An American Bible - Ingersoll

Where has Robert Ingersoll been all of my life?  I'd never heard of him before I discovered An American Bible.  I've been reading The Gospel According to Robert Ingersoll, a man who lived during the Civil War and was known as "the great orator," and as the "preeminent agnostic of his day."

Because I share much of his cynicism concerning traditionally accepted Christian creed, doctrine and dogma I find much of his writings to be breathtakingly refreshing.

Consider the following:

"By this time the whole world should know that the real bible has not yet been written, but is being written, and that it will never be finished until the race begins its downward march, or ceases to exist...(the real bible) has no fear of being read, of being contradicted, of being investigated and understood.  It does not pretend to be holy, or sacred; it simply claims to be true."

"We do not need the forgiveness of gods, but of ourselves, and the ones we injure.  Restitution without repentance is far better than repentance without restitution."

"We know nothing of any god who rewards, punishes or forgives."

"Religion is supposed to consist in a discharge of the duties we owe to God.  In other words, we are taught that God is exceedingly anxious that we should believe a certain thing.  For my part, I do not believe that there is any infinite being to whom we owe anything.  The reason I say this is, we can not owe any duty to any being who requires nothing--to any being that we can not possibly help, to any being whose happiness we can not increase.  If God is infinite, we can neither give, nor can He receive anything.  Anything that we do or fail to do, can not, in the slightest degree, affect an infinite God; consequently no relations can exist between the finite and the Infinite, if by relations is meant mutual duties and obligations."

"Let us forget that we are Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians or Freethinkers, and remember only that we are men and women.  After all, man and woman are the highest possible titles.  All other names belittle us, and show that we have consented to wear the collar of authority--that we are followers."

"An infinite God ought to be able to protect Himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures.  Certainly He ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep Him from being laughed at.  No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment...Surely politicians could be better employed than in passing laws to protect the literary reputation of the Jewish God."

"The pulpit should not be a pillory.  Congregations should allow the minister a little liberty.  They should, at least, permit him to tell the truth."

"As long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man.  The Bible was not written by a woman...In the Bible will be found no description of a civilized home.  The free mother surrounded by free and loving children, adored by a free man, her husband, was unknown to the inspired writers of the Bible."

"Religion has not civilized man--man has civilized religion.  God improves as man advances."

"In the republic of mind, one is a majority.  There, all are monarchs, and all are equals.  The tyranny of a majority even is unknown.  Each one is crowned, sceptered and throned.  Upon every brow is the tiara, and around every form is the imperial purple.  Only those are good citizens who express their honest thoughts, and those who persecute for opinion's sake are the only traitors.  There, nothing is considered infamous except an appeal to brute force, and nothing sacred but love, liberty and joy."

I am far more of an agnostic than I supposed!