San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-12-21
Listen, World!
Buck Passing
BY Elsie Robinson


the other day. Ormond was Elizabeth
Coles sweetheart and for certain rea'
sons Objectionable to her father. 30
he shot young. William. But he did
not do this out of mere piQue-oh, no
81 THOUGHT I HAD A legal
MORAL AND SPIRITUAL RICH
TO KILL WILLIAM ORMOND,"
says Mr.. Cole.
We're hearing that excuse frequent.
~ these days.
Mary decides to leave her husband
and babies. She says that God has told
her she must do so.
A minister of the gospel beats his
child cruelty with piece of garden
hose. 1t is 1.-THE will Of God" that he
should thus discipline his child.
A band of masked men raid a lone.
" cabin, seize a man, take him out
and tar and feather or flog him. They
leave note proclniming that they
are doing this sin the service of God
and their country"
The nations of the world engage in
the most hideous conflict the world
has ever known. No abomination Is
too. beastly for them to perpetrate
upon each other. Yet, even while wal.
lowing waist deep in CLOTHING blood
and rotting flesh, they cry to God for
support and boast that He is on their
side.
Why is this?
Why do men use Gods name to
abb their darkest deeds?
Why do we unconsciously stand In
awe of that name when so used?
Is it because we have an instructive
reverence for God?
1t is not. The emotion we feel is
not reverence or love. 1t is FEAR
1t is fear which was implanted in
us long before the advent Of Christian
philosophy-long before the Hebrews
received the tablets from Mt. Sinai
it is fear that is older than Jehovah
or Zeus, Allah or Osiris.
1t began when a god was a crudcly
hcwn piece Of stone or wood enshrined
in some steaming jungle and wor.
shipped with bloody rites. He was not
generated Thing nor loved Thing
nor even a sacred Thing. He was q
DREADED Thing. His rule was one
Of cruelty and terror and acts that were
terrible and cruel served Him. The
horror darkness was His-the lust OF
kiiling-the agony Of torture-the de-
Dauchery of passion. All these abomin.
atoms were His Will.
SO 1T came that the fear of God"
was part of the very warp and wool
OF our being. It began before our
brains had fairly awakened from
their long brute sleep. AND IT
STILL PERSISTS IN THAT
DARK HINTERLAND OF OUR
MIND WHICH CIVILIZATION
DOES NOT RECOGNIZE.
1t persists, and under stress of ex.
citement, or rage or passion or greed
or insanity, it energies and we again
become savages grovelling before q
blood stained jungle image.
This is not a fanciful image Of
speech. We actually DO emerge with
a terrible reality and sincerity Of
purpose.
Our minds are capable of doine
things like that. Our minds are com
posed of many emotions of many
ages. Some of the sections are new
and fresh, and animated with q clear
and noble purpose. But the old sec
tons which have been handed dowr
to us from countless generations
through millions of years, bear tn,
mark Of the beast.
Those old savage sections, however
are quite as real, and quite as mucl
alive, as the newer. more civilized
sections. And when they emerge from
| ~ Nd @oly oh r<xs
of the life, horror results. Sometime!
we call that INSANITY" Sometimes
we justify it or even glorify it. Blu
always it means the same thing
ALWAYS IT MEANS THAT WI
HAVE REVERTED TO TIKI
JUNGLE AND THE JUNGLE GOD
w. b. Cole was not liar nor ;
hypocrite when he claimed spiritua
leading in killing William Ormond
Mary is not taking when she say
God directed her to leave her fam
| lily. The minister who wields tn
hose on a little child. the men witt
tar and feather a helpless man, tn
nations who cry hallelujah while the,
STAY each other, are all sincere. The,
mean it, They honestly believe the.
are worshipping God.
AND THEY ARE WORSHIP
PING THEIR GOD AGAIN-THT
GOD OF DARKNESS WHICH
RULED THE JUNGLE.
Stop and consider, the next tim
you try to vindicate mean or un
fair act by saying you did it TO
the best" That lie you told-tha
tantrum you INDUCED in-that crue
bit of gossip you spread-that boss
ing and meddling and interference
WERE YOU REACHING UP IN
THE SHINING HEIGHTS WHEY
| YOU DID THOSE THINGS Oh
WE'RE YOU SINKING BACI
INTO THE JUNGLE NIGHT?
| CopyriRht. 1873. King Features Syn, In