The Irish standard., 1904-08-27

| ana NrapOtkln, are the chief apostles
of anarchy; the former propagating it
in Italy, in spite of Mazzni.
| HAS RELIGIOUS TENETS.
The most serious feature of Social
ism is that it has or is religion. Like
all aggregations of men, it cannot get
along without it. Witness Freemason-
ry, with it's rites and symbols, it's cere-
monies, it's dogmas, it's affairs, it's
priesthood. Socialism has it's religious
tenets, and is not merely philanthropy
ic movement or political platform.
If that is understood, many who sup
port it now would abjure it absolutely.
AS il matter of fact, you can scarcely
take up 4 Socialist book that attempts
to treat the matter scientifically with
out finding some reference, directly or
Indirectly, to the teachings of the Ger
man pantheist Hegel, who formulated
| its dOgmas and is considered it's propll-
ct and high priest. Like all false re-
ligions, it develops a fanaticism which
it, cannot control.
Hegel taught that religion, like all
| else, follows the law of evolution. 1t
began with the beliefs Of the Orient;
they gave way in turn to the religions
of Greece and Rome, which subse-
quently succumbed to Christianity. 1t
is time now for Christianity to be sup
planted by the worship of Humanity,
which is the true divinity We are all
parts of that divinity, and our individ-
ual relations to it constitute the code
of ethics of the modern world.
Reducing this theory to practical
working program, Marx, in his Secret
Societies in Switzerland" writes: 1--WE
wage war against all prevailing ideas
about religion. The idea of God is
the Keystone of perverted civiliza-
ton, and it is needful to sweep it from
the face of the earth'
God and humanity" says Prudhon,
in his Confessions dun revolution
aire," are two irrecOncilable enemies,
and the first duty Of an enlightened
man is to drive away mercilessly the
idea of God from the mind and the
conscience. Atheism ought to be the
law of morals and of the intelligence;
the atheism of Spinoza and Of Hegel;
atheism. in brief, which is idealism
raised to it's highest power" In the
French Chambres, Villani, the most
pronounced Socialist orator, proclaimed
that the fight against the congrega-
tons was not against clericalism, nor
Catlloicity. nor Christianity, but
against all religion. And Buisson, one
of the chief officials in the ministry Of
education, thus expresses himself: "In
all the story about God and the world
which Catholic dogma presents, there
is not one single word which does not
provoke, l will not say, Indignation, for
in order to be indignant one would
have to believe, but Il mute and mel
nncholy denial. The only possible re-
suit of all rational education must be
the evolution of the religion of the past
into the irrelgion of the future" Not
to quote further, 1.-The triumph of the
Galilean," says Senator Delpech, "has
lasted long enough. 1t is now His
time to die"
From all this, several very disas-
trols consequences ensue. First, as
regards the individual.
If it be true that man is part of
the divinity, then lie is absolutely his
own master; he is law unto himself
IAN error, let it be noted, that is ad-
mitted by multitudes outside the So
cialst ranks; he is not only not to be
condemned, but commended for Salts
flying all his natural wants and de-
sires: and, on the same ground, If he
is one of the disinherited Of fortune,
he admits. as an axiom, the Socialist
doctrine that all property is theft. In
brief. this pantheistic doctrine befogs
the mind with pernicious delusion,
which is itself a calamity, perverts the
will and makes the baser passions of
men dominate, while it authorizes and
applauds robbery and murder.
Secondly. 1t aims Mt the destruction
of the family.
The fundamental doctrine Of this
new movement is that there can be no
human or divine legislation with re-
gard to the institution Of marriage;
that human passion is the only guide
as to it's duration; that promiscuity of
intercourse is the ideal condition; that
children belong to the state; that
mothers should, according to Bebel,
bring them forth in state institutions,
and then be free to contract whatever
other alliance may suit their fancy.
For the furtherance of this end, Free
Love Communities should be estab-
lished where it is possible, and, where
it is not, divorce laws should be enact