Nuns cut off their hair to make themselves as unsightly as possible—to make themselves repulsive to the opposite sex; there are monks who have vowed never to look upon the face of a woman, and Franciscans still wear ropes around their bodies as a symbol of flagellation.
There is hardly a form of insanity or delusion that has not been induced by some sort of religious belief.
To laugh on the "Sabbath," at one time, was considered the sin of sins.
How rightfully Robert G. Ingersoll said that, "Christianity has made more lunatics than it ever provided asylums for."
On the other hand, we do not believe that Man is a depraved human being. We do not believe that there is a tyrant God, or that there is a hell, and that man will suffer the pains and penalties of eternal torment. We do not believe that you should make yourself as miserable as possible Here in the hope of securing some happiness "Hereafter."
We do not believe that disease is a punishment for sin.
We believe that disease is a natural consequence of the processes of life, and that the "ills of the flesh" inevitably follow where one form of life lives upon another, and where "at the banquet of life each in turn is a guest and a dish."
It is only by understanding the nature of disease that man has been able, even in a small degree, to protect himself from the ravages of its destruction.
The use of prayer to cure disease has been responsible for epidemics that have, on many occasions, almost wiped out the human race. Prayer has had no more effect upon disease than it has upon health. It merely permits the disease to continue its course and increase the suffering of the victim.