1351 lines
63 KiB
Plaintext
1351 lines
63 KiB
Plaintext
From ai815@freenet.carleton.caSat Oct 14 12:38:40 1995
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Date: Sat, 14 Oct 1995 06:37:17 -0400
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From: Greg Erwin <ai815@freenet.carleton.ca>
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To: apabel@prairienet.org, ap818@freenet.buffalo.edu
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Subject: October 1995 Nullifidian
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) \| (__(__(___(__(__(___(__(__(__(__(__(__/ (__
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*The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought**
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###### Volume II, Number 10 ***A Collector's Item!***#####
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################### ISSN 1201-0111 #######################
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####################### OCT 1995 ###########################
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nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or
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belief. [f. med. L _nullifidius_ f. L _nullus_ none +
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_fides_ faith; see -IAN] Concise Oxford Dictionary
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The purpose of this magazine is to provide a source of
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articles dealing with many aspects of humanism.
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We are ATHEISTIC as we do not believe in the actual
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existence of any supernatural beings or any transcendental
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reality.
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We are SECULAR because the evidence of history and the daily
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horrors in the news show the pernicious and destructive
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consequences of allowing religions to be involved with
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politics or government.
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We are HUMANISTS and we focus on what is good for humanity,
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in the real world. We will not be put off with offers of
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pie in the sky, bye and bye.
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Re: navigation.
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Search for BEG to find the beginning of the next article.
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Search for the first few words of the title as given in the
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table of contents to find a specific article. I try to
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remember to copy the title from the text and then paste it
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into the ToC, so it should be exact. Search for "crass
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commercialism:" to see what's for sale. Subscription
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information, etc is at the end of the magazine, search for
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END OF TEXTS.
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/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. A FEW REASONS FOR DOUBTING THE INSPIRATION OF THE
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BIBLE. (Part II, reasons forty-first through sixty
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-first)--R.G. Ingersoll.
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2. A Plea to Conservatives by Walter Laffer
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3. Foundation documents of the First Church of Zen
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Orthodox Nullifidianism.
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4. Religion and Science by Albert Einstein
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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A FEW REASONS FOR DOUBTING THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE.
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(Part II, reasons forty-first through sixty-first)
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--R.G. Ingersoll.
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Forty-first. Why should a man, because he has done a
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bad action, go and kill a sheep? How can man make friends
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with God by cutting the throats of bullocks and goats? Why
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should God delight in the shedding of blood? Why should he
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want his altar sprinkled with blood, and the horns of his
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altar tipped with blood, and his priests covered with blood?
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Why should burning flesh be a sweet savor in the nostrils of
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God? Why did he compel his priests to be butchers, cutters
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and stabbers? Why should the same God kill a man for eating
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the fat of an ox, a sheep, or a goat?
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Forty-second. Could it be a consolation to a man when
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dying to think that he had always believed that God told
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Aaron to take two goats and draw cuts to see which goat
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should be killed and which should be a scapegoat? [Lev. xvi,
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8.] And that upon the head of the scapegoat Aaron should lay
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both his hands and confess over him all the iniquities of
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the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, and
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put them all on the head of the goat, and send him away by
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the hand of a fit man into the wilderness; and that the goat
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should bear upon him all the iniquities of the people into a
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land not inhabited? [Lev. xvi, 21, 22.] How could a goat
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carry away a load of iniquities and transgressions? Why
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should he carry them to a land uninhabited? Were these sins
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contagious? About how many sins could an average goat carry?
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Could a man meet such a goat now without laughing?
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Forty-third. Why should God object to a man wearing a
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garment made of woolen and linen? Why should he care whether
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a man rounded the corners of his beard? [Lev. xix, 19, 27.]
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Why should God prevent a man from offering the sacred bread
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merely because he had a flat nose, or was lame, or had five
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fingers on one hand, or had a broken foot, or was a dwarf?
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If he objected to such people, why did he make them? [Lev.
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xxi, 18-20.]
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Forty-fourth. Why should we believe that God insisted
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upon the sacrifice of human beings? Is it a sin to deny
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this, and to deny the inspiration of a book that teaches it?
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Read the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth verses of the last
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chapter of Leviticus, a book in which there is more folly
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and cruelty, more stupidity and tyranny, than in any other
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book in this world except some others in the same Bible.
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Read the thirty-second chapter of Exodus and you will see
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how by the most infamous of crimes man becomes reconciled to
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this God. You will see that he demands of fathers the blood
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of their sons. Read the twelfth and thirteenth verses of the
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third chapter of Numbers, "And I, behold, I have taken the
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Levites from among the children of Israel," etc.
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How, in the desert of Sinai, did the Jews obtain
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curtains of fine linen? How did these absconding slaves make
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cherubs of gold? Where did they get the skins of badgers,
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and how did they dye them red? How did they make wreathed
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chains and spoons, basins and tongs? Where did they get the
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blue cloth and their purple? Where did they get the sockets
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of brass? How did they coin the shekel of the sanctuary? How
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did they overlay boards with gold? Where did they get the
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numberless instruments and tools necessary to accomplish all
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these things? Where did they get the fine flour and the oil?
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Were all these found in the desert of Sinai? Is it a sin to
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ask these questions? Are all these doubts born of a
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malignant and depraved heart? Why should God in this desert
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prohibit priests from drinking wine, and from eating moist
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grapes? How could these priests get wine?
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Do not these passages show that these laws were made
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long after the Jews had left the desert, and that they were
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not given from Sinai? Can you imagine a God silly enough to
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tell a horde of wandering savages upon a desert that they
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must not eat any fruit of the trees they planted until the
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fourth year?
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Forty-fifth. Ought a man to be despised and persecuted
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for denying that God ordered the priests to make women drink
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dirt and water to test their virtue? [Num. v, 12-31.] Or for
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denying that over the tabernacle there was a cloud during
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the day and fire by night, and that the cloud lifted up
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when God wished the Jews to travel, And that until it was
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lifted they remained in their tents? [Num. ix, 16-18.] Can
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it be possible that the "ark of the covenant "traveled on
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its own account," and that "when the ark set forward" the
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people followed, as is related in the tenth chapter of the
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holy book of Numbers?
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Forty-sixth. Was it reasonable for God to give the Jews
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manna, and nothing else, year after year? He had infinite
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power, and could just as easily have given them something
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good, in reasonable variety, as to have fed them on manna
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until they loathed the sight of it, and longingly remembered
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the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic of
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Egypt. And yet when the poor people complained of the diet
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and asked for a little meat, this loving and merciful God
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became enraged, sent them millions of quails in his wrath,
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and while they were eating, while the flesh was yet between
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their teeth, before it was chewed, this amiable God smote
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the people with a plague and killed all those that lusted
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after meat. In a few days after, he made up his mind to kill
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the rest, but was dissuaded when Moses told him that the
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Canaanites would laugh at him. [Num. xiv, 15, 16.] No wonder
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the poor Jews wished they were back in Egypt. No wonder they
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had rather be the slaves of Pharaoh than the chosen people
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of God, No wonder they preferred the wrath of Egypt to the
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love of heaven. In my judgment, the Jews would have fared
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far better if Jehovah had let them alone, or had he even
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taken the side of the Egyptians.
