The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-13
OF ADVANCED THOUGHTS.
A Helena Authors Views on the
Only Way to Perfect
Humanity.
Denying Sound Reason for the
Sake Of a Preconceived
Idea.
The Doctrine Of Orthodox Theology Hang
ing Like u Dense Cloud Over
Its Followers.


Its Followers.
To THE INDEPENDENT: Nothing is divine
but that which ia reasonable" says Imar-
uel Kant, one of the greatest and most ad-
mired philosophers and thinkers the world
has ever produced. Reason as the guiding
divinity of man will lead him to the highest
attainable perfection, therefore should
man be reasonable; to disregard reason is
identical with n disregard OF ones own
divinity. and n step toward animalism,
which should be avoided by all means. as 1t
is the faculty of reason to which man owes
the proud station he occupies in nature and
his achievements in every branch of knowl-
edge: il is this greatest gift of nature, 1t Is
the human intellect, of which mankind
is only conscious, and that man Is con-
stantly Boosting Of n emphasizing as the
very greatest distinction between himself
and the animal, and still, astonishing as it
may seem, it is an established fact
that tho great majority of people will deny
their sound reason for the sake of a pre-
conceived idea, no matter how absurd it
may be; this is especially true when ques-
UlOuS OIL DClltl AEO U6luR AlhCunbcu. IA kIoub
number of people will even condemn an
evident truth if the same comes in conflict
with some preconceived idea with which
their brain had been imbued in it's infant
state. md to which they will most
tenaciously and obstinately adhere even at
a ripe age, and why?: for the same reason
that an old farmer in some of the European
countries refuses to use a modern reaper,
saying: 20, my grand-grandfather has
used the scythe, and he was happy in his
life; l hate your modern inventions; l don't
care for them; let nee alone"
The farmer in this case condemns modern
inventions because they are modern and
not in keeping with the venerable customs
of his great grandfather, although those
customs of the times of his p%roaenitor may
be obsolete and ridiculous nowadays. So
it is with some of our leading literary
spirits. they condemn advanced thoughts"
such are not only disproved by them but
even most fercely and, may add. most
unreasonably and ~groundlessly antagoniZed;
] say g~roundlessly because they are not sus-
tanned by the discoveries of any branch of
modern science, excepting the science of
hangs like a dense cloud over it's followers,
obstructing their clear vision and creating
minds too biased to be deserving of notice
in our days. or course there was a timewhen
orthodoxy was in power when thousands
of so-called heretics were burnt at the
stake, when thousands OF Huguenots were
killed in one night, when wars lasting
thirty years we're caused by religion, DESC
lating the countries in which they were
fought and burning, killing, starving and
the name of the merciful God. Thanks to
the advanced thoughts" those times have
gone by never to recur again: they live only
in our memoir as an RbOminRble example
of religious fanaticism.
With those, who are kept in ignorance OF
. historical facts and who have never had the
opportunity to inform themselves about the
vital questions of progressing humanity. it
is excusable when they mock or belittle
advanced thoughts because their judgment
is lacking the thorough knowledge of the
ceivable that n learned man, who has made
the science of geology a study of life, whose
very profession is an opponent. as it were,
of the biblical history of creation. should
seriously claim that the deductions OF
science and legitimate criticism sustain the
older rather than the so-called advanced
thoughts of the bible, because this is a de-
liberate Misrepresentation of established
facts based upon experience and sound
reason.
The researches of science are diametric.
dlIy OppOSGu W VIC CONTRADICTORY IeCOIuS VI
the bible, and especially do the latest &C.
complishments OF modern geology, astron-
omy. physiology, an~thropology, biogenia,
psychology, critical theology and all laws
of nature oppose the same.
Geology teaches us beyond any doubt,
that 1t took millions of years for the for.
nation of the earth to its present condition
and shape; the Bible says the earth was
created 5000 years ago within six days.
Astronomy has been instructing us since
the time of great Copernicus (1566) that the
sun is the centre of our solar system: the
publication of Copernicus' great work, Ode
Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium,'' con
tanning the assertion before mentioned WAS
suppressed by the holy oficium until 1922
because it was contradictory to the version
of the Bible according to which the earth
Is made the centre of this universe and that
the earth was created before the sun was in
existence.
EtAnthropology, biogenia and physiology
teach us that man is the product of gradual
Development and has not been made of d
heap of clay and woman OF the rib of q
man. Physiology teaches us further that
all particles of our body are subject to 9
constant change, that all atoms of our body
undergo a radical change within few years
all food we eut forms a part of our body
and if the canibal or some nation of an
thropophagi devour their slain enemies the
latter will form a part of the body of the
former. that ia TO say, they will assimilate
they will form one body and still does the
professor, to whom l take the liberty of ad.
dressing this communication. believe in the
resurrection of the body. Physiology fur
Their teaches US that biblical theology il
very shaky and that it had to be doomed b,
critical theology as n branch of modern
natural science.
Psychology informs us that the seat oil
the soul is in the human brain; the compli-
Gated functions of the brain produce the
human intellect, or reason, or soul, and tho
Bible claims that the Holy Ghost came in
tho shape of n pigeon to humanity.
The laws of nature are Interchangeable, as
the largest and most intelligent portion OF
mankind will admit, and still, according tl
the records of the Bible. did Joshua sto,
the sun for Il whole day; the historian has
forgotten to tell us how this trick was done
but We must naturally, in defiance of our
reason. believe in it-so ministers tell US
because tho absurd statement ia contained
in the Holy Bible.
OF the contradictions in the bible l will
mention only few, because they are toe
numerous: st. John. l. 10, "No man had
seen God at any time;' the same idea is
expressed in st. John, 6, 46. And still il
says in Exodus, "a. 8, Then went up Moses
and Aaron, Nadab and Abihn, and seventy
of the elders of Israel, and they saw the
God of Israeli and again in Exodus, 81, %
And | will take away mine hand and thou
shalt see my back parts, but my face shall
not be seen." Psalms, 103, :, "Ihe Lord il
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and
plenteOus in mercy.n How does the fol