Dr.
D.M. Brooks

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Title: The Necessity of Atheism
Author: Dr. D.M. Brooks
Release Date: January 2, 2007 [EBook #20248]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE NECESSITY OF ATHEISM
By

DR. D. M. BROOKS
FREETHOUGHT PRESS ASSOCIATION NEW YORK
Copyright, 1933 BY FREETHOUGHT PRESS ASSOCIATION

Dedicated to
JOSEPH LEWIS IN AMERICA
AND
CHAPMAN COHEN IN ENGLAND
OF WHOM IT MAY BE SAID:
"How often it has happened that one man, standing at the right point of
view, has descried the truth, and, after having been denounced and
persecuted by all others, they have eventually been constrained to
adopt his declarations!"--(DRAPER.)
For the old Gods came to an end long ago. And verily it was a good
and joyful end of Gods!
They did not die lingering in the twilight--although that lie is told! On
the contrary, they once upon a time laughed themselves to death!
That came to pass when, by a God himself, the most ungodly word was
uttered, the word: "There is but one God! Thou shalt have no other
Gods before me."
An old grim beard of a God, a jealous one, forgot himself thus.
And then all Gods laughed and shook on their chairs and cried: "Is
Godliness not just that there are Gods, but no God?"
Whoever hath ears let him hear.

"Thus Spake Zarathrustra"--FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE ix
I. THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS 21
II. THE KORAN, THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 31
III. THE PROPHETS MOHAMMED, JESUS, AND MOSES
CHARLATANS OR VICTIMS OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL
DISEASE 65
IV. SOUNDNESS OF A FOUNDATION FOR A BELIEF IN A
DEITY 94
V. THE PERSISTENCE OF RELIGION 115
VI. RELIGION AND SCIENCE 120
VII. RELIGION AND MEDICINE 126
VIII. RELIGION AND ASTRONOMY 148
IX. RELIGION AND GEOGRAPHY 151
X. RELIGION AND CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS 154
XI. RELIGION AND GEOLOGY, PHILOLOGY, AND EVOLUTION
157
XII. RELIGION AND WITCHCRAFT 163
XIII. RELIGION AND MORALITY 193

XIV. CHRISTIANITY AND WAR 211
XV. CHRISTIANITY AND SLAVERY 214
XVI. CHRISTIANITY AND LABOR 224
XVII. RELIGION AND WOMAN 242
XVIII. THE PHILOSOPHERS AND THE GREAT ILLUSION 251
XIX. THE DOOM OF RELIGION; THE NECESSITY OF ATHEISM
269
XX. CONTEMPORARY OPINION 309

PREFACE
Plain speaking is necessary in any discussion of religion, for if the
freethinker attacks the religious dogmas with hesitation, the orthodox
believer assumes that it is with regret that the freethinker would remove
the crutch that supports the orthodox. And all religious beliefs are
"crutches" hindering the free locomotive efforts of an advancing
humanity. There are no problems related to human progress and
happiness in this age which any theology can solve, and which the
teachings of freethought cannot do better and without the aid of
encumbrances.
Havelock Ellis has stated that, "The man who has never wrestled with
his early faith, the faith that he was brought up with and that yet is not
truly his own--for no faith is our own that we have not arduously
won--has missed not only a moral but an intellectual discipline. The
absence of that discipline may mark a man for life and render all his
work ineffective. He has missed a training in criticism, in analysis, in
open-mindedness, in the resolutely impersonal treatment of personal
problems, which no other training can compensate. He is, for the most
part, condemned to live in a mental jungle where his arm will soon be
too feeble to clear away the growths that enclose him, and his eyes too

weak to find the light." The man who has allowed his mental capacities
to clear his way through the dense underbrush of religious dogma finds
that he has emerged into a purer and healthier atmosphere. In the bright
light of this mental emancipation a man perceives the falsities of all
religions in their historic, scientific, and metaphysical aspects. The
healthier mental viewpoint holds up to scorn and discards the
reactionary religious philosophy of morals, and the sum total of his
conclusions must be that religion is doomed; and doomed in this
modern day by its absolute irrelevance to the needs and interests of
modern life. And this not only by the steadily increasing army of
freethinkers, but by the indifference and neglect of those who still cling
to the fast slipping folds of religious