Lectures and Essays
Type
Book
Authors
Category
Publication Year
1905
Publisher
Watts & Co, United Kingdom
Description
Essays on
SOME MISTAKES OF MOSES
SHAKESPEARE
WHY AM I AN AGNOSTIC?
ORTHODOXY
SUPERSTITION
ADVICE TO PARENTS
GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE
I WANT to do what little I can to make my country truly free, to broaden the intellectual horizon of our people, to destroy the prejudices born of ignorance and fear, to do away with the blind worship of the ignoble past, with the idea that all the great and good are dead, that the living are totally depraved, that all pleasures are sins, that sighs and groans are alone pleasing to God, that thought is dangerous, that intellectual courage is a crime, that cowardice is a virtue, that a certain belief is necessary to secure salvation, that to carry a cross in this world will give us a palm in the next, and that we must allow some priest to be the pilot of our souls. Until every soul is freely permitted to investigate every book and creed and dogma for itself, the world cannot be free.
Mankind will be enslaved until there is mental grandeur enough to allow each man to have his thought and say. This earth will be a paradise when men can upon all these questions differ, and yet each grasp each other's hands as friends. It is amazing to me that a difference of opinion upon subjects that we know nothing with certainty about should make us hate, persecute, and despise each other. Why a difference of opinion upon predestination or the Trinity should make people imprison and burn each other seems beyond the comprehension of man; and yet, in all countries where Christians have existed, they have destroyed each other to the exact extent of their power. Why should a believer in God hate an Atheist ? Surely the Atheist has not injured God, and surely he is human, capable of joy and pain, and entitled to all the rights of man. Would it not be far better to treat this Atheist at least as well as he treats us ? Christians tell me they love their enemies, and yet all I ask is, not that they love their enemies, not that they love their friends even, but that they treat those who differ from them with simple fairness.
SOME MISTAKES OF MOSES
SHAKESPEARE
WHY AM I AN AGNOSTIC?
ORTHODOXY
SUPERSTITION
ADVICE TO PARENTS
GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE
I WANT to do what little I can to make my country truly free, to broaden the intellectual horizon of our people, to destroy the prejudices born of ignorance and fear, to do away with the blind worship of the ignoble past, with the idea that all the great and good are dead, that the living are totally depraved, that all pleasures are sins, that sighs and groans are alone pleasing to God, that thought is dangerous, that intellectual courage is a crime, that cowardice is a virtue, that a certain belief is necessary to secure salvation, that to carry a cross in this world will give us a palm in the next, and that we must allow some priest to be the pilot of our souls. Until every soul is freely permitted to investigate every book and creed and dogma for itself, the world cannot be free.
Mankind will be enslaved until there is mental grandeur enough to allow each man to have his thought and say. This earth will be a paradise when men can upon all these questions differ, and yet each grasp each other's hands as friends. It is amazing to me that a difference of opinion upon subjects that we know nothing with certainty about should make us hate, persecute, and despise each other. Why a difference of opinion upon predestination or the Trinity should make people imprison and burn each other seems beyond the comprehension of man; and yet, in all countries where Christians have existed, they have destroyed each other to the exact extent of their power. Why should a believer in God hate an Atheist ? Surely the Atheist has not injured God, and surely he is human, capable of joy and pain, and entitled to all the rights of man. Would it not be far better to treat this Atheist at least as well as he treats us ? Christians tell me they love their enemies, and yet all I ask is, not that they love their enemies, not that they love their friends even, but that they treat those who differ from them with simple fairness.
Number of Copies
1
