The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-04-16
The Ofhcial Paper Of San Juan County
THURSDAY. APRIL 10th, 1896
INGERSOLL'S RELIGION.

Ill
"organized for the purpose of better
ing the condition of mankind, regard
less of creed or the lack of it," PROB
ably there is no better field in the
country for the work of an organization
of that kind, though there are numer-
Gus other large cities, in which, despite
Chicapo's reputation for wickedness,
there IS fully as much disregard OF
creed and as great q lack of it. TO the
congregation of this church Col. Robert
G. Ingersoll spoke last Sunday, by
special invitation. AS usual i'll his
addresses the great infidel said much
that every Christian can endorse on
general principles and much upon
which there is now and probably al
wav will be a wide divergence of
opinion. He reasons that as the world
has become more and more enlightened
and the natural has gradually
triumphed over the supernatural our
ideas of morality have changed, and
millions now believe that whatever
produces happiness and well-being is in
the highest sense moral. Ceremonies,
prayers and inspired books, miracles,
special providence and divine inter
ference belong to the supernatural and
form no part of real religion. Every
science rests on the natural, on DEM
onstrated facts. So morality and re-
ligion must find their foundations in
the necessary nature Of things. Igno-
rance being darkness, what we need is
intellectual light. Man should cease
to expect any aid from any super
natural source By this time he should
be satisfied that worship has not created
wealth and that prosperity is not the
child of prayer. Man should turn his
entire attention to the affairs of the
world, to the facts in nature.
"In spite of all that has been done
for tie reformation of the world, it is
still cursed with poverty and crime.
Penitentiar es should be transferred
into schools and workshops, and the
convicts should be educated and paid
a reasonable sum for their labor.
"The more homes, the broader the
foundation and the more secure the
nation. Everything should be done
to keep this from becoming nation of
tenants. The men who cultivate the
earth should own it. | would exempt
homes from sale, not only by execution,
but from every description of taxes"
The speaker referred to the labor
custom and said he saw no satisfactory
solution Of it except through the civili-
cation of employers and employees.
Great railroads should pay pensions to
their worn out employees and care for
them in their old age. The employee
must learn to make reasonable de-
mands of his employer. Every child
should be taught to be self-supporting
and every one should be taught to avoid
being burden on others as it would
shun death. Children should be taught
to think, to investigate, to rely upon
the light of reason. Nothing should
be taught in any school that the
teacher does not know. Beliefs, super
stitions, theories should not be treated
like demonstrated facts. The child
should be taught to investigate, not to
believe. To hasten the coming of the
golden dawn of the perfect day we
must educate the children; we must
commence at the cradle, at the lap of
the loving mother.
"Let every human being" concluded
Col. Ingersoll, do all the good he can,
and let him bind up the wounds of his
fellow creatures and at the same time
put forth every effort to hasten the
coming of a better day. This, in my
Judgment, is real religion. To do all
the good you can is to be a saint in the
highest and noblesl sense"