Robert Green Ingersoll

“ Lost in the Morality of the Gospel—Exclusiveness of the Churches—The
Hope of Immortality and Belief in God have Nothing to do with Real
Religion—Special Providence a Mistake.
AN ESSAY ON CHRISTMAS.
The Day regarded as a Holiday—A Festival far older
than Christianity—Relics of Sun-worship in Christian
Ceremonies—Christianity furnished new Steam for an old Engine—Pagan
Festivals correspond to Ours—Why Holidays are Popular—They must be for
the Benefit of the People. ”

“ Theology" the only Dishonest Science—Moses and Brigham Young—Minds
Poisoned and Paralyzed in Youth—Sunday Schools and Theological
Seminaries—Orthodox Slanderers of Scientists—Religion has nothing
to do with Charity—Hospitals Built in Self-Defence—What Good has the
Church Accomplished?—Of what use are the Orthodox Ministers, and
What are they doing for the Good of Mankind—The Harm they are
Doing—Delusions they Teach—Truths they Should Tell about the
Bible—Conclusions—Our Christs and our Miracles.
HOW TO REFORM MANKIND. ”

“ The Hell of Science—Brutal Curiosity of Vivisectors—The Pretence that
they are working for the Good of Man—Have these scientific Assassins
added to useful Knowledge?—No Good to the Race to be Accomplished by
Torture—The Tendency to produce a Race of intelligent Wild Beasts.
THE CENSUS ENUMERATOR'S OFFICIAL CATECHISM.
Right of the Government to ask Questions and of the Citizen to refuse
to answer them—Matters which the Government has no Right to pry
into—Exposing the Debtor's financial Condition—A Man might decline to
tell whether he has a Chronic Disease or not. ”

“ CONTENTS ABOUT THE HOLY BIBLE. I THE ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE II IS THE OLD TESTAMENT INSPIRED? III THE TEN COMMANDMENTS THE STORY OF ACHAN THE STORY OF ELISHA THE STORY OF DANIEL THE STORY OF JOSEPH IV WHAT IS IT ALL WORTH? V WAS JEHOVAH A GOD OF LOVE? VI JEHOVAH'S ADMINISTRATION VII THE NEW TESTAMENT VIII THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHRIST IX IS CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE? X WHY SHOULD WE PLACE CHRIST AT THE TOP AND SUMMIT OF THE HUMAN RACE? XI INSPIRATION XII THE REAL BIBLE
MISTAKES of MOSES By Robert G. Ingersoll. 1880. ”

“ Natural Phenomena and Myths celebrated—The great Day of the first
Religion, Sun-worship—A God that Knew no Hatred nor Sought Revenge—The
Festival of Light.
SPIRITUALITY.
A much-abused Word—The Early Christians too Spiritual to be
Civilized—Calvin and Knox—Paine, Voltaire and Humboldt not
Spiritual—Darwin also Lacking—What it is to be really Spiritual—No
connection with Superstition. ”

“ Human Race?—How did he surpass Other Teachers?—What he left Unsaid,
and Why—Inspiration—Rejected Books of the New Testament—The Bible and
the Crimes it has Caused.
VOLUME IV.--LECTURES
DETAILED CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV. WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC. THE TRUTH. HOW TO REFORM MANKIND. A THANKSGIVING SERMON. A LAY SERMON. THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH. SUPERSTITION. THE DEVIL. PROGRESS. WHAT IS RELIGION? DETAILED CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV. WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC. ”

“ World is a Power Working for Good?—Love the Commencement of the Higher
Virtues—IV. What has our Religion Done?—Would Christians have been
Worse had they Adopted another Faith?—V. How Can Mankind be Reformed
Without Religion?—VI. The Four Corner-stones of my Theory—VII. Matter
and Force Eternal—Links in the Chain of Evolution—VIII. Reform—The
Gutter as a Nursery—Can we Prevent the Unfit from Filling the World
with their Children?—Science must make Woman the Owner and Mistress
of Herself—Morality Born of Intelligence—IX. Real Religion and Real
Worship. ”