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When the poor Jews were told by their spies that the
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Canaanites were giants, they, seized with fear, said, "Let
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us go back to Egypt." For this, their God doomed all except
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Joshua and Caleb to a wandering death. Hear the words of
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this most merciful God: "But as for you, your carcasses they
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shall fall in this wilderness, and your children shall
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wander in the wilderness forty years and bear your" sins
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"until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness." [Num.
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xiv, 32-33.] And yet this same God promised to give unto all
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these people a land flowing with milk and honey.
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Forty-seventh. And while the children of Israel were in
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the wilderness they found a man that gathered sticks upon
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the Sabbath day.
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"And they that found him gathering sticks brought him
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unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
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"And they put him in ward, because it was not declared
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what should be done to him.
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"And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely
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put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with
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stones without the camp.
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"And all the congregation brought him without the camp,
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and stoned him with stones, and he died." [Num. xv, 32-36.]
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When the last stone was thrown, and he that was a man was
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but a mangled, bruised, and broken mass, this God turned,
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and, touched with pity, said: "Speak unto the children of
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Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the
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borders of their garments throughout their generations, and
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that they put upon the fringe of the borders a riband of
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blue." [Num. xv, 38.]
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In the next chapter, this Jehovah, whose loving
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kindness is over all his works, because Korah, Dathan, and
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Abiram objected to being starved to death in the wilderness,
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made the earth open and swallow not only them, but their
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wives and their little ones. Not yet satisfied, he sent a
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plague and killed fourteen thousand seven hundred more.
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There never was in the history of the world such a cruel,
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revengeful, bloody, jealous, fickle, unreasonable, and
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fiendish ruler, emperor, or king as Jehovah. No wonder the
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children of Israel cried out, "Behold we die, we perish, we
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all perish."
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Forty-eighth. I cannot believe that a dry stick budded,
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blossomed, and bore almonds; that the ashes of a red heifer
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are a purification for sin; [Num. xix, 2-10.] that God gave
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the cities into the hands of the Jews because they solemnly
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agreed to murder all the inhabitants; that God became
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enraged and induced snakes to bite his chosen people; that
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God told Balaam to go with the Princess of Moab, and then
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got angry because he did go; that an animal ever saw an
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angel and conversed with a man. I cannot believe that
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thrusting a spear through the body of a woman ever stayed a
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plague; [Num. xxv, 8.] that any good man ever ordered his
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soldiers to slay the men and keep the maidens alive for
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themselves; that God commanded men not to show mercy to each
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other; that he induced men to obey his commandments by
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promising them that he would assist them in murdering the
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wives and children of their neighbors; or that he ever
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commanded a man to kill his wife because she differed with
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him about religion; [Deut. xiii, 6-10.] or that God was
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mistaken about hares chewing the cud; [Deut. xiv, 7.] or
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that he objected to the people raising horses; [Deut. xvii,
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16.] or that God wanted a camp kept clean because he walked
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through it at night; [Deut. xxiii, 13, 14.] or that he
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commanded widows to spit in the faces of their
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brothers-in-law; [Deut. xxv, 9.] or that he ever threatened
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to give anybody the itch; [Deut. xxviii, 27.] or that he
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ever secretly buried a man and allowed the corpse to write
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an account of the funeral.
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Forty-ninth. Does it necessarily follow that a man
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wishes to commit some crime if he refuses to admit that the
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river Jordan cut itself in two and allowed the lower end to
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run away? [Josh. iii, 16.] Or that seven priests could blow
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seven ram's horns loud enough to throw down the walls of a
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city; [Josh. vi, 20.] or that God, after Achan had confessed
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that he had secreted a garment and a wedge of gold, became
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good natured as soon as Achan and his sons and daughters had
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been stoned to death and their bodies burned? [Josh. vii,
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24, 25.] Is it not a virtue to abhor such a God?
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Must we believe that God sanctioned and commanded all
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the cruelties and horrors described in the Old Testament;
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that he waged the most relentless and heartless wars; that
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he declared mercy a crime; that to spare life was to excite
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his wrath; that he smiled when maidens were violated,
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laughed when mothers were ripped open with a sword, and
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shouted with joy when babes were butchered in their mothers'
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arms? Read the infamous book of Joshua, and then worship the
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God who inspired it if you can.
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Fiftieth. Can any sane man believe that the sun stood
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still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about
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a whole day, and that the moon stayed? [Josh. x, 13.] That
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these miracles were performed in the interest of massacre
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and bloodshed; that the Jews destroyed men, women, and
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children by the million, and practiced every cruelty that
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the ingenuity of their God could suggest? Is it possible
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that these things really happened? Is it possible that God
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commanded them to be done? Again I ask you to read the book
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of Joshua. After reading all its horrors you will feel a
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grim satisfaction in the dying words of Joshua to the
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children of Israel: "Know for a certainty that the Lord your
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God will no more drive out any of these nations from before
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you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and
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scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye
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perish from off this good land." [Josh. xiii, 13.]
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Think of a God who boasted that he gave the Jews a land
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for which they did not labor, cities which they did not
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build, and allowed them to eat of olive-yards and vineyards
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which they did not plant. [Josh. xxiv, 13.] Think of a God
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who murders some of his children for the benefit of the
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rest, and then kills the rest because they are not thankful
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enough. Think of a God who had the power to stop the sun and
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moon, but could not defeat an army that had iron chariots.
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[Judges 1, 19.]
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Fifty-first. Can we blame the Hebrews for getting tired
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of their God? Never was a people so murdered, starved,
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stoned, burned, deceived, humiliated, robbed, and outraged.
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Never was there so little liberty among men. Never did the
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meanest king so meddle, eavesdrop, spy out, harass, torment,
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and persecute his people. Never was ruler so jealous,
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unreasonable, contemptible, exacting, and ignorant as this
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God of the Jews. Never was such ceremony, such mummery, such
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staff about bullocks, goats, doves, red heifers, lambs, and
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unleavened dough -- never was such directions about kidneys
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and blood, ashes and fat, about curtains, tongs, fringes,
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ribands, and, brass pins -- never such details for killing
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of animals and men and the sprinkling of blood and the
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cutting of clothes. Never were such unjust laws, such
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punishments, such damned ignorance and infamy!
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Fifty-second. Is it not wonderful that the creator of
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all worlds, infinite in power and wisdom, could not hold his
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own against the gods of wood and stone? Is it not strange
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that after he had appeared to his chosen people, delivered
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them from slavery, fed them by miracles, opened the sea for
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a path, led them by cloud and fire, and overthrown their
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pursuers, they still preferred a calf of their own making?
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Is it not beyond belief that this God, by statutes and
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commandments, by punishments and penalties, by rewards and
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promises, by wonders and plagues, by earthquakes and
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pestilence, could not in the least civilize the Jews --
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could not get them beyond a point where they deserved
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killing? What shall we think of a God who gave his entire
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time for forty years to the work of converting three
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millions of people, and succeeded in getting only two men,
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and not a single woman, decent enough to enter the promised
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land? Was there ever in the history of man so detestable an
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administration of public affairs? Is it possible that God
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sold his children to the king of Mesopotamia; that he sold
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them to Jabin, king of Canaan, to the Philistines, and to
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the children of Ammon? Is it possible that an angel of the
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Lord devoured unleavened cakes and broth with fire that came
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out of the end of a stick as he sat under an oak-tree?
