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diff --git a/41650-0.txt b/41650-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f322571 --- /dev/null +++ b/41650-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,900 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41650 *** + + Transcriber's Note: + + Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as + possible, including nonstandard spellings and inconsistent + hyphenation. + + Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. + Bold text has been marked with =equals signs=. + + + + + We have done with the kisses that sting, + The thief's mouth red from the feast, + The blood on the hands of the king, + And the lie at the lips of the priest. + + --_Swinburne_ + + + + +Is the Morality of Jesus Sound? + +A Lecture Delivered Before the Independent Religious Society, Orchestra +Hall, Chicago, Sunday, at 11 A. M. + +[Illustration] + +By M. M. MANGASARIAN + + + + + _I make war against this theological instinct: I have found traces + of it everywhere. Whoever has theological blood in his veins is, + from the very beginning, ambiguous and disloyal with respect to + everything.... I have digged out the theologist instinct + everywhere; it is the most diffused, the most peculiarly + SUBTERRANEAN form of falsity that exists on earth. What a + theologian feels as true, MUST needs be false: one has therein + almost a criterion of truth._ + + --_Nietzsche._ + + + + +Is the Moral Teaching of Jesus Sound? + + +A great deal depends upon the answer to the question, "Is the moral +teaching of Jesus sound?" This question brings us to the inner and most +closely guarded citadel of Christianity. If it can be captured, the rout +of supernaturalism will be complete; but as long as it stands, +Christianity can afford to lose every one of its outer fortifications, +and still be the victor. Reason may drive supernaturalism out of the +Catholic position into the Protestant, and out of that, into the +Unitarian, and out of that again into Liberalism, but reason does not +become master of the field until it has stormed and razed to the ground +this last and greatest of all the strongholds--the morality of +Christianity. + +If Jesus was the author of perfect or even the highest ideals the world +has ever cherished, he will, and must, remain the saviour, _par +excellence_, of the world. Whether he was man or God, which question +Unitarianism discusses, is a trifling matter. If his ethical teaching is +practically without a flaw, I would gladly call him God, and more, if +such a thing were possible. His walking on the water, or his raising the +dead, or his flying through the air, would not in the least embarrass +me. I could accept them all--if he rose morally head and shoulders above +every other mortal or immortal, our world has ever produced. It is +claimed that he did. What is the evidence? + +To facilitate this discussion, and to concentrate all our attention on +the subject of this discourse, we will waive the question of the +historicity of Jesus. For the sake of argument, we will accept the +gospels as history--accept the authenticity of the documents, the +trustworthiness of the witnesses, and the inspiration of the texts which +we are to quote. We will grant every point; concede every claim, allow +every contention of the defendants. We will then say to them: Does the +evidence which you have presented and we have accepted without raising +any objections, prove that the moral teaching of Jesus is perfect, or +even the highest the world has ever possessed? + +A system of thought, or a code of morals, is much like a building. A +serious crack in one of the walls, or a post that is not secure in its +socket, is enough to make the whole building unsafe. When a building is +condemned, it is not condemned for the parts that are sound, but for the +part or parts that are unsound. To change my illustration, the strength +of a chain is in its weakest link. So is the strength of a religion in +its most vulnerable parts. By overlooking the weakness and dwelling +solely upon the strong points, we could make any religion appear as the +best in the world; as a similar bias would prove the most rickety +building even perfectly safe. A lawyer, an advocate, or special pleader, +may conceal, or cover up the cracks in the walls of a building, or the +defects of an institution. But why should I? My object is not to save +the building, but the people who are in it. I am not interested in +saving the creed or the religion, but the people who stake their lives +on it. I am not trying to earn my fee, I am trying to serve the people. +Why should I, then, be expected to spread the mantle of charity over a +building that deserves to be condemned, or plead for a religion that +blocks the path of advancement? And why,--why should any religion beg +for charity? To a cashier of a bank, to a treasurer of a corporation, to +an official of the municipality or the