From the Book, 2,000 Years of Disbelief
There has been an unbroken thread of atheists and agnostics as far back as there are records of the written word. It is popular to talk about ones during the last 2,000 years because there have been so many attempts to stop them.
A block from where I live is a prominent street named, "Ingersoll Avenue." It is named after one of the most famous non believers in history Robert Green Ingersoll. He died in 1899. I would say there is no non believer today that is as prominent as he was during his lifetime. His quotes that ridiculed Christianity are still used frequently today.
Ingersoll was a self educated lawyer. He practiced in Chicago and later New York City. Apparently he was very successful at law. While practicing law, he has another successful career on the speaking circuit. People paid good ticket prices to hear him bash Christianity. It is estimated in today's money he earned one million dollars as a speaker some years. He had audiences as large as 50,000.
I have been criticized here for offending religious people. Ingersoll was better at that than I am. Here are some quotes from speeches and his books:
"It has always seemed absurd to suppose a god would choose for his companions during all of eternity dear souls whose highest and only ambition is to obey."
"The church hates a thinker precisely for the same reason a robber dislikes a sheriff or a thief a prosecuting witness."
"Who can estimate the misery caused by this infamous doctrine of eternal punishment...Think of the millions who have been driven to insanity by this most terrible of dogmas. This doctrine renders God the basest and most cruel being in the universe...There is nothing more degrading than to worship such a god."
"Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action, rather than the dead calm of ignorance and faith."
We have all seen President Trump surrounded by a group of conservative preachers. Ingersoll's comment about priests seems to apply to those preachers, "In all ages, hypocrites, called priests, have put crowns on the head of thieves, called kings."
"The inspiration of the Bible depends upon the ignorance of the gentleman who reads it."
"A believer is a bird in a cage; a freethinker is an eagle parting the clouds with a tireless wing."
There are many more but I need to stop.
if you are looking for atheists you can do better. try Nietzsche, try Voltaire, try Lucretius. Ingersoll is so, well, run of the mill.
ReplyDeleteunknown--"If you are looking for atheists you can do better. try Nietzsche, try Voltaire...."
DeleteI agree those ancients were wonderfully snarky. It could be, probably was, that Ingersoll got at least some of his material from them. The point of my blog was not that Ingersoll was a great philosopher, it was that taking shots at Christianity was very popular in the 1800's. Further, my blog is part of a tradition that goes back over 2,000 years.
OK
DeleteSnarky is what I've seen from every atheist I've encountered. If they are the ground troops for converting people to atheism, then we know why atheism is in the dismal current state of affairs.
DeleteI know, some here think atheism is flourishing. Atheism is not flourishing. Indifference is flourishing. Skin deep knowledge of Christianity is flourishing. There are no convents or seminaries of atheism. There are no shrines like Our Lady of Guadalupe, Fatima, Lourdes, etc. Where is there a shrine to an atheist that is anything more than a resting place for pigeons?
Matt "Indifference is flourishing. Skin deep knowledge of Christianity is flourishing."
DeleteI agree so called believers seem less interested in details than ever. The "nones" are making up religious ideas that fit their lives today.
Matt, we have an atheist shrine in Red Square in Moscow.
Deletere. "The "nones" are making up religious ideas that fit their lives today". The perfect storm for the development of cults. This has been done, both within and without Christianity. Those "less interested in details" are vulnerable to those that "are making up religious ideas that fit their lives..." Most of it is Me-Me-Me-Me. I need not give examples.
DeleteThe natural progression of "nones" is; "none", not whatsoever. (Agnostic merging to atheism.)
Matt Noah May 28, 2020 at 8:24 AM
Delete“Where is there a shrine to an atheist that is anything more than a resting place for pigeons?” Well there’s a wee bit of Cathoholic snarkasm. There is plenty of snark to go around.
My suspicion is that pigeons are as likely to rest and drop on a Christian shrine as an atheist shrine. Since there are probably many more of the former, does that mean pigeons are anti-Christian or just indifferent?
Speaking of flourishing indifference to the existence of gods, my guess is those folks would more likely be placed under atheism than theism. Perhaps atheism - indifference = anti-theism.
It is true I think that there are no convents or seminaries of atheism. But like Christianity it may be that something similar to denominations form organically between the tolerant and intolerant poles of doubt.
Jon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I’m going to have to read all of the posts in the “2000 Years of Disbelief” series. The post on Voltaire quoted a Thomas Paine comment on the man, “His forte lay in exposing and ridiculing the superstitions which priestcraft, united with statecraft, had interwoven with governments.”. We could use a latter-day Voltaire.
Can’t close without a favorite Ingersoll quote, “Happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.” – eulogy at the grave of his brother, Ebon.
what is happiness? pleasure seeking? avoidance of pain? a life of virtue? if reason is the only torch, it can lead you astray as well as to the truth. consider the men of reason who chopped off heads in France in the late 18th century. and the worship of justice can easily morph into vengeance. consider the Bolsheviks. or for that matter just about any of us. in sum, Ingersoll is a very flawed thinker, third rate at best.
DeleteUnknown, May 27, 2020 at 9:14 AM
DeleteIf your religion gives you happiness, a torch to bear, justice, humanity, and love, you’re all set.
to paraphrase J.S. Mill: it's better to be an unhappy/unsatisfied Socrates than to be a happy pig.
DeleteUnknown May 28, 2020 at 2:00 PM
DeleteOK