God and my Neighbour Part 34

As all men are what heredity and environment have made them, no man deserves punishment nor reward. As the sun s.h.i.+nes alike upon the evil and the good, so in the eyes of justice the saint and the sinner are as one. No man has a just excuse for pride, or anger, or scorn.

Spiritual pride, intellectual pride, pride of pedigree, of caste, of race are all contemptible and mean.

The superior person who wraps himself in a cloak of solemn affectations should be laughed at until he learns to be honest.

The masterful man who puts on airs of command and leaders.h.i.+p insults his fellow-creatures, and should be gently but firmly lifted down many pegs.

Genius should not be regarded as a weapon, but as a tool. A man of genius should not be allowed to command, but only to serve. The human race would do well to watch jealously and restrain firmly all superior persons. Most kings, jockeys, generals, prize-fighters, priests, ladies'-maids, millionaires, lords, tenor singers, authors, lion-comiques, artists, beauties, statesmen, and actors are spoiled children who sadly need to be taught their place. They should be treated kindly, but not allowed too many toys and sweetmeats, nor too much flattery. Such superior persons are like the clever minstrels, jesters, clerks, upholsterers, storytellers, horse-breakers, huntsmen, stewards, and officers about a court. They should be fed and praised when they deserve it, but they cannot be too often reminded that they are retainers and servants, and that their Sovereign and Master is--

The People.

In a really humane and civilised nation:

There should be and need be no such thing as poverty.

There should be and need be no such thing as ignorance.

There should be and need be no such thing as crime.

There should be and need be no such thing as idleness.

There should be and need be no such thing as war.

There should be and need be no such thing as slavery.

There should be and need be no such thing as hate.

There should be and need be no such thing as envy.

There should be and need be no such thing as pride.

There should be and need be no such thing as greed.

There should be and need be no such thing as gluttony.

There should be and need be no such thing as vice.

But this is not a humane and civilised nation, and never will be while it accepts Christianity as its religion.

These are my reasons for opposing Christianity. If I have said anything to give pain to any Christian, I am sorry, and ask to be forgiven.

I have tried to maintain "towards all creatures a bounteous friendly feeling."

As to what I said about holiness, I cannot take back a word. Dr. Horton said that without that form of holiness which only a belief in Christ can give we shall only be good enough to barely escape h.e.l.l, and, "after pa.s.sing through the grave, to wander in the dark s.p.a.ces of the world, which is still earthly and sensual."

I say earnestly and deliberately that if I can only attain to Heaven and to holiness as one of a few, if I am to go to Heaven and leave millions of my brothers and sisters to ignorance and misery and crime, I will hope to be sent instead into those "dark s.p.a.ces of the world which is still earthly and sensual" and there to be permitted to fight with all my strength against pain and error and injustice and human sorrow. I know I shall be happier so. I think I was made for that kind of work, and I fervently wish that I may be allowed to do my duty as long as ever there is a wrong in the world that I can help to right, a grief I can help to soothe, a truth I can help to tell.

Let the Holy have their Heaven. I am a man, and an Infidel. And this is my Apology.

Besides, gentlemen, Christianity is not _true_.