Any Doctrine That Will Not Bear Investigation

In All Ages The People Have Honored Those Who Dishonored Them. They Have Worshiped Their Destroyers; They Have Canonized The Most Gigantic Liars, And Buried The Great Thieves In Marble And Gold. Under The Loftiest Monuments Sleeps The Dust Of Murder.

It Is An Old Habit With Theologians To Beat The Living With The Bones Of The Dead.

I Have No Reverence For Any Book That Teaches A Doctrine Contrary To My Reason; No Reverence For Any Book That Teaches A Doctrine Contrary To My Heart; And, No Matter How Old It Is, No Matter How Many Have Believed It, No Matter How Many Have Died On Account Of It, No Matter How Many Live For It, I Have No Reverence For That Book, And I Am Glad Of It.

A Few Years Ago The Deists Denied The Inspiration Of The Bible On Account Of Its Cruelty. At The Same Time They Worshiped What They Were Pleased To Call The God Of Nature. Now We Are Convinced That Nature Is As Cruel As The Bible; So That, If The God Of Nature Did Not Write The Bible, This God At Least Has Caused Earthquakes And Pestilence And Famine, And This God Has Allowed Millions Of His Children To Destroy One Another. So That Now We Have Arrived At The Question - Not As To Whether The Bible Is Inspired And Not As To Whether Jehovah Is The Real God, But Whether There Is A God Or Not.

I Believe That There Is Something Far Nobler Than Loyalty To Any Particular Man. Loyalty To The Truth As We Perceive It - Loyalty To Our Duty As We Know It - Loyalty To The Ideals Of Our Brain And Heart - Is, To My Mind, Far Greater And Far Nobler Than Loyalty To The Life Of Any Particular Man Or God. . . .