“ Self-destruction—Christ's Death a Suicide—Col. Ingersoll's Reply to his
Critics—Is Suffering the Work of God?—It is not Man's Duty to
Endure Hopeless Suffering—When Suicide is Justifiable—The
Inquisition—Alleged Cowardice of Suicides—Propositions
Demonstrated—Suicide the Foundation of the Christian
Religion—Redemption and Atonement—The Clergy on Infidelity
and Suicide—Morality and Unbelief—Better injure yourself than
Another—Misquotation by Opponents—Cheerful View the Best—The
Wonder is that Men endure—Suicide a Sin (Interview in The New
York Journal) —Causes of Suicide—Col. ”

“ Government can Aid by means of Good Laws—Women the worst Paid—There
should be no Resort to Force by either Labor or Capital.
THE JEWS.
Much like People of other Religions—Teaching given Christian Children
about those who die in the Faith of Abraham—Dr. John Hall on
the Persecution of the Jews in Russia as the Fulfillment of
Prophecy—Hostility of Orthodox early Christians excited by Jewish
Witnesses against the Faith—An infamous Chapter of History—Good
and bad Men of every Faith—Jews should outgrow their own
Superstitions—What the intelligent Jew Knows. ”

“ Laws for the Punishment of Minor Crimes—A Penitentiary should be a
School—Professional Criminals should not be Allowed to Populate the
Earth—V. Homes for All-Make a Nation of Householders—Marriage
and Divorce-VI. The Labor Question—Employers cannot Govern
Prices—Railroads should Pay Pensions—What has been Accomplished
for the Improvement of the Condition of Labor—VII. Educate the
Children—Useless Knowledge—Liberty cannot be Sacrificed for the Sake
of Anything—False worship of Wealth—VIII. We must Work and Wait.
A THANKSGIVING SERMON. ”

“ Others—Ananias and Sapphira—The Pilgrims and Freedom to Worship—The
Orthodox Sabbath—Natural Restraints on Conduct—Religion and
Morality—The Efficacy of Prayer—Respect for Belief of Father and
Mother—The "Power behind Nature"—Survival of the Fittest—The Saddest
Fact—"Sober Second Thought."
A Last Word to Robert G. Ingersoll, by Dr. Field—God not a
Presbyterian—Why Col. Ingersoll's Attacks on Religion are Resented—God
is more Merciful than Man—Theories about the Future Life—Retribution
a Necessary Part of the Divine Law—The Case of Robinson
Crusoe—Irresistible Proof of Design—Col. ”

“ Christianity no Friend to Progress 504. Where is the New Eden? 505. The Real Eden is Beyond 506. Party Names Belittle Men A FEW PLAIN QUESTIONS 507. Where Did the Serpent Come From? 508. Must We Believe Fables to be Good and True? Must we, in order to be 509. Why Did Not God Kill the Serpent? 510. Questions About the Ark 511. Was Language Confounded at Babel. 512. Would God Kill a Man for Making Ointment? 513. How Did Water run up Hill? 514. Would a Real God Uphold Slavery? 515. Will There Be an Eternal Auto da Fe? 516. Why Hate an Atheist? ”

“ A Definition of Orthodoxy—V. Fear not necessarily Cowardice—Prejudice
is Honest—The Ola has the Advantage in an Argument—St.
Augustine—Jerome—the Appeal to Charlemagne—Roger Bacon—Lord Bacon
a Defender of the Copernican System—The Difficulty of finding out
what Great Men Believed—Names Irrelevantly Cited—Bancroft on the
Hessians—Original Manuscripts of the Bible—VI. An Infinite Personality
a Contradiction in Terms—VII. A Beginningless Being—VIII. The
Cruelties of Nature not to be Harmonized with the Goodness of a
Deity—Sayings from the Indian—Origen, St. Augustine, Dante, Aquinas. ”

