The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-01-20

Infatuated ecclesiastics. parasites.
eunuchs and slaves" Would Draper thus
expose Theology II he was confeoarate
of theologians.
Again he says las to science, she has
never sought to ally herself to civil pow
er. She never attempted to throw odiun
or in1ict social ruin on any human De-
ing. She has never subjected any one
TO mental torment, physical torture,
least Of all to death. for the purpose or
UNFOLDING or promoting her ideas. she
presents herself unstained by cruelties
and crimes" But the hands that are
now raised in appeals TO the most merci-
full are crimsoned. They have oeen
STEPPED in blood. Does this sound like
emanating from a theological confeder-
ate, as the Baptist minister would Ike
to have people believe? Could the Rev.
s. induce his mind to temporarily with
draw from his hopeful. anticipated, mum
dane sphere. he could simplify his
thoughts on tangible ideas. and thereby
discriminate between Deists and the
present gospel delineators.
The names of all scientists mentioned
in my former communication were Deists,
having faith and belief in but one God.
Servetus was burned alive in the streets
of Genoa for denying the trinity-for not
accepting as truth the mathematical err
ror. that three times one are one. or that
burned alive in Rome for revealing TO
the people of the world the atomic the
DRY, namely, that which was seed at
first becomes grass. hence the ear. then
bread. nutritive Juice, blood, animal seed.
embryo. man. corpse, then again earth.
stone or other mineral and so forth.
This. of course. could not be tolerated as
II opposed the apostolic religion of three
gods in one, or one god in three parts.
In the two communications of the Bap-
fist minister. he often refers to his hope
in a beautiful paradise, of usefulness of
life hereafter. and intimates that even
should IL be a fiction. IL is advantageous,
because 1t imposes upon men and leads
them to virtue. Let us look into this
question and see IL II renders men wiser
and more virtuous. The nations. where
this fiction is established. are they re-
markable for the morality of their con-
duct? Is not the visible world always
preferred to the invisible world? II those
who are charged to instruct and to gov
ern men had themselves enlightened and
virtue. they would govern them far bet
| ter by realities than by vain chimeras;
| but deceitful, ambitious and corrupt, the
clergy found IL everywhere easier to put
the credulous to sleep by fables than to
| teach them truths, than to develop their
| reason, than to excite them to virtue by
sensible and real motives, than to gov
| ern them in a reasonable way. The
| clergy have reasons for making the soul
| immortal. They need souls and Chin
| eras to populate their mundane sphere,
which they claim they have discovered,
| to which as guides, they expect. on each
| Sunday. a liberal contribution, from
| those whom they convince, they will
pilot clear through. They take money
| from anyone who will contribute, prom
Using them blissful paradise therefor.
| Knowing at the same time that the road
/ 80 A. l. al -.
| scure, that but few can find II, and the
| road to Sheol so wide and enticing that
but few can miss IL. They obtain money
under false pretenses by their anomalous
promises.
| The ancient and modern religions can
| properly be defined as the prediction Of
| contradictions. Every religion is but a
| system imagined for the purpose of re-
conciling irreconcilable ideas. BY the aid
| of habitude and terror, the confederates
| of all religions persist in the greatest alb
| surdities, even when they are the most
| clearly exposed. On account of igno-
| rance, all religions are easy to combat,
but very difficult TO eradicate. If we ex-
| anime the morals of the various Chris
| tian denominations and listen to the
clamors of the clergy we must conclude
| that their god preached without fruit,
| without success; that their god still finds
| in man a resistance, over which this god
/ either cannot, or does not wish to tri-
| umph. The morality of this divine doc
tor which his disciples admire so much.
and practice so little. is followed during
| a whole century but by half dozen of
| obscure fanatical and ignorant ministers,
| who alone will have the glory of shining
| in the celestian court; all the remainder
| of mortals. although redeemed by the
| blood OF this god will, according to the
| so-called good book be the prey of eternal
| flames. as none but perfection can enter
| heaven. II agnostics have often attacked
| the Christian superstition without ap-
| parent effect, II is because the best rea-
| sons become useless against the blind
ness of a superstition sustained by the
public authority, or against the torrent
| of opinion and custom. which sways the
| minds of those who think not for them
selves. have often heard clergymen
bowling from the pulpit, that the works
| emanating from Jehova are obscure, I'M
| ineligible and must be interpreted by
those who are called by his honor to
preach the gospel. The laws of a wise
| God should be simple and clear. Defec-
tive laws alone need interpreters, like
| our Montana codes
| II is your reason that you should con-
| suit. 1t is your happiness, IL is your re-
pose that is in question. and these OBJ
| Jects are too serious 10 allow their de-
cision to be delegated to any other than
|
we are assured by these ministerial pilots.
it undoubtedly merits the greatest atten-
ton. If II is upon this religion that de-
Ponds the happiness of men. both in this
| world and in another, there is no subject
which interests us strongly. and
which consequently demands a more
thorough, careful and considerable exam
ination. Can there be anything, then.
| more strange than the conduct of the
great majority of men; entirely convin-
ced Of the necessity and Importance of
religion, they still never give themselves
the trouble to examine IL thoroughly
they follow IL in a spirit of routine and
from inheritance. They never give any
reason for it's dogmas: they revere IL,
they submit to IL, and they groan under
its weight. without ever inquiring where
fore. They rely upon the sky pilots 70
examine IT; and they whose judgment
they so blindly receive are precisely those
| n@reons np0n whose npfpfOna fhav shopJd