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Judges vi, 21.] Can it be true that God made known his will
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by making dew fall on wool without wetting the ground around
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it? [Judges vi, 37.] Do you really believe that men who lap
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water like a dog make the best soldiers? [Judges vii, 5.] Do
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you think that a man could hold a lamp in his left hand, a
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trumpet in his right hand, blow his trumpet, shout "the
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sword of the Lord and of Gideon," and break pitchers at the
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same time? [Judges vii, 5.]
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Fifty-third. Read the story of Jephthah and his
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daughter, and then tell me what you think of a father who
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would sacrifice his daughter to God, and what you think of a
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God who would receive such a sacrifice. This one story
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should be enough to make every tender and loving father hold
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this book in utter abhorrence. Is it necessary, in order to
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be saved, that one must believe that an angel of God
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appeared unto Manoah in the absence of her husband; that
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this angel afterward went up in a flame of fire; that as a
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result of this visit a child was born whose strength was in
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his hair? a child that made beehives of lions, incendiaries
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of foxes, and had a wife that wept seven days to get the
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answer to his riddle? Will the wrath of God abide forever
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upon a man for doubting the story that Samson killed a
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thousand men with a new jawbone? Is there enough in the
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Bible to save a soul with this story left out? Is hell
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hungry for those who deny that water gashed from a "hollow
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place" in a dry bone? Is it evidence of a new heart to
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believe that one man turned over a house so large that over
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three thousand people were on the roof? For my part, I
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cannot believe these things, and if my salvation depends
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upon my credulity I am as good as damned already. I cannot
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believe that the Philistines took back the ark with a
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present of five gold mice, and that thereupon God relented.
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[1 Sam. vi, 4.] I cannot believe that God killed fifty
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thousand men for looking into a box. [1 Sam. vi, 19.] It
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seems incredible, after all the Jews had done, after all
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their wars and victories, even when Saul was king, that
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there was not among them one smith who could make a sword or
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spear, and that they were compelled to go to the Philistines
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to sharpen every plowshare, coulter, and mattock. [1
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Sam.xiii, 19, 20.] Can you believe that God said to Saul,
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"Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they
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have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman,
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infant and suckling"? Can you believe that because Saul took
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the king alive after killing every other man, woman, and
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child, the ogre called Jehovah was displeased and made up
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his mind to hurl Saul from the throne and give his place to
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another? [1 Sam. xv.] I cannot believe that the Philistines
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all ran away because one of their number was killed with a
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stone. I cannot justify the conduct of Abigail, the wife of
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Nabal, who took presents to David. David hardly did right
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when he said to this woman, "I have hearkened to thy voice,
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and have accepted thy person." It could hardly have been
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chance that made Nabal so deathly sick next morning and
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killed him in ten days. All this looks wrong, especially as
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David married his widow before poor Nabal was fairly cold."
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Fifty-fourth. Notwithstanding all I have heard of Katie
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King, I cannot believe that a witch at Endor materialized
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the ghost of Samuel and caused it to appear with a cloak on.
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[1 Sam. xxviii.] I cannot believe that God tempted David to
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take the census, and then gave him his choice of three
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punishments: First, Seven years of famine; Second, Flying
|
|
three months before their enemies; Third, A pestilence of
|
|
three days; that David chose the pestilence, and that God
|
|
destroyed seventy thousand men. [2 Sam. xxiv.] Why should
|
|
God kill the people for what David did? Is it a sin to be
|
|
counted? Can anything more brutally hellish be conceived?
|
|
Why should man waste prayers upon such a God?
|
|
|
|
Fifty-fifth. Must we admit that Elijah was fed by
|
|
ravens; that they brought him bread and flesh every morning
|
|
and evening? Must we believe that this same prophet could
|
|
create meal and oil, and induce a departed soul to come back
|
|
and take up its residence once more in the body? That he
|
|
could get rain by praying for it; that he could cause fire
|
|
to burn up a sacrifice and altar, together with twelve
|
|
barrels of water? [1 Kings xviii.] Can we believe that an
|
|
angel of the Lord turned cook and prepared two suppers in
|
|
one night for Elijah, and that the prophet ate enough to
|
|
last him forty days and forty nights? [1 kings xix.] Is it
|
|
true that when a captain with fifty men went after Elijah,
|
|
this prophet caused fire to come down from heaven and
|
|
consume them all? Should God allow such wretches to manage
|
|
his fire? Is it true that Elijah consumed another captain
|
|
with fifty men in the same way? [2 kings i.] Is it a fact
|
|
that a river divided because the water was struck with a
|
|
cloak? Did a man actually go to heaven in a chariot of fire
|
|
drawn by horses of fire, or was he carried to Paradise by a
|
|
whirlwind? Must we believe, in order to be good and tender
|
|
fathers and mothers, that because some "little children"
|
|
mocked at an old man with a bald head, God -- the same God
|
|
who said, "Suffer little children to come unto me" -- sent
|
|
two she-bears out of the wood and tare forty-two of these
|
|
babes? Think of the mothers that watched and waited for
|
|
their children. Think of the wailing when these mangled ones
|
|
were found, when they were brought back and pressed to the
|
|
breasts of weeping women. What an amiable gentleman Mr.
|
|
Elisha must have been. [2 Kings ii.]
|
|
|
|
Fifty-sixth. It is hard to believe that a prophet by
|
|
lying on a dead body could make it sneeze seven times; [2
|
|
Kings iv.] or that being dipped seven times in the Jordan
|
|
could cure the leprosy. [2 Kings v.] Would a merciful God
|
|
curse children; and children's children yet unborn, with
|
|
leprosy for a father's fault? [2 Kings v. 27.] Is it
|
|
possible to make iron float in water? [2 Kings vi, 6.] Is it
|
|
reasonable to say that when a corpse touched another corpse
|
|
it came to life? [2 Kings xiii, 21.] Is it a sign that a man
|
|
wants to commit a crime because he refuses to believe that a
|
|
king had a boil and that God caused the sun to go backward
|
|
in heaven so that the shadow on a sun-dial went back ten
|
|
degrees as a sign that the aforesaid would get well? [2
|
|
Kings xx, 1-2.] Is it true that this globe turned backward,
|
|
that its motion was reversed as a sign to a Jewish king? If
|
|
it did not, this story is false, and that part of the Bible
|
|
is not true even if it is inspired.
|
|
|
|
Fifty-seventh. How did the Bible get lost? [2 Kings
|
|
xxii, 8.] Where was the precious Pentateuch from Moses to
|
|
Josiah? How was it possible for the Jews to get along
|
|
without the directions as to fat and caul and kidney
|
|
contained in Leviticus? Without that sacred book in his
|
|
possession a priest might take up ashes and carry them out
|
|
without changing his pantaloons. Such mistakes kindled the
|
|
wrath of God.
|
|
|
|
As soon as the Pentateuch was found Josiah began
|
|
killing wizards and such as had familiar spirits.
