An Atheist Manifesto Part 4

Ingersoll best expressed man's inventions and their uses when he said that, "Science took the thunderbolt from the G.o.ds, and in the electric spark, freedom, with thought, with intelligence and with love, sweeps under all the waves of the sea; science, free thought, took a tear from the cheek of unpaid labor, converted it into steam, and created the giant that turns, with tireless arms, the countless wheels of toil."

Deprive man of the use of his discoveries and inventions of the past century and he will think he has been returned to barbarism.

Look what Thomas A. Edison's invention of the electric light did for man--it lengthened his life, it gave more hours to the day, and increased his comforts beyond anything previously known or imagined, and added immeasurably to his joy of living.

Even Joshua's fict.i.tious performance of stopping the sun and the moon fades into nothingness when compared with this sublime achievement.

Nor must we forget Edison's invention for reproducing the human voice--and please grant me a moment's indulgence to say that I had the great honor to know Thomas A. Edison, and Edison honored me by calling me his friend.

If printing has been hailed as one of the world's great inventions, what must we say of the phonograph? While printing preserves man's thoughts on paper, the phonograph preserves not only his thoughts but also his voice!

The song of the skylark is no longer "wasted upon the desert air."

Thomas A. Edison--the greatest of human benefactors--wrested from nature her most guarded secret--the mystery of the human voice.

He disproved, as it was once believed, that the human voice, like the heart, was the "gift of G.o.d." He demonstrated that the human voice was merely the natural mechanism of sound produced by air of the lungs pa.s.sing over the "cords" of the throat and larynx in the same manner as are sounds produced by the strings of a musical instrument.

As a result of Edison's invention, man himself has already produced artificially every manifestation of the human voice!

If the voice was part of "G.o.d's plan," how do we account for its absence in the giraffe? This animal has no larynx and therefore no vocal cords, and as a consequence it cannot talk or make sounds with its throat!

The giraffe is proof of the lack of design in nature and the blindness of the forces of evolutionary life.

To list all the great discoveries in the field of science and medicine during the past century, such as aspirin, insulin, penicillin, and the streptomycin drugs would require the undivided attention of a medical historian and a veritable encyclopedia to record them.

And yet, there are still many diseases that plague man of which he has no knowledge. They eat and ravage his mind and body with excruciating pain and torture, and he is utterly helpless against them. He not only does not know their origin, but has not the slightest inkling of their nature or how to fortify himself against their attacks. He must sit, like a condemned criminal, in agonizing torture, waiting for blessed death.

If man, and the other forms of life upon this earth, are a mere by-product of an "over-all plan" of a "supreme intelligence," then I denounce such a scheme as tyrannical and barbaric.

Why should we be made to suffer such excruciating pains and penalties of life to satisfy that from which we derive no benefit, and where death negates all of our efforts; and which makes the purpose of life, our hopes and desires, our ambitions and aspirations, a cruel mockery?

O prayer, thy name is failure!

O G.o.d, thou art a cruel myth!

You will not find a single mention of these great humanitarian achievements in the so-called "Book of Books"; not a single reference about the nature and cure of disease; not a word regarding those inventions that have so mercifully lifted the burden of toil from the backs of labor.

And there is good reason for it.

The Biblical writers not only had no knowledge of these things, but they had a perverted concept of life and the universe. Their concept was that man was a victim of blood pollution and his only salvation was by a blood atonement.

I remember once seeing a small pamphlet ent.i.tled, "What the Bible Teaches about Morality." On opening the little booklet, it was discovered to be nothing but blank pages! Another such pamphlet might very appropriately be published ent.i.tled, "What the Bible Reveals about Disease, Medicine and Health," and blank pages should be used for all the Bible contains about these vital subjects.

On the contrary, these benefits have been denounced by the believers in the Bible, and by the representatives of the Bible's deity as being contrary to "G.o.d's Plan."

Does not the Bible plainly state that only by the sweat of his brow is man to labor for the bread he eats?

Here is the exact Biblical quotation: "In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread..." and why? Only because he sought knowledge.

And does not the Bible G.o.d place a curse upon man for the knowledge that has been such a solace and benefit to him?

Here is another exact Biblical quotation: "... cursed be the ground for thy sake; in pain thou shalt eat of it all the days of thy life."

The Bible is a lie. It is a fake and a fraud.

I denounce this book and its G.o.d.

I hold it in utter detestation.

Every man and woman who has contributed to the relief of the pain and suffering of humanity has been an infidel to the Bible G.o.d!

Every new invention, every new discovery for the benefit of man violates these Biblical edicts!

I say, seek knowledge--defy this tyrant G.o.d--it is your only salvation.

It is because of the Biblical curse on man's search for knowledge, which has so paralyzed his mind during the past ages, and its detrimental effect upon progress, that makes the Bible the most wicked, the most detestable, the most pernicious, and the most obnoxious book ever published.

It has been a curse to the human race.

It is the duty of every brave and honest man and woman to do everything in his and her power to destroy the influence of this utterly stupid and vicious book, with its infantile concept of life and its nonsense concerning the universe.

It is their duty to do everything within their power to stop its demoralizing and paralyzing influence upon the life of man.

We will never achieve intellectual liberty until the wickedness of this book has been discarded with the belief in the flatness of the earth.

If you do not want to stop the wheels of progress; if you do not want to go back to the Dark Ages; if you do not want to live again under tyranny, then you must guard your liberty, and you must not let the church get control of your government.

If you do, you will lose the greatest legacy ever bequeathed to the human race--intellectual freedom.

Now let me tell you another thing.

If all the energy and wealth wasted upon religion--in all of its varied forms--had been spent to understand life and its problems, we would today be living under conditions that would seem almost like Utopia.

Most of our social and domestic problems would have been solved, and equally as important, our understanding and relations with the other peoples of the world would have, by now, brought about universal peace.

Man would have a better understanding of his motives and actions, and would have learned to curb his primitive instincts for revenge and retaliation. He would, by now, know that wars of hate, aggression, and aggrandizement are only productive of more hate and more human suffering.

The enlightened and completely emanc.i.p.ated man from the fears of a G.o.d and the dogma of hate and revenge would make him a brother to his fellow man.

He would devote his energies to discoveries and inventions, which theology previously condemned as a defiance of G.o.d, but which have proved so beneficial to him.

He would no longer be a slave to a G.o.d and live in cringing fear!

To build a church when a school house is needed is to perpetrate a theft upon education.

To build a church when a hospital is needed is to take from the parched lips of the sick the cup of relief and from the suffering the merciful hand of help.

When the object of man's conduct will be to improve the conditions of his fellow man and not the appeas.e.m.e.nt of a mythical G.o.d, he will become more understanding and more indulgent of the frailties, mistakes, and action of others, and by the same token he will become more appreciative of their efforts.