“ CONTENTS PREFACE. THE GHOSTS. THE LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD LIBERTY OF WOMAN. THE LIBERTY OF CHILDREN. CONCLUSION. 1776. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. ABOUT FARMING IN ILLINOIS. SPEECH AT CINCINNATI "THE PAST RISES BEFORE ME LIKE A DREAM." THE GRANT BANQUET A TRIBUTE TO THE Rev. ALEXANDER CLARK. A TRIBUTE TO EBON C. INGERSOLL,
ABOUT THE HOLY BIBLE A Lecture By Robert GIngersoll
"In the nature of things there can be no evidence to establish the claim of Inspiration." ”

“ Peters—What Infidelity Has Done—Public School System not
Christian—Orthodox Universities—Bruno on Oxford—As to Public
Morals—No Rewards or Punishments in the Universe—The Atonement
Immoral—As to Sciences and Art—Bruno, Humboldt, Darwin—Scientific
Writers Opposed by the Church—As to the Liberation of Slaves—As to
the Reclamation of Inebriates—Rum and Religion—The Humanity
of Infidelity—What Infidelity says to the Dying—The Battle
Continued—Morality not Assailed by an Attack on Christianity—The
Inquisition and Religious Persecution—Human Nature Derided by
Christianity—Dr. ”

“ Will the Second Century of America be as good as the First? SCIENCE 106. The Glory of Science. 107. The Tables Turned 108. Science Better than a Creed 109. The Religion of Science 110. Science not Sectarian 111. The Epitaph of all Religions 112. The Real Priest 113. Science is Power 114. Science Supreme 115. Science Opening the Gates of Thought 116. Stars and Grains of Sand 117. The Trinity of Science 118. The Old and the New Old ideas perished in the retort of the 119. The Triumphs of Science 120. What Science Found! 121. Science the only Lever SLAVERY 122. ”

“ Studying Astronomy—Geology—Denial and Evasion by the Clergy—V. The
Poems of Robert Burns—Byron, Shelley, Keats, and Shakespeare—VI.
Volney, Gibbon, and Thomas Paine—Voltaire's Services to Liberty—Pagans
Compared with Patriarchs—VII. Other Gods and Other Religions—Dogmas,
Myths, and Symbols of Christianity Older than our Era—VIII. The Men
of Science, Humboldt, Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Haeckel—IX. Matter and
Force Indestructible and Uncreatable—The Theory of Design—X. God an
Impossible Being—The Panorama of the Past—XI. Free from Sanctified
Mistakes and Holy Lies.
THE TRUTH.
(1897.) ”

“ Can a Sane Man Believe in Inspiration? 259. An Inspiration Test 260. The Real Bible 261. The Bad Passages in the Bible not Inspired 262. Too much Pictorial 263. One Plow worth a Million Sermons INFIDELS 264. The Infidels of 1776 265. The Legitimate Influence of Religion 266. Infidels the Flowers of the World 267. The Noblest Sons of, Earth 268. How Ingersoll became an Infidel 269. Why Should Infidels Die in Fear? 270. Infidelity is Liberty 271. The World in Debt to Infidels 272. Infidels the Pioneers of Progress 273. Infidels the Great Discoverers 274. The Altar of Reason GODS AND DEVILS 275. ”

“ States for the Protection of Colored People—Abram S. Hewitt's
Congratulatory Letter to the Negroes—The Demand for Inflation of the
Currency—Record of Rutherford B. Hayes—Contrasted with Samuel J.
Tilden—Merits of the Republican Party—Negro and Southern White—The
Superior Man—"No Nation founded upon Injustice can Permanently Stand."
EIGHT TO SEVEN ADDRESS.
(1877.) ”

“ Every Nation has Created a God 276. Gods with Back-Hair 277. Creation the Decomposition of the Infinite 278. The Gods Are as the People Are 279. Gods Shouldn't Make Mistakes 280. Miracles 281. Plenty of Gods on Hand 282. The Devil Difficulty 283. Was the Devil an Idiot? 284. Industrious Deities 285. God in Idleness 286. Fancy a Devil Drowning a World 287. Some Gods Very Particular About Little Things 288 The Gods of To-day the Scorn of To-morrow 289. No Evidence of a God in Nature 290. Great Variety in Gods 291. God Grows Smaller 292. Give the Devil His Due 293. Casting out Devils 294. ”