|
|
|
|
Fifty-eighth, I cannot believe that God talked to
|
|
Solomon, that he visited him in the night and asked him what
|
|
he should give him; I cannot believe that he told ban, "I
|
|
will give thee riches and wealth and honor, such as none of
|
|
the kings have had before thee, neither shall there any
|
|
after thee have the like." [2 Kings i, 7, 12.] If Jehovah
|
|
said this he was mistaken. It is not true that Solomon had
|
|
fourteen hundred chariots of war in a country without roads.
|
|
It is not true that he made gold and silver at Jerusalem as
|
|
plenteous as stones. There were several kings in his day,
|
|
and thousands since, that could have thrown away the value
|
|
of Palestine without missing the amount. The Holy Land was
|
|
and is a wretched country. There are no monuments, no ruins
|
|
attesting former wealth and greatness. The Jews had no
|
|
commerce, knew nothing of other nations, had no luxuries,
|
|
never produced a painter, a sculptor, architect, scientist,
|
|
or statesman until after the destruction of Jerusalem. As
|
|
long as Jehovah attended to their affairs they had nothing
|
|
but civil war, plague, pestilence, and famine. After he
|
|
abandoned, and the Christians ceased to persecute them, they
|
|
became the most prosperous of people. Since Jehovah, in
|
|
anger and disgust, cast them away they have produced
|
|
painters, sculptors, scientists, statesmen, composers, and
|
|
philosophers.
|
|
|
|
Fifty-ninth. I cannot admit that Hiram, the King of
|
|
Tyre, wrote a letter to Solomon in which he admitted that
|
|
the "God of Israel made heaven and earth." [2 Chron. ii,
|
|
12.] This King was not a Jew. It seems incredible that
|
|
Solomon had eighty thousand men hewing timber for the
|
|
temple, with seventy thousand bearers of burdens, and
|
|
thirty-six hundred over-seers." [2 Chron. ii, 18.]
|
|
|
|
Sixtieth. I cannot believe that God shuts up heaven and
|
|
prevents rain, or that he sends locusts to devour a land, or
|
|
pestilence to destroy the people. [2 Chron. vii, 13.] I
|
|
cannot believe that God told Solomon that his eyes and heart
|
|
should perpetually be in the house that Solomon had built.
|
|
[2 Chron. vii, 16.]
|
|
|
|
Sixty-first. I cannot believe that Solomon passed all
|
|
the kings of the earth in riches; that all the kings of the
|
|
earth sought his presence and brought presents of silver and
|
|
gold, raiment, harness, spices, and mules -- a rate year by
|
|
year. [2 Chron. ix, 22-24.] Is it possible that Shishak, a
|
|
King of Egypt, invaded Palestine with seventy thousand
|
|
horsemen and twelve hundred chariots of war? [2 Chron. xii,
|
|
2, 3.] I cannot believe that in a battle between Jeroboam
|
|
and Abijah, the army of Abijah actually slew in one day five
|
|
hundred thousand chosen men. [2 Chron. xiv, 17.] Does anyone
|
|
believe that Zerah, the Ethiopian, invaded Palestine with a
|
|
million men? [2 Chron. xiv, 9.] I cannot believe that
|
|
Jehoshaphat had a standing army of nine hundred and sixty
|
|
thousand men. [2 Chron. xvii, 14-19.] I cannot believe that
|
|
God advertised for a liar to act as his messenger. [2 Chron.
|
|
xviii, 19- 22.] I cannot believe that King Amaziah did right
|
|
in the sight of the Lord, and that he broke in pieces ten
|
|
thousand men by casting them from a precipice. [2 Chron.
|
|
xxv, 12.] I cannot think that God smote a king with leprosy
|
|
because he tried to burn incense. [2 Chron. xxvi, 19.] I
|
|
cannot think that Pekah slew one hundred and twenty thousand
|
|
men in one day. [2 Chron. xxviii, 6.]
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOTE: This article was printed from manuscript notes found
|
|
among Colonel Ingersoll's papers, evidently written in the
|
|
early 1880's. While much of the argument and criticism will
|
|
be found embodied in his various lectures, magazine articles
|
|
and contributions to the press. it was thought to be too
|
|
valuable In its present form to be left out of a complete
|
|
edition of his writings.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
**** ****
|
|
Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
|
|
|
The Bank of Wisdom Inc. is a collection of the most
|
|
thoughtful, scholarly and factual books. These computer
|
|
books are reprints of suppressed books and will cover
|
|
American and world history; the Biographies and writings of
|
|
famous persons, and especially of our nations Founding
|
|
Fathers. They will include philosophy and religion. all
|
|
these subjects, and more, will be made available to the
|
|
public in electronic form, easily copied and distributed, so
|
|
that America can again become what its Founders intended --
|
|
|
|
The Free Market-Place of Ideas.
|
|
|
|
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these
|
|
old, hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain
|
|
needed facts and information for today. If you have such
|
|
books please contact us, we need to give them back to
|
|
America.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|
29
|
|
|
|
=========================================================
|
|
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
|
|
=========================================================
|
|
"The time appears to me to have come when it is the duty of
|
|
all to make their dissent from religion known."
|
|
[John Stuart Mill]
|
|
===========================================================
|
|
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|
A Plea to Conservatives by Walter Laffer
|
|
|
|
We spend a great deal of our energies on this list deploring
|
|
the radical religious right's attempts at trying to control
|
|
our lives and that of society in general. This is as it
|
|
should be and is of very grave concern to all of us. But, I
|
|
have a greater premonition of things to come or maybe are
|
|
already here. This has to do with what I call the moral and
|
|
intellectual bankruptcy of the conservative movement in
|
|
America today. To me, as a humanist, this is far more
|
|
threatening in the long run than the inconsistencies in the
|
|
unalterable inerrancy of the religious fanatics.
|
|
|
|
One of the strengths of our society has always been the
|
|
debate on political and social policy. But, it seems that
|
|
today we are debating the efficacy of the scientific method;
|
|
the right of humans to assemble and organize; the right of
|
|
children to have a healthy and safe upbringing; the right of
|
|
over half the population of the world to have political,
|
|
economic, sexual, equality and self control over their own
|
|
bodies; and the right of future generations to have a
|
|
humanly habitable environment.
|
|
|
|
Conservatives seem to take the position that all the
|
|
scientific research regarding the addictive and carcinogenic
|
|
effects of tobacco, supported by thirty years of surgeons
|
|
general from liberal and conservative bases, should be
|
|
ignored and the drug should be tax payer subsidized.
|
|
Advertising to the most emotionally and physically
|
|
vulnerable, the teenager, should be allowed as a First
|
|
Amendment protected right. This anti-scientific morally
|
|
bankrupt position is very distressing when one considers it
|
|
from a humanistic viewpoint. AIDS research is not treated
|
|
as a serious medical problem, but rather as problem of
|
|
"improper, disgusting" behavior. Environmental research is
|
|
being cut back in the Bureau of Mines, the Energy Department
|
|
and the Environmental Protection Agency (which was started
|
|
by conservative Richard Nixon).
|
|
|
|
The other day a New Republican congressman from Alabama
|
|
requested that the research by the EPA and the NCI regarding
|
|
the insecticides, chlordane and Mirax be disregarded, even
|
|
though the insecticides were found in human mothers' milk.
