Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-02-24
Science Has Shown
That There Is No
God, Word of Bimba

Bfockton, Mass, FEB. 23.-( AP)-
Anthony Bimba, awaiting trial tomor-
row on charges of blasphemy and the
making of sedtious utterances, de-
clared in public address here tonight
that "as far as I am concerned science
and experience have proved to me that
there Is no God. 1t was not God that
made man, but man that made God.
Read the history of religions" he
continued, "and you will find that
there We're many gods, and every one
of them was worshipped by the faith
full ones, every one of them was de-
clared to be real and almighty god,
and all of them have been overthrow
by science and experience, and in their
place new gods have been established
by some man, and today there are as
many gods as there are religions.
II further claim that religion is not
necessary for the people in order to be
good and moral. We also know from
history and from our own experience
that church and religion were always,
and are at the present time, on the
side of the exploiters and the oppres-
sors. Did not the Russian church sup
port the czars and their tyranny? Did
not the German church support and
pray for the German kaisers and their
tyrauuy? Does not the Italian church
support at the present time the bloody
regime of Mussolini and his hang
menu"
On the subject of blue laws Bimba
assailed the 300-year-old law under
which he will be tried for blasphemy
ut is a disgrace to the common
wealth of Massachusetts and also to
the country itself that such law still
exists on the statute books" he said.
IF these blue laws of Puritan times
are reinforced and made valid. then
nobody is safe in this state. If the
shoe manufacturers of Brockton and
the agents of Cardinal O'Connell will
succeed in convicting person for de-
nying the existence Of certain god,
then tomorrow they will convict you
for eating mince pie or kissing your
wife on Sundays. Isn't that true? If
you resurrect one of the Puritan laws
You will resurrect the others as we'll"
]. Louis Engdshl OF Chicago. editor
of the Daily Worker" a Communist
publication. appealed To the audience
to carry on the fight for freedom of
expression which had been denied. he
said, in Bimba's case.
Lets carry on a fight that will
make them put us all in jail" he said.
when the students of Dartmouth
College, he continued. which has
ousted some of it's best professors. be-
cause they were little ahead of the
times. come out in their daily paper
as they did today and point out that
New England, tho cradle of liberty, is
trying to rock liberty to sleep, the ex-
listing social order has cause for alarm.
1--WE Communists hold that religion
Is private matter. When it is not
such things as the Ku Klux K.an ro-
suit it means practically that civil
war is developing. When / say re-
ligion is private matter I do not
mean that there should be no public
expression of it. Every Catholic ev-
cry Protestant. every Jew, should
have right to present his case. l
say that every atheist. infdel ana ag
nostic has an equal, right to fight for
his position"
DR.. Howard A. Gibbs of Middleboro,
who also addressed the meeting, said
that his ancestors came to Massachu-
sets in 1640. and that he was there to
apologize for them for placing on the
statute books laws such as that under
which Bimba was arrested.
Harry J. Canter, secretary OF the
international workers defense coun-
Gil, presided.
The bill of particulars filed by the
city prosecutor last Thursday gave the
following English translation of a
statement said to have been made by
Bimba at meeting here:
People have built churches for the
last 1000 years and we have sweated
under Christian rule for 1000 years.
And what have we got? The govern
ment is in the control of the priests
and bishops, clerics and capitalists.
They tell us there is q God. Where is
he?
There Is no such thing. Who can
prove it? There are still fools enough
who believe in God. The priests tell
us there is soul Why, I have a soul,
but that soul is in my shoe. Referring
to Christ, the priests also tell us ne
is "a god. Why, he is no more a god
than you or 1. He was just a plain