state, who should beg the +examining committee not to look into all his dealings, but only to +report what good they can of him, we say: "You are guilty." Not only +that, but he is also trying to make us his accomplices. + +Lawyer-like, preachers often tell their hearers to see only the good in +the bible, for instance. "When you are eating fish," they say, "you eat +the meat and throw away the bones. Do the same with the bible." But why +should anything in the bible be meant to be thrown away? Pardon me if I +use a stronger expression--why should any part of the Word of God be +destined for the garbage box? + +It is a pleasure, and it confirms us in our optimism, to admit that in +all the religions of the world, even in the crudest, there is much that +is good, as in every structure or dwelling there are rooms and walls and +posts that are perfectly sound. Religions live, as buildings endure,--by +the soundness there is in them. It is not the cracked wall or damaged +pillar which supports the building--it is the sound parts that keep it +together. The same is true of religions. It is the truths they contain +that preserve them. Mohammedanism, for instance, has survived for nearly +fifteen centuries, and its survival is due to the virtues and not to the +vices of the Mohammedan faith. This is equally true of Judaism and +Christianity. If human Society has survived for these many centuries, it +is because, imperfect as it is, there is enough of justice and honor +among men to keep it from disintegration. But is that any reason why we +should be content with what little justice or truth there is in the +world, and not strive for more? And shall we hold our tongues on the +terrible injustice and oppression all around us simply because there is +also goodness and virtue among men? Simply because the human race keeps +going as it is, shall we not endeavor to improve it? And because there +is some good in all religions, shall we shut our eyes to the dangerous +fallacies they contain? Is it not our duty as well as our privilege to +labor for a more rational and a more ennobling faith? + +In the teachings attributed to Jesus, whose nativity is celebrated +to-day[1] in Europe and America, there is much that we are in cordial +sympathy with. We can say the same of all the founders of religions. If +any one were to point out to us passages of beauty in the four evangels, +I for myself would gladly agree to all that may be said in their praise. +But if I were asked to infer from these isolated passages that the +ethical teaching of Jesus is not only the most perfect within human +reach, but also sufficient to the needs of man for all time, I would +deem it a stern duty to combat the proposition with all the earnestness +at my command. It would then be the duty, indeed, of every one to +denounce the attempt to arrest the progress of the world by holding it +bound to the thought of one man. In the interest of morality itself, it +must be shown that Jesus is not the highest product of the ages, nor is +he the best that the future can promise. There is room beyond Jesus. But +not only was Jesus not the perfect teacher his worshippers claim him to +have been, but there are flaws in his system--cracks and rents in the +walls of his temple--so serious and menacing, that not to call attention +to them would be to shirk the most urgent service we owe to the cause of +humanity. + +[1] Christmas Sunday, Dec. 26, 1909. + +My first general criticism of the morality of Jesus is, that it lacks +universality. It is not meant for all peoples and all times. It is +rather the morality of a sect, a coterie, or a secret society. I object +to the provincialism of Jesus. Jesus was not a cosmopolite. He was a +Hebrew before he was a man. If we find Jerusalem on the map of the world +and draw a circle around it,--covering the rest of the map with our +hands,--we will then have before us all the world that Jesus knew +anything about,--or cared for. Little did he think of the rest of the +world. The continents of Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and the, as +yet, undiscovered America, had no place whatever either in his thought +or affection. The yellow millions of China and Japan, the dusky millions +of Hindustan, the blacks of Africa with their galling chains, the white +races with the most pressing problems which ever taxed the brain of +man--do not seem to have deserved even a passing notice from Jesus. It +is quite evident that such a country as our America, for instance, with +its nearly one hundred millions of people of all races and religions, +dwelling under the same flag, and governing themselves without a King or +a Caesar, never crossed the orbit even of his imagination. Is it +reasonable to go to a provincial of this description for _universal_ +ideals? + +What Jesus has in mind is not humanity, but a particular race. Israel is +the nation that monopolizes his attention, and even in that nation