|
|
Both the EPA and the NCI seem to think these insecticides
|
|
are potential carcinogens based on their scientific
|
|
research. The attempt to not use modern scientific methods
|
|
for testing the contamination levels of foods such as meat,
|
|
poultry, and fish is again very ant-scientific. This kind
|
|
of anti-scientific approach to serious human problems is
|
|
very frightening. These ant-intellectual, anti-scientific
|
|
anecdotal arguments are used as testimony to support the
|
|
passage of deregulation. laws.
|
|
|
|
I think there have been many studies to show that children
|
|
learn better when thy are healthy and well fed. Yet, we
|
|
have the conservative position of cutting off school lunches
|
|
for poor kids. We know the they do not want universal
|
|
health care. We still have TB in Chicago. Will the private
|
|
market solve this problem? We need active programs not some
|
|
misguided 19th century rhetoric about "survival of the
|
|
fittest"
|
|
|
|
This denigration of science has to reinforce the Religious
|
|
Right's anti-scientific argument for creationism over
|
|
evolution. A not so long ago conservative president of the
|
|
United States said that "Trees cause pollution," and that
|
|
"evolution was probably not true". Well, the hole in the
|
|
ozone layer gets bigger while Congress and the President
|
|
fiddle.
|
|
|
|
I would have hoped that the modern conservatives would be
|
|
objective and pro the scientific approach. What a tragedy
|
|
for all of us who are humanists that they are not.
|
|
|
|
As regards the basic political liberties that most of us on
|
|
this list subscribe to, unfortunately we have the following
|
|
rhetoric.
|
|
|
|
"He called the delegates at the conference in Beijing
|
|
'elitists, Socialists, hard-leftists, and radicals.'" -
|
|
from a column by Maureen Dowd quoting GOP Presidential
|
|
candidate Pat Buchanan. Who incidentally has become the
|
|
darling of the Populist Party. You know, the party of "Bo"
|
|
Gritz and David Duke. Wasn't William Jennings Bryan, a
|
|
Democrat, also a Populist? Creationism is coming, we had
|
|
better duck.
|
|
|
|
George Bush sympathized with the tyrants who run China in
|
|
their having to host an outspoken American feminist and
|
|
politician. The same man who has said that atheists are not
|
|
really American citizens. Why would an American
|
|
conservative sympathize with a tyranny that opposes the
|
|
right of its citizens to peaceably assemble, speak out
|
|
against their government, a government where women are
|
|
routinely forced into abortion, economic and sexual
|
|
servitude and political conformity? I think that this is a
|
|
sign of the moral and political bankruptcy of the American
|
|
conservatives.
|
|
|
|
Consider the following contrasting quotes. Which are/is
|
|
more in tune with basic humanism?
|
|
|
|
"this misguided conference and its left-wing ideological
|
|
agenda" of abortion rights and militant feminism, United
|
|
States Senator and declared Republican candidate for the
|
|
presidency of the United States of America, Robert Dole
|
|
attacking the spending of taxpayers' money on the attendance
|
|
of the United Nations Fourth Women's Conference in Beijing,
|
|
China.
|
|
|
|
"The only proper American response to the release of Harry
|
|
Wu is, 'It's about time,' not 'Take my wife - please'"
|
|
United States Senator and declared candidate for the
|
|
presidency of the United States of America, Phil Gramm
|
|
referring to the attendance of First Lady Hillary Rodham
|
|
Clinton at the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women in
|
|
Beijing, China.
|
|
|
|
"What unites this group and thousands of others traveling to
|
|
Beijing is a desire to focus world attention on issues that
|
|
matter most to women, children and families: access to
|
|
health care, education, jobs and credit, and the chance to
|
|
enjoy basic legal and human rights and participate fully in
|
|
the political of one's country." excerpt from a column by
|
|
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
|
|
|
|
I as a humanist must side with the last one. i do not see
|
|
how opposing forced body mutilation, sexual servitude,
|
|
enforced illiteracy, denial of health care, and demands for
|
|
political and economic equality can be even remotely
|
|
considered as " misguided left-wing ideology" , let alone,
|
|
"elitist, Socialist, hard-leftist, or radical". When I was
|
|
growing up the conservatives would have supported these
|
|
basic human rights. At least they have been considered
|
|
basic in the America in which I live. How has the modern
|
|
American conservative ended up sympathizing with the
|
|
Zhironofsky's (keep the immigrants out of our homeland), the
|
|
Vatican, the Iranian fundamentalist government, the Chinese
|
|
tyranny, the Sudanese fundamentalists, et al? Not too long
|
|
ago these tyrants were referred to as "the evil empire".
|
|
Now our conservatives feel sorry for them. What happened?
|
|
Why did the conservatives accept the moral depravity of such
|
|
regimes?
|
|
|
|
This moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the American
|
|
conservative philosophy and policies is a matter of very
|
|
great concern to our society. They now control the
|
|
legislative and judicial arms of our government. This is
|
|
not to say that the liberals are any better off. They seem
|
|
to be adrift, almost afraid to have any principles at all.
|
|
But right at the moment, I would hope that the conservative
|
|
policy makers and philosophers would shed the yoke of the
|
|
Catholic Church's no-nothing (Bill Buckley, Father John
|
|
McLaughlin, Bill Simon, The Coors, The Heritage Foundation,
|
|
Antonin Scalia,Clarence Thomas, etc., etc., etc.) control of
|
|
them. This is a plea for the conservatives to come back to
|
|
the scientific approach to societal problems, come back to
|
|
the basic political and human rights as expressed in our
|
|
Constitution and wonderful democratic and liberty loving
|
|
heritage. Come back and support an intellectual and moral
|
|
approach to our society.
|
|
|
|
Walter Laffer LafferWBII@aol.com
|
|
=========================================================
|
|
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
|
|
=========================================================
|
|
"Trying to find God is a good deal like looking for money
|
|
one has lost in a dream." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible
|
|
Worth Reading And Other Essays_]
|
|
===========================================================
|
|
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|
Foundation documents of the First Church of Zen Orthodox
|
|
Nullifidianism.
|
|
|
|
"First" in the sense that this is the first one.
|
|
|
|
"Church" solely in the sense of a community of like-minded
|
|
people, voluntarily organized to promote their vision of
|
|
life, and to work for the common good.
|
|
|
|
"Zen" in the sense that you should be philosophical about
|
|
common sense and commonsensical about philosophy, and
|
|
humorous about both.
|
|
|
|
"Orthodox" in the sense that we're pretty sure we're right.
|
|
|
|
"Nullifidian" in that we have no religious faith, as faith
|
|
is, by definition, about things which cannot be verified,
|
|
whereas ours can.
|
|
|
|
Yes, we don't mind if you say that we have faith in having
|
|
no faith. >Sigh<
|
|
|
|
This grew out of a discussion on the secular humanist email
|
|
discussion group. A challenge was issued by Richard Russell
|
|
to come up with basic ethics that were required by nature
|
|
and universally accepted.
|
|
|
|
Of course, nothing is ethically required by nature [if you
|
|
think so, let me know and we can shoot your proposals down
|
|
one by one] and nothing is universally accepted.
