Answer. Well, some of it is good—but I never want to see the soldiers of the Republic whipped. I am always on our side.
—The Press, Philadelphia, February 20, 1899.
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AND THE BIBLE.*
[* As an incident in the life of any one favored with the
privilege, a visit to the home of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll
is certain to be recalled as a most pleasant and profitable
experience. Although not a sympathizer with the great
Agnostic's religious views, yet I have long admired his
ability, his humor, his intellectual honesty and courage.
And it was with gratification that I accepted the good
offices of a common friend who recently offered to introduce
me to the Ingersoll domestic circle in Gramercy Park. Here
I found the genial Colonel, surrounded by his children, his
grandchildren, and his amiable wife, whose smiling greeting
dispelled formality and breathed "Welcome" in every
syllable. The family relationship seemed absolutely ideal—
the very walls emitting an atmosphere of art and music, of
contentment and companionship, of mutual trust, happiness
and generosity.
But my chief desire was to elicit Colonel Ingersoll's
personal views on questions related to the New Thought and
its attitude on matters on which he is known to have very
decided opinions. My request for a private chat was
cordially granted. During the conversation that ensued—(the
substance of which is presented to the readers of Mind in
the following paragraphs, with the Colonel's consent)—I was
impressed most deeply, not by the force of his arguments,
but by the sincerity of his convictions. Among some of his
more violent opponents, who presumably lack other
opportunities of becoming known, it is the fashion to accuse
Ingersoll of having really no belief in his own opinions.
But, if he convinced me of little else, he certainly,
without effort, satisfied my mind that this accusation is a
slander. Utterly mistaken in his views he may be; but if so,
his errors are more honest than many of those he points out
in the King James version of the Bible. If his pulpit
enemies could talk with this man by his own fireside, they
would pay less attention to Ingersoll himself and more to
what he says. They would consider his meaning, rather than
his motive.
As the Colonel is the most conspicuous denunciator of
intolerance and bigotry in America, he has been inevitably
the greatest victim of these obstacles to mental freedom.
"To answer Ingersoll" is the pet ambition of many a young
clergyman—the older ones have either acquired prudence or
are broad enough to concede the utility of even Agnostics in
the economy of evolution. It was with the very subject that
we began our talk—the uncharitableness of men, otherwise
good, in their treatment of those whose religious views
differ from their own.]
Question. What is your conception of true intellectual hospitality? As Truth can brook no compromises, has it not the same limitations that surround social and domestic hospitality?
Answer. In the republic of mind we are all equals. Each one is sceptered and crowned. Each one is the monarch of his own realm. By "intellectual hospitality" I mean the right of every one to think and to express his thought. It makes no difference whether his thought is right or wrong. If you are intellectually hospitable you will admit the right of every human being to see for himself; to hear with his own ears, see with his own eyes, and think with his own brain. You will not try to change his thought by force, by persecution, or by slander. You will not threaten him with punishment—here or hereafter. You will give him your thought, your reasons, your facts; and there you will stop. This is intellectual hospitality. You do not give up what you believe to be the truth; you do not compromise. You simply give him the liberty you claim for yourself. The truth is not affected by your opinion or by his. Both may be wrong. For many years the church has claimed to have the "truth," and has also insisted that it is the duty of every man to believe it, whether it is reasonable to him or not. This is bigotry in its basest form. Every man should be guided by his reason; should be true to himself; should preserve the veracity of his soul. Each human being should judge for himself. The man that believes that all men have this right is intellectually hospitable.
Question. In the sharp distinction between theology and religion that is now recognized by many theologians, and in the liberalizing of the church that has marked the last two decades, are not most of your contentions already granted? Is not the "lake of fire and brimstone" an obsolete issue?
Answer. There has been in the last few years a great advance. The orthodox creeds have been growing vulgar and cruel. Civilized people are shocked at the dogma of eternal pain, and the belief in hell has mostly faded away. The churches have not changed their creeds. They still pretend to believe as they always have—but they have changed their tone. God is now a father—a friend. He is no longer the monster, the savage, described in the Bible. He has become somewhat civilized. He no longer claims the right to damn us because he made us. But in spite of all the errors and contradictions, in spite of the cruelties and absurdities found in the Scriptures, the churches still insist that the Bible is inspired. The educated ministers admit that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses; that the Psalms were not written by David; that Isaiah was the work of at least three; that Daniel was not written until after the prophecies mentioned in that book had been fulfilled; that Ecclesiastes was not written until the second century after Christ; that Solomon's Song was not written by Solomon; that the book of Esther is of no importance; and that no one knows, or pretends to know, who were the authors of Kings, Samuel, Chronicles, or Job. And yet these same gentlemen still cling to the dogma of inspiration! It is no longer claimed that the Bible is true—but inspired.