 | Robert G. Ingersoll |
This crime called blasphemy was invented by priests for the purpose of defending doctrines not able to take care of themselves.
Any doctrine that will not bear investigation is not a fit tenant for the mind of an honest man.
Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains.
The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.
If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.
Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action, rather than the dead calm of ignorance and faith. Banish me from Eden when you will; but first let me eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
The glory of science is, that it is freeing the soul, breaking the mental manacles, getting the brain out of bondage, giving courage to thought, filling the world with mercy, justice, and joy.