|
|
|
|
I attempted to come up with ethical "laws" that seem to be
|
|
hard wired into the human mind. Of course, our intellectual
|
|
capacity also allows us to evaluate the likely costs and
|
|
benefits of violating this hypothetical built-in
|
|
programming, just like we can override our built in
|
|
requirements and desires to eat (by fasting) breathe (by
|
|
swimming underwater) or to have sex (commitment to marriage;
|
|
intellectual appreciation of the likely consequences of sex
|
|
in certain circumstances).
|
|
|
|
The Nine Strong Recommendations, agreeing with which is
|
|
mandatory:
|
|
|
|
I. Causing other people and sentient beings unnecessary
|
|
pain is bad. As a general principle we should attempt
|
|
to avoid doing this.
|
|
|
|
II Insofar as it is compatible with our own well-being and
|
|
happiness it is a good idea to "be nice" to others.
|
|
|
|
III Do not lightly undertake obligations. Attempt to
|
|
fulfil completely those obligations which you
|
|
undertake.
|
|
|
|
IV Live by the rules.
|
|
|
|
V We should create conditions of maximum freedom for the
|
|
maximum number of people.
|
|
|
|
VI All people in a society should be considered legally
|
|
equal.
|
|
|
|
VII Unnecessary waste and destruction are bad and should be
|
|
avoided.
|
|
|
|
VIII Examine the consequences of actions, and adjust future
|
|
actions accordingly.
|
|
|
|
IX Make sure that your assumptions about the world are
|
|
true.
|
|
|
|
NB: Commentary on I and II:
|
|
|
|
However, it works better to prohibit "bad" actions than to
|
|
try to force people to be nice. That is, as a guiding
|
|
principle for society, we should not try to force people
|
|
into doing good, but merely encourage it, while actively
|
|
discouraging "bad" behaviour.
|
|
|
|
Re: VII:
|
|
|
|
Simply by living in a society, the citizen assumes certain
|
|
obligations, which can mainly be summed up by the phrase
|
|
"agrees to live by the rules," or maybe "plays well with
|
|
others."
|
|
|
|
About VII and III:
|
|
|
|
Fortunately, a "good" society contains a rule that allows
|
|
its citizens to get together and change the rules. As
|
|
conditions constantly change, we should maximize the
|
|
possibilities for free discussion and debate to make
|
|
necessary change possible. If a citizen wishes to change a
|
|
rule, he or she must make use of these legal procedures.
|
|
|
|
About IV:
|
|
|
|
There will be a requirement for dealing with the immature
|
|
judgment of children, for the protection of those
|
|
permanently or temporarily incapacitated, and provisions for
|
|
penalizing through due process those who show that they will
|
|
misuse such equality. That is, for example, one year olds
|
|
will not vote, other people may have to make decisions for
|
|
those in a coma, and violent offenders may be prohibited
|
|
from future weapons ownership, repeatedly negligent drivers
|
|
may be prohibited from driving, and repeat paedophiliac
|
|
offenders may be prohibited from frequenting schoolyards.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Re IV, VIII and X: I think that these demand that we not
|
|
whine about injustice, and what victims we all are. The
|
|
real world is imperfect. Point out its imperfections, work
|
|
to ameliorate their effects, learn from your mistakes. Do
|
|
better next time.
|
|
|
|
Let me summarize, to be really basic, we have come down to:
|
|
|
|
4 recommendations for individuals:
|
|
|
|
1) avoid causing harm;
|
|
2) be nice;
|
|
3) let your yea be yea.
|
|
4) obey the laws;
|
|
|
|
2 for society:
|
|
5) maximize freedom;
|
|
6) treat everybody the same.
|
|
|
|
3 more which apply to both:
|
|
|
|
7) don't be wasteful.
|
|
8) learn from your mistakes.
|
|
9) live in the real world.
|
|
|
|
General commentary about ethical procedures.
|
|
|
|
I used to get heartily sick at hearing the word "process" in
|
|
the 80s. It was very big in Unitarian Universalist circles,
|
|
and elsewhere, for all I know. However, I don't know any
|
|
other way to express the futility of trying to set up
|
|
ethical laws graven in stone except to say that solving
|
|
moral problems is a process.
|
|
|
|
The best analogy I can think of (or that I can steal from
|
|
others who thought of it first) is that of medical
|
|
diagnosis. All analogies are suspect but diagnosis shares
|
|
many characteristics that make it worth examining in this
|
|
context.
|
|
|
|
1) Often you don't have all the information.
|
|
|
|
2) You may still be required to make a decision.
|
|
|
|
3) Taking no action may be worse than taking no action.
|
|
|
|
4) It is necessary to monitor the results of actions taken.
|
|
|
|
5) Subsequent actions are based on previous results.
|
|
|
|
6) Totally new and unexpected things may pop up and change
|
|
everything.
|
|
|
|
1-3) A doctor cannot always wait for a "perfect" diagnosis.
|
|
There is a tension between being right, and waiting too
|
|
long. So you do the best you can, and monitor the results.
|
|
In the practical application of ethics, we may not have all
|
|
the information, yet still have to decide what to do, right
|
|
at that moment. Fortunately, we rarely have to make life
|
|
and death decisions. If we decide to vote one way this
|
|
election, further information can change our minds for the
|
|
next. However, we still make the decision whether to vote
|
|
and how to vote.
|
|
|
|
4-5) Likewise, if you don't have all the information, it may
|
|
be wise to not rush headlong into big changes. Make small
|
|
changes and observe the results, then do more. If what you
|
|
tried previously didn't work, try something else.
|
|
|
|
6) In medicine it may be a new drug or a new tool, either of
|
|
which can make all previous methods obsolete. In ethics, it
|
|
is usually new information, but it may be external
|
|
circumstances that change. When things change it is not
|
|
right to ignore them.
|
|
|
|
We cannot worry about the claim that we don't have a perfect
|
|
ethical system. Such a thing cannot exist. Every such
|
|
attempt will bog down in internal contradictions and failure
|
|
to deal with changes in the real world.
|
|
|
|
It is impossible not to make mistakes. We must expect to be
|
|
imperfect and arrange to deal with it. Being human is not a
|
|
fault in humanistic ethics, nor should imperfection be
|
|
considered a sin.
|
|
|
|
Ideologues refuse to admit mistakes or imperfections. This
|
|
will take either of two forms. Some keep on applying the
|
|
same techniques despite their obvious failure to produce the
|
|
desired result: advocates of capital punishment, and harsh
|
|
punishment in general, fall in this category. Religion is
|
|
probably the outstanding example of ossified, and obsolete
|
|
ethical decisions. While christianity's holy books are
|
|
recommending that we treat slaves kindly and that slaves owe
|
|
their bodies and work to their masters, the world has
|
|
somewhat progressed.
|
|
|
|
Other ideologues will change what they are doing without
|
|
admitting that their has been any change, and without
|
|
admitting that what they did before was wrong. The
|
|
Japanese, for whatever cultural reason, have a big problem
|
|
admitting that their previous imperialist policies were bad
|
|
and caused a lot of harm. All religions now pretend that
|
|
they have always held the humanistic values they now preach,
|
|
never admitting that burning heretics, keeping slaves,
|
|
killing apostates and non-believers were directly inspired
|
|
by the same texts that the still consider "holy" and were,
|
|
in fact, evil.
