San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-03-13
An Interview With Col. r. c. Inger'
soil.
Boston Investigator,


soil.
Boston estigator.
The following extracts from the New
York Truth Seeker, gives the opinions
Of Col. lngersoll concerning the stage,
pulpit and schools:
Question.-What is your opinion OF
the relative merits Of the pulpit and the
stage, preachers and actors?
Answer.-We must remember that
the stage presents an ideal life. 1t is q
world controlled by the imagination-a
world In which the justice delayed In
real life may be done, and In which that
may happen which, according to the
highest ideal, should happen. Ii 10 a
world, for the most part, 10 which the
evil does not succeed, In which the VIC
ious are foiled, 10 which the right, the
honest, the sincere, and the good, pre-
vail. Ii cultivates the imagin alton, and
10 this respect 1t Is far better than the
pulpit. The mission Of the pulpit 10 to
narrow and shrivel the human mind.
The pulpit denounces the freedom OF
thought and OF expressions; but on the
stage the mind is free, and for thousands
Of years the poor, the oppressed, the en-
shaved, have been permitted to witness
plays wherein the slave was freed,
wherein the oppressed became the vic
tor, and where the down-trodden rose
supreme.
And there Ia another thing. The
stage has always laughed &C the spirit
Of caste. The low-born has loved the
prince. All human distinction 10 this
ideal would have for the moment van
ished, while honesty and love have tri-
umphed. The stage lightens the cares
nj nj ha "a.
and groans OF man. There Is this differ
enoe: the pretenoe Of honesty and the
honesty Of pretence.
Question.-How do you view the
Episcopalian scheme of building q six
million dollar untaxed cathedral In this
city for the purpose Of "uniting the
secte," and, when that is accomplished,
'unifying the world In the love Of
Christ" and thereby sbolishing the
misery?
Answer.-I regard the building OF an
Episcopalian cathedral simply IS q
piece Of religious folly The world will
never be converted by Christian palaces
and temples. Every dollar used In Its
construction will be wasted. 1t will have
no tendency to unite the various scots !;
on the contrary, 1t will excite the envy
and Jealousy OF every other sect. 1t will
widen the gulf between the EpisoO-
pslian and the Methodist, between the
Episcopalian and the Presbyterian, and
this hatred will continue until the other
scots build . cathedral just q little
larger, and then the envy and the hatred
will be on the other side.
Religion will never unity the world,
and never will give peace to mankind.
There has been more war In the last 1900
years than during any similar period
within historic times. War will be abol.
ished, II 1t ever is abolished. not by re-
ligiOn, but by Intelligence. 1t will be
abolished when the poor people Of Ger
many, OF France, Of spain, OF Epgl and !,
and other countries, find that they have
no interest In war. When those who
pay, and those who do the fighting, find
that they are simply destroying their
own interests, wars will cease.
There ought to be national court to
decide national difficulties. We consider
Q community civilized when the indi-
viduals Of that community submit their
differences to legal tribunal; but, there
being no national court, nations now
sustain, as to each other, the relation Of
savages -that is to say, each one must
defend Its rights by brute force. The es-
tablishment Of national court oivilizes
nations, and tends to do away with war.
Christianity caused so much war, SO
much bloodshed, that Christians were
forced to interpolste q passage to sc-
count for their history, and the interpo-
lated passage is, 81 came not to bring
peace, but . sword" Suppose that all
the money wasted In oathedrals 10 the
middle ages had been used for the con-
etruction OF school-houses, academies
and universities, how much better the
instead OF supporting hundreds Of
thousands Of Idle priests the money
would have been given to men Of science
for the purpose o. finding out something
OF benefit to the human race here In this
worldp
For first extract see Saturdays
issue.