“ Calm—Jephthah's Sacrifice—Hebrews xii Expounded—The Case of
Abraham—Darwinism and the Scriptures—Why God demands Sacrifices of
Man—Problems admitted to be Insoluble—Relation of human Genius
to Human Greatness—Shakespeare and Others—Christ and the Family
Relation—Inaccuracy of Reference in the Reply—Ananias and
Sapphira—The Idea of Immortality—Immunity of Error in Belief from
Moral Responsibility—On Dishonesty in the Formation of Opinion—A
Plausibility of the Shallowest kind—The System of Thuggism—Persecution
for Opinion's Sake—Riding an Unbroken Horse.
Col. Ingersoll to Mr. ”

“ Ingersoll's View of
Immortality—An Almighty Friend.
Letter to Dr. Field—The Presbyterian God—What the Presbyterians
Claim—The "Incurably Bad"—Responsibility for not seeing Things
Clearly—Good Deeds should Follow even Atheists—No Credit in
Belief—Design Argument that Devours Itself—Belief as a Foundation
of Social Order—No Consolation in Orthodox Religion—The "Almighty
Friend" and the Slave Mother—a Hindu Prayer—Calvinism—Christ not the
Supreme Benefactor of the Race.
COLONEL INGERSOLL ON CHRISTIANITY.
(1888.)
Some Remarks on his Reply to Dr. Field by the Hon. Wm. ”

“ Puppets—What the Puppets have Done—Shall we Thank these
Gods?—Shall we Thank Nature?—III. Men who deserve our Thanks—The
Infidels, Philanthropists and Scientists—The Discoverers and
Inventors—Magellan—Copernicus—Bruno—Galileo—Kepler, Herschel,
Newton, and LaPlace—Lyell—What the Worldly have Done—Origin and
Vicissitudes of the Bible—The Septuagint—Investigating the Phenomena
of Nature—IV. We thank the Good Men and Good Women of the Past—The
Poets, Dramatists, and Artists—The Statesmen—Paine, Jefferson,
Ericsson, Lincoln. Grant—Voltaire, Humboldt, Darwin.
A LAY SERMON.
(1886.) ”

“ The Church Must Have no Sword 82. We are All of Us Kings! I want the power where some one can use 83. Honesty Tells! 84. Working for Others. 85. State Sovereignty 86. The King of America 87. Years Without Seeing a Dollar! 88. The Wail of Dead Nations 89. What the Republican Party Did 90. Doings of Democrats 91. Photograph of a Democrat. 92. I am a Republican, I Tell You! 93. Recollect! 94. Give Every Man a Chance 95. Who Shall Rule the Country? 96. The Declaration of Independence 97. The World Grows Brighter. ”

“ How to Deal with Children 33. Give a Child a Chance 34. The Greatest Liars in Michigan 35. Forgive the Children! 36. A Solemn Satire on Whipping Children 37. The Whips and Gods are Gone! INDIVIDUALITY 38. Absolute Independence of the Individual 39. Saved by Disobedience 40. Intellectual Tyranny 41. Say What You Think 42. I Want to Put Out the Fires of Hell 43. The Puritans 44. A Star in the Sky of Despair 45. Do not Shock the Heathen! 46. I will Settle with God Myself 47. I Claim my Right to Guess 48. The Brain a Castle 49. I am Something 50. Every Man a Bight to Think 51. ”

“ Bacchus and Babel—Interest Attaching to Noah—Where Did Our First
Parents and the Serpent Acquire a Common Language?—Babel and the
Confusion of Tongues—XX. Faith in Filth—Immodesty of Biblical
Diction—XXI. The Hebrews—God's Promises to Abraham—The Sojourning
of Israel in Egypt—Marvelous Increase—Moses and Aaron—XXII.
The Plagues—Competitive Miracle Working—Defeat of the Local
Magicians—XXIII. The Flight Out of Egypt—Three Million People in a
Desert—Destruction of Pharaoh ana His Host—Manna—A Superfluity of
Quails—Rev. ”