The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-02-26

ply the thereE4r, which Mr. Ba ton very
advertently omits There dssentels in the
church from the beginning because, in spite of its
inqusitional discipline, the church has never been
able to stifle the loud protests of thinkers against
its idiocies. Heresy after heresy ranked the
church; the foundation that was supposed TO he
built on solid rock imbedded in sandstone
every storm left its pillars dsintegrated than
ever.
THAT Jesus opposed by the organized and
pious church Of his day is significant Biblical
scholars have found that Jesus had no intention
whatever Of founding new religion. The only
evidence that could be construed is found in Cos
pels written years after his DEATH in some cases
by men who saw him. and which were al
tered, even forged, by the priesthood succeeding
Peter.
THIS literary hack, who might be putting his
time to better avail writing advertisements
for the august Lydia Pinkham SAYS we can take
great satisfaction in the steady growth of toler-
ance, christian victory. Ideed! The entire his
tory OF christianity is record of cruel intoler-
ance, christian victory. Indeedl The entire his.
to the present day. Has this religious diplomat
been ignoring the that appears under Mis-
slsslppI and Tennessee date lines? And does he
ever glance over the pages that are foolishly de-
voted every Monday morning to reports of SER
mons? The expressed beliefs and actions of the
majority of our cerics give the lie to any such
statement
HAVING attempted at the outset to make things
easy for himself by establishing false prem
ises, Mr.. Barton gets around to the business at
hand, the answering of the letter. He does this
by presenting the spiritual biography of a typical
and what he considers thoughtful American
woman, who had passed through the various stages
OF religious doubt and found a sure footing"
She the daughter of a small town Meth
odist deacon, and before she went to college
had religious beliefs, which, condensed, read
like this: God is man, very powerful who
sits jeweled throne in a palace in Heaven
which is city with solid gold streets and high
walls studded with diamonds and rubies. The
gate of the city is tended by st. Peter who
shuts the door against nearly all corners. The
recording angel has desk near the throne
and looks down at the world continuously, not
ing every mistake which mortals make God
is very stern and depressed by the wckedness
OF the world He created Adam and Eve, and
gave them chance to lead perfect lives. but
they sinned, and this made god angry he
condemned the whole human race. Every man.
woman and child born into the world there
after was damned. Jesus, the son, had a kinder
heart, so he came down earth and sacri-
ficed himself to appease gods wrath. All who
confess the name of Jesus and are baptized
inherit eternal lfe all others, even babies
dying in infancy, were still under the curse of
Adams fall"
. ONE belief Barton says the case is typical
the horror of it, civilized human beings, believing
in so pernicious creed. l will not for the sake
of my gentle-natured readers repeat the in
famines of such dogma-I shall only call atten-
ton to the phrases in black print.
But that intolerant ignorant, inhuman belief is
held by the majority of those who consider them
selves good churchmen. Truly, there is great need
for messiah, but railroads.&c.
THEOLOGIAN Barton's heroine, he tells u.s.
gradually came to revise that credo into seven
simple, definite beliefs, through the good offices
of white-haired professor she consulted at col
lege. They reasoned the matter out he says, and
came to the following conclusions
Somewhere and somehow back of this vast uni
verse there is an intelligence, god She simply
could not conceive of a universe that just hap
pened; it seemed to her far incredible than
a universe that planned" Here we have in
a nutshell the age-old argument supporting the
dogma, There Is A God Ever since the evolution
of the mind from thropism to reason, man has
been seeking the first cause