"By Religion I mean the simple creed of deed and duty, by which a man seeks his own welfare in his own way, with an honest and fair regard to the welfare and ways of others.
"In these thinking and practical days, men demand a religion of daily life, which stands on a business footing."
I think nothing could be much better than the following, which shows the exact relation that orthodox religion sustains to the actual wants of human beings:
"The Churches administer a system of Foreign Affairs.
"Secularism dwells in a land of its own. It dwells in a land of Certitude.
"In the Kingdom of Thought there is no conquest over man, but over foolishness only."
I will not quote more, but hope all who read this will read the address of Mr. Holyoake, who has, in my judgment, defined Secularism with the greatest possible clearness.
Question. What, in your opinion, are the best possible means to spread this gospel or religion of Secularism?
Answer. This can only be done by the cultivation of the mind— only through intelligence—because we are fighting only the monsters of the mind. The phantoms whom we are endeavoring to destroy do not exist; they are all imaginary. They live in that undeveloped or unexplored part of the mind that belongs to barbarism.
I have sometimes thought that a certain portion of the mind is cultivated so that it rises above the surrounding faculties and is like some peak that has lifted itself above the clouds, while all the valleys below are dark or dim with mist and cloud. It is in this valley-region, amid these mists, beneath these clouds, that these monsters and phantoms are born. And there they will remain until the mind sheds light—until the brain is developed.