|
|
|
|
So, if anyone has a moral or ethical problem, that they wish
|
|
to test out, hypothetical or real, go ahead and send it in,
|
|
and we'll try to thrash it out.
|
|
|
|
=========================================================
|
|
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
|
|
=========================================================
|
|
They were allowed to stay there on one condition, and that
|
|
is that they didn't eat of the tree of knowledge. That has
|
|
been the condition of the Christian church from then until
|
|
now. They haven't eaten as yet, as a rule they do not. --
|
|
Clarence Darrow
|
|
===========================================================
|
|
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
|
|
===========================================================
|
|
Religion and Science
|
|
|
|
by Albert Einstein
|
|
|
|
Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned
|
|
with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of
|
|
pain. One has to keep this constantly in mind if one wishes to
|
|
understand spiritual movements and their development. Feeling
|
|
and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor and
|
|
human creation, in however exalted a guise the the latter may
|
|
present themselves to us. Now what are the feelings and needs
|
|
that have led men to religious thought and belief in the widest
|
|
sense of the words? A little consideration will suffice to show
|
|
us that the most varying emotions preside over the birth of
|
|
religious thought and experience. With primitive man it is above
|
|
all fear that evokes religious notions--fear of hunger, wild
|
|
beasts, sickness, death. Since at this stage of existence
|
|
understanding of causal connections is usually poorly developed,
|
|
the human mind creates illusory beings more or less analogous to
|
|
itself on whose wills and actions these fearful happenings
|
|
depend. Thus one tries to secure the favor of those beings by
|
|
carrying out actions and offering sacrifices which, according to
|
|
the traditions handed down from generation to generation,
|
|
propitiate them or make them well disposed toward a mortal. In
|
|
this sense I am speaking of a religion of fear. This, though not
|
|
created, is in an important degree stabilized by the formation of
|
|
a special priestly caste which sets itself up as a mediator
|
|
between the people and the beings they fear, and erects a
|
|
hegemony on this basis. In many cases a leader or ruler or a
|
|
privileged class whose position rests on other factors combines
|
|
priestly functions with its secular authority in order to make
|
|
the latter more secure; or the political rulers and the priestly
|
|
caste make common cause in their own interests.
|
|
|
|
The social impulses are another source of the crystallization of
|
|
religion. Fathers and mothers and the leaders of larger human
|
|
communities are mortal and fallible. The desire for guidance,
|
|
love, and support prompts men to form the social or moral
|
|
conception of God. This the God of Providence, who protects,
|
|
disposes, rewards, and punishes; the God who, according to the
|
|
limits of the believer's outlook, loves and cherishes the life of
|
|
the tribe of of the human race, or even life itself; the
|
|
comforter in sorrow and unsatisfied longing; he who preserves the
|
|
souls of the dead. This is the social or moral conception of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from
|
|
the religion of fear to moral religion, a development continued
|
|
in the New Testament. The religions of all civilized peoples,
|
|
especially the peoples of the Orient, are primarily moral
|
|
religions. The development from a religion of fear to moral
|
|
religion is a great step in peoples' lives. And yet, that
|
|
primitive religions are based entirely on fear and the religions
|
|
of civilized peoples purely on morality is a prejudice against
|
|
which we must be on our guard. The truth is that all religions
|
|
are a varying blend of both types, with this differentiation:
|
|
that on the higher levels of social life the religion of morality
|
|
predominates.
|
|
|
|
Common to all these types is the anthropomorphic character of
|
|
their conception of God. In general, only individuals of
|
|
exceptional endowments, and exceptionally high-minded
|
|
communities, rise to any considerable extent above this level.
|
|
But there is a third stage of religious experience which belongs
|
|
to all of them, even though it is rarely found in a pure form: I
|
|
shall call it cosmic religious feeling. It is very difficult to
|
|
elucidate this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it,
|
|
especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God
|
|
corresponding to it.
|
|
|
|
The individual feels the futility of human desires and aims and
|
|
the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves both in
|
|
nature and in the world of thought. Individual existence
|
|
impresses him as a sort of prison and he wants to experience the
|
|
universe as a single significant whole. The beginnings of cosmic
|
|
religious feeling already appear at an early stage of
|
|
development, e.g., in many of the Psalms of David and in some of
|
|
the Prophets. Buddhism, as we have learned especially from the
|
|
wonderful writings of Schopenhauer, contains a much stronger
|
|
element of this.
|
|
|
|
The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by
|
|
this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God
|
|
conceived in man's image; so that there can be no church whose
|
|
central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely among
|
|
the heretics of every age that we find men who were filled with
|
|
this highest kind of religious feeling and were in many cases
|
|
regarded by their contemporaries as atheists, sometimes also as
|
|
saints. Looked at in this light, men like Democritus, Francis of
|
|
Assisi, and Spinoza are closely akin to one another.
|
|
|
|
How can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person
|
|
to another, if it can give rise to no definite notion of a God
|
|
and no theology? In my view, it is the most important function
|
|
of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in
|
|
those who are receptive to it.
|
|
|
|
We thus arrive at a conception of the relation of science to
|
|
religion very different from the usual one. When one views the
|
|
matter historically, one is inclined to look upon science and
|
|
religion as irreconcilable antagonists, and for a very obvious
|
|
reason. The man who is thoroughly convinced of the universal
|
|
operation of the law of causation cannot for a moment entertain
|
|
the idea of a being who interferes in the course of
|
|
events--provided, of course, that he takes the hypothesis of
|
|
causality really seriously. He has no use for the religion of
|
|
fear and equally little for social or moral religion. A God who
|
|
rewards and punishes is inconceivable to him for the simple
|
|
reason that a man's actions are determined by necessity, external
|
|
and internal, so that in God's eyes he cannot be responsible, any
|
|
more than an inanimate object is responsible for the motions it
|
|
undergoes. Science has therefore been charged with undermining
|
|
morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior
|
|
should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social
|
|
ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would
|
|
indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of
|
|
punishment and hope of reward after death.
|
|
|
|
It is therefore easy to see why the churches have always fought
|
|
science and persecuted its devotees. On the other hand, I
|
|
maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and
|
|
noblest motive for scientific research. Only those who realize
|
|
the immense efforts and, above all, the devotion without which
|
|
pioneer work in theoretical science cannot be achieved are able
|
|
to grasp the strength of the emotion out of which alone such
|
|
work, remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can
|
|
issue. What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe
|
|
and what a yearning to understand, were it but a feeble
|
|
reflection of the mind revealed in the world, Kepler and Newton
|
|
must have had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in
|
|
disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics! Those whose
|
|
acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its
|
|
practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the
|
|
mentality of men who, surrounded by a skeptical world, have shown
|
|
the way to kindred spirits scattered wide through the world and
|
|
the centuries. Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends
|
|
can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men and
|
|
given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite
|
|
of countless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives
|
|
a man such strength. A contemporary has said, not unjustly, that
|
|
in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers
|
|
are the only profoundly religious people. [<New York Times
|
|
Magazine>, November 9, 1930.]
