St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-07-31
Religious Belief.

Religion may dehned 10 De man
belief in regard to a future life.
Atheists have no belief in regard
thereto, or disbelieve in the existence
of a Creator, or of future life for
man, and therefore have no religion.
Man is naturally religious; those who
are not so are exceptions, the t"s"s
uaturU of moral life, or the artificial
creations of perverted breeding and
educatieu.
To be religious, it is not necessary to
be member of one of the "lsms';
man will be as much IT more religious
by himself, on desert island, as in
crowded city of churches.
When mans conduct corresponds
with his religious belief, when he
squares his actions by his faith, when
he practices what he breaches, even
when the sole plank in his religious
creed is, that he should do no wrong
and do all the good he can, there is no
reason why he should not be in harmo-
nv with his Creator, and an heir to
eternal life
The Creator having made man a
reasonable being, will not require him
to believe unreasonable things. Man
cannot control his belief. Under the
guidance of reason he believes thing,
not yiolative OF the laws of the Creator,
that is established by sufficient evil
dence. AS the needle turns to the pole,
SO does he believe anything not unrea-
sonable or viOlative OF natural laws,
when supported by evidence; but he
can not turn his belief, so to speak, to
north or south, east or west, without
regard TO law or reason.
Beliefs in things superhuman, are
founded on vagaries Of the magma
ton, and are entitled to no considera-
ton in practical life. Gnosticism,
Arianism, Unitarianism, Trinitarian-
ism, ETC., have kept the followers of the
Christian religion in turmoil from the
beginning, and yet these questions are
no nearer settlement as facts than they
were when they first spring up. They
divert the ministers of religion, who
have little to do, and keep the people
divided into sects-which prevents re-
| ligious stagnation.
If an infant die without baptism, it
may GO to hell if an adult neglect his
opportunities and die without baptism,
he will go to hell. A mere ceremony, a
death bed repentance and a plastic be-
lief, will qualify the vilest wretch for
eternal life with God, while one whose
conduct through life has been inform
" good and who has striven to live in
obedience to the Creators laws, bnt
who has neglected certain ceremonies,
and whose reason, conferred on him by
the Creator, has rejected or failed to
adopt certain beliefs, will be damned
forever. The difference between the
little physical ceremony neglected, and
the great prize of eternal life thereby
lost, and eternal damnation incurred,
is so Infinitely great, that the divine in
spiration of those who preach such
doctrine may reasonably be doubted.
1t is horr. BILE thought, that man
should be condemned to he'll, because
his reason rejected some belief viola
tive of natural laws, or because he
failed to believe in some theory about
the composition and nature of the
Creator. These things are above mans
comprehension, and as they have not
been revealed it is evident that it was
not designed that man should know
them. Mans religious beliefs are ever
changing; but the laws of God remain
the same. 1t is said that man, in his
rude state, was presumptuous enough
to attempt to get into Heaven by build
ing tower up to it; but modern man
is more aesthetic, he has paved the way
to Heaven with system of abstract
beliefs, which everyone is required to
travel.