New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-08-08
ORTHODOXY AND REASON.
A LECTURE DELIVERED BY BROTHER oTIo
CAsPARI. PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
HEIDEI, BERG.

HEIDELBERG.
There ore certain IDEAS which we unable to
thnk-ideas which do not rhyme or harmonic
hence are called contradictions For instance. u i
say the Iron 10 Of wood. make an assertion wh'cn
Is unthinkable. matter how much we may exert
ourselves to think IT. SO Is likewise the sentence
The fire burns cold
However much reason may be influenced ny .ao
heart 1t is Incapable TO think contradictions. vi.
II our religion which We all love 70 much, were j"
Its traditions without any such contradicuohs NJ"
much less strife and contention there would De !"
the world. We could then, as good Christians. I'VE
In peace and harmony. We will here only a'iu"e
TO Of the most prominent contradictions
The world. this infinite something. God created
or made out Of nothng-so taught still In the
medieval ages with reference to the Bible THOMAS
Aquinas who Is recommended by the Pope as
model philosopher. But never Will our reason NC
able to think an absolute nothing from whicn
something springs. From nothing comes ho'n''s.
This Is an axiom which nobody can refute even II
he be the most pious man: he would only belle
himself we're he TO reject II. Because nothing can
ever be without contradiction something the aN'o"
obtains DE nihilo nihil' nothing makes hoth"s',
and therefore We Justly protest against priest anu
Pope, II they try TO compel US TO accept inns 'o"
tradiction But this is not by any means the most
dangerous contradiction In our religion winch lies
much deeper although connected herewith
This contradiction. which touches our heart as
much it depresses our reason, is founded on the
attributes Of tho omnipotenco and ali-merciuihess
Of God
All people. since the emergence Of religion from
fetichsm have considered the ideal Image OF God
rs the profoundest basis Of their religious life
To this Divine Ideal also belongs the mercifuness
of the Omnipotence--the all-mercifulness
But how does the a-merciful. worid-creating ON
impotence accord with the creation and producuoh
OF all such things which the very reverse OF
.pA afect
lie admit notwithstanding His omnipotence, the
evil and the bad? Why did He create evil-Satah'
pestilence vernin and monsters? leibnitZ. VINO oe-
tends the Deity In his Theodicee says: i"ese
pseudo exIstences and pestilences are III the UNI
verse but the dissonances cannot disturp the great
world harmony and the Deity. But this excuse
doe. not work. for al those millions who become
victims of dlabolical arts, and the great NUMBER
Of innocents who deprived OF their nVes ny the
destroying angel Of pestence had, ike all the rest
q claim to life and perfection. III TINS Is deiiieu "
them for the sake Of others and the harmony Oh
the Whole. they lose what rightly belongs TO- them;
they cal for justice and nnd none To them the
world perishes though IT remains to the othsrs;
Internal punishments. OF what use is creator
who only knew how TO make me best W , ,I ~
rible mock music Of hell Indeed, Leibnz, next to
succeed Naes nn in Ssuesfyins the with its
nnumerable dissonances. and the modern pes sso
cresor able to- do anything should
rather have created nothing than to have produced
creation. in which the devil plays such promi-
nent. disgusting ard important role H. -. ,,o.,
image OF God Itself. II is the one Of Unity and
Trinity Three considered as persons can never
These one 0f religious
ideas could be easily increased but the present n,
of man, in It's deepest conception is not TO become
seoD an rtPfFf erm the d'"e Ideal "
This religious conception differs as so-caled "a
he nre r n. a believe
it, because IL Is psurd): in other words: believe
everything even the greatest and most unthink
able contradiction and non, . 1t would be easy
TO show hat even these blind believers ION au-
thority' often deviate from the above quotation
and refuse to accept this greatest nonsense OF all
Concerning The question why God in His omnlpo-
tence did not prevent The evil and the devil, have
sophicai but have ineve found snyihns salts sails
o on h the Tf m hm rSs a e
came to the conclusion that We must change the
from It contradiction and nonsense in other
words to found new religion OF reason:
!Esaisssa & %scs: sS%sseds ,hs ssis%
part. Of the universe in It's gradual development, are
the product Of the whole or absolute. Another phil
are coeva and from eternity; and that the whole
without rs part. Is M, THIS philosophy
not introducing into the world anything iD;onceiv-
able a
with reason and free from such unthinkabili-
sa SS that Goa by lis nature by Himself S S2s'
mtted the evil for the purpose OF lettering man
hell; but because God is not tyrant in His realm,
the parts Of it are relatively autonomous and indie
work corruption and produce destruction and the
hereditary effects OF evil In this explanation Of
siion and mode of government Of God. The differ
lie, first
independently ruling in the universe; for II creates
and effects everything; and yet ii does not prevent
the evil. The latter does not admit an absolute
government hut rather presents IT IN the light OF
Of the universe was not recognized by the scho-
lastic philosophers Of the Middle Ages who ad.
the Almighty 10 a mystic absolutism. having no
er XII & G STs ana a ee" .cSosc ph
lo.ophers ana recommends Thomas Aquinas. Angus
linus ana onsp ana Grgtns to Of f1e s H IN Ts
facts Of evil and depravl,y although they throw no
questions. The source of evil and the origin of
the bad are the very points which alone come into
ment OF God in the universe. and 1t is worth while
to what GfrR w6 Pdosop9 e saf Sa n
ment OF duty is concerncd' have accepted in the
though not equally good. but the role Of Satan
would not have assumed for the ever-negative
a reasonsba thing" he said further, have taken
the position of an absolute and omnipotent God.
biniy that an absolute and omnipoent being |
had not known h,w TO- prevent the creation OF
Satan and his disciples" 1t is Of no use to ex-
tcnua,e the evils ana accept them in some way or
circumstances with terrible and unheard-of
cruelty.
This very weishty contradiction only
then escape If conceive the Deity In respect TO
It's position governing in an ideally constituted
State. with ideal constitution Of laws which 1t
has imposed upon itself and all created beings In
such a all subordinate beings are independent
and relatively frce-hat is. they 1--we right sin
and evils without any direct influence OF the
Deity, which guards the maintenance Of the laws
and Of the whole and only reserves for itself in
the rarest and graves cases personal and direct
Interference.
However that may be. only under such form Of
government can the existence OF evils be explained
IL Is the province CT rational science enligh-
ened theology conformity with philosophy. to recon-
ellie the religious sentiments OF the heart with
the image OF God and reason II there were only
that side religion, namely 10 clear up the
ce!vabity of its Fundamental ideas. which may be