|
|
IMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM;
|
|
: : Another Text File From: : :
|
|
: : The Shrine of the Cybernetic Madonna : :
|
|
: :(213) 766-1356 : :
|
|
: :24 Hours per day 2400-14.4K, v.32/v.42 bis : :
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|
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|
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|
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
|
|
=========================================================
|
|
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
|
|
=========================================================
|
|
"Everywhere in the world there are ignorance and prejudice,
|
|
but the greatest complex of these, with the most extensive
|
|
prestige and the most intimate entanglement with traditional
|
|
institutions, is the Roman Catholic Church.." [H.G. Wells]
|
|
===========================================================
|
|
'...the Bible as we have it contains elements that are
|
|
scientifically incorrect or even morally repugnant. No
|
|
amount of "explaining away" can convince us that such
|
|
passages are the product of Divine Wisdom.'
|
|
-- Bernard J. Bamberger, _The Story of Judaism_
|
|
==========================================================
|
|
|| END OF TEXTS ||
|
|
==========================================================
|
|
Atheism is the world of reality, it is reason, it is
|
|
freedom, Atheism is human concern, and intellectual honesty
|
|
to a degree that the religious mind cannot begin to
|
|
understand. And yet it is more than this. Atheism is not an
|
|
old religion, it is not a new and coming religion, in fact
|
|
it is not, and never has been, a religion at all. The
|
|
definition of Atheism is magnificent in its simplicity:
|
|
Atheism is merely the bed-rock of sanity in a world of
|
|
madness.
|
|
ATHEISM: An Affirmative View, by Emmett F. Fields
|
|
=><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><==
|
|
|| Begging portion of the Zine ||
|
|
==><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><==
|
|
There is no charge for receiving this, and there is no
|
|
charge for distributing copies to any electronic medium.
|
|
Nor is there a restriction on printing a copy for use in
|
|
discussion. You may not charge to do so, and you may not do
|
|
so without attributing it to the proper author and source.
|
|
|
|
If you would like to support our efforts, and help us
|
|
acquire better equipment to bring you more and better
|
|
articles, you may send money to Greg Erwin at: 100,
|
|
Terrasse Eardley / Aylmer, Qc / J9H 6B5 / CANADA. Or buy
|
|
our atheist quote address labels, and other fine products,
|
|
see "Shameless advertising and crass commercialism" below.
|
|
=><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><=
|
|
|| End of Begging portion of the Zine ||
|
|
=><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><====><=
|
|
|
|
Articles will be welcomed and very likely used IF:
|
|
(
|
|
they are emailed to:
|
|
((ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA; or,
|
|
godfree@magi.com), or
|
|
sent on diskette to me at the above Aylmer address in
|
|
any format that an IBM copy of WordPerfect can read;
|
|
) and
|
|
they don't require huge amounts of editing; and
|
|
I like them.
|
|
|
|
I will gladly reprint articles from your magazine, local
|
|
group's newsletter, or original material. There are
|
|
currently about 140 subscribers, plus each issue is posted
|
|
in some newsgroups and is archived as noted elsewhere.
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|
|
|
If you wish to receive a subscription, email a simple
|
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request to either address, with a clear request
|
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for a subscription. It will be assumed that the "Reply
|
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to:" address is where it is to be sent.
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|
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We will automate this process as soon as we know how.
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Yes, please DO make copies! (*)
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Please DO send copies of The Nullifidian to anyone who might
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be interested.
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The only limitations are:
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At least clearly indicate the source, and how to subscribe.
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You do NOT have permission to copy this document for
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commercial purposes.
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|
|
The contents of this document are copyright (c) 1995, Greg
|
|
Erwin (insofar as possible) and are on deposit at the
|
|
National Library of Canada
|
|
|
|
You may find back issues in any place that archives
|
|
alt.atheism. Currently, all back issues are posted at
|
|
the Humanist Association of Ottawa's area on the National
|
|
Capital Freenet. telnet to 134.117.1.22, and enter <go
|
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humanism> at the "Your choice==>" prompt.
|
|
|
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ARCHIVES
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Arrangements have been made with etext at umich. ftp to
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etext.umich.edu directory Nullifidian or lucifers-echo.
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|
|
|
For America On-Line subscribers:
|
|
To access the Freethought Forum on America Online enter
|
|
keyword "Capital", scroll down until you find Freethought
|
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Forum, double click and you're there. Double click "Files &
|
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Truth Seeker Articles" and scroll until you find Nullifidian
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files. Double click the file name and a window will open
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giving you the opportunity to display a description of the
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file or download the file.
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And thanks to the people at the _Truth Seeker_, who edited,
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formatted and uploaded the articles to the aol area.
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/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\
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Shameless advertising and crass commercialism:
|
|
\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/=\/=\_/
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Atheistic self-stick Avery(tm) address labels. Consisting
|
|
of 210 different quotes, 30 per page, each label 2 5/8" x
|
|
1". This leaves three 49 character lines available for your
|
|
own address, phone number, email, fax or whatever. Each
|
|
sheet is US$2, the entire set of 7 for US$13; 2 sets for
|
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US$20. Indicate quantity desired. Print address clearly,
|
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exactly as desired. Order from address in examples below.
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Laser printed, 8 pt Arial, with occasional flourishes.
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[NOT ACTUAL SIZE]
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<-------------------2 5/8"---------------------->
|
|
_________________________________________________
|
|
|"Reality is that which, when you stop believing |/\
|
|
|in it, doesn't go away." [Philip K. Dick] | |
|
|
|Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley | 1"
|
|
|Aylmer, Qc J9H 6B5 Canada | |
|
|
| email: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA | |
|
|
|________________________________________________|\/
|
|
|
|
_________________________________________________
|
|
|"...and when you tell me that your deity made |
|
|
|you in his own image, I reply that he must be |
|
|
|very ugly." [Victor Hugo, writing to clergy] |
|
|
|Greg Erwin 100 Terrasse Eardley |
|
|
|Aylmer, Qc J9H 6B5 Canada Ph: (613) 954-6128 |
|
|
| email: ai815@FreeNet.Carleton.CA |
|
|
|________________________________________________|
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|
|
|
Other quote in between the articles are usually part of the
|
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label quote file. Occasionally I throw in one that is too
|
|
long for a label, but which should be shared.
|
|
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|
Other stuff for sale:
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All religious vows, codes, and commitments are null & void
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============================================================
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and many, many more. Ever changing inventory. Friendly
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add $2 postage/handling for first book & 0.50 for each
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or phone 1-800-66WALDO !!!
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tell 'im: "that nullifidian guy sent me!"
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Once again: ISSN: 1201-0111 The Nullifidian Volume Two,
|
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Number 10: OCTOBER 1995.
|
|
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|
|
The problem with religions that have all the answers is that
|
|
they don't let you ask the questions.
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(*) There is no footnote, and certainly not an endnote.
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--
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Autumn afternoon Greg Erwin ai815@freenet.Carleton.ca
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Alone walk on fallen gold VP, Humanist Association of Canada
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Sun shines, warmth fading
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Man created God, not God, man ---Garibaldi
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