his +interest is limited to those that believe in him as the Messiah. The +idea of a world-salvation was utterly foreign to his sympathies. His +disciples were all of one race, and he emphatically warned them against +going into the cities of the Gentiles to preach the gospel. He tells +them that he was sent expressly and exclusively for the lost sheep of +the house of Israel. Of course, we are familiar with the "Go ye into all +the world and preach the gospel to every creature," but Jesus is +supposed to have given that commandment after his _death_. In his life +time, he said, "Go not into the cities and towns of the Gentiles." If he +said, "Go _not_, to the Gentiles!" when he was living, the "Go to the +Gentiles," after his death, has all the ear-marks of an interpolation. +The two statements squarely contradict each other. Granting that Jesus +knew what he was talking about, he could not have given both +commandments. Moreover, from the conduct of the apostles who refused to +go to the Gentiles until Paul came about,--who had never seen or heard +Jesus,--it may be concluded that Jesus did not change his mind to the +very last on the matter of his being sent "only for the lost children of +the House of Israel." + +But the thought of Jesus is as Hebraic as are his sympathies. His God is +invariably the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Suppose he had also +called God, "The God of Abraham, Confucius and Socrates." Ah, if Jesus +had only said that! The idea of the larger God was in the human mind, +but not in his. The idea was in the air, but Jesus was not tall enough +to reach it. He did not look beyond a tribal Deity. The God of Jesus was +a Hebrew. To Jesus David was the only man who looked big in history. Of +Alexander, for example, who conquered the world and made the Greek +language universal--the language in which his own story, the story of +Jesus, is written, and which story, in all probability would never have +come down to us but for the Greek language and Alexander; of Socrates, +whose daily life was the beauty of Athens; of Aristotle, of whom Goethe +said that he was the greatest intellect the world had produced; of the +Caesars, who converted a pirate station on the Tiber to an Eternal +City--Jesus does not seem to have heard at all--and if he had, he does +not seem to care for them, any more than would a Gypsy Smith. + +The heaven of Jesus is also quite Semitic. His twelve apostles are to +sit upon twelve thrones--to judge the _twelve tribes of Israel_. There +is no mention of anybody else sitting on a throne, or of anybody else in +heaven except Jews. People will come from the east and the west, from +the north and the south to meet their father, Abraham, in heaven. The +cosmography or topography of the world to come is also Palestinian. It +has as many gates as there are sons of Jacob; all its inhabitants have +Hebrew names; and just as on earth, outside of Judea, the whole world +was _heathen_, in the next world, heaven is where Abraham and his +children dwell; the rest is _hell_. Indeed, to Jesus heaven meant +Abraham's bosom. And we repeatedly come across the phrase, "heavenly +Jerusalem" in the New Testament, as the name of the abode of +the blessed? Is it likely that a man so racial, so sectarian, +so circumscribed in his thought and sympathies,--so local and +clannish,--could assume and fulfill the role of a universal teacher? + +But not only was the world of Jesus a mere speck on the map, but it was +also a world without a future. Jesus expected the world to come to an +end in a very short time. And what was the use of trying to get +acquainted with, or interested in, a world about to be abandoned? The +evidence is very conclusive that Jesus believed the end of the world to +be imminent. He says: "Verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone +through the cities of Israel before the son of man come." As Palestine +was a small country, and its few cities could easily be visited in a +short time, it follows that Jesus expected the almost immediate end of +the world. In another text he tells his disciples that this great event +would happen in the lifetime of those who were listening to him: "This +generation," he says, "shall not pass away," before the world ends. This +belief in the approaching collapse of the world was shared by his +apostles. Paul, for instance, is constantly exhorting Christians to get +ready for the great catastrophe, and he describes how those still living +will be transformed when Jesus appears in the clouds. + +The earliest Christian Society was communistic, because all that they +needed was enough to subsist upon before Jesus reappeared. It would have +been foolish from their point of view to "lay up treasures on earth" +when the earth was soon to be burnt up. Moreover, they were not +commanded to labor, but to "watch and pray." The fruits of labor require +time to ripen in, and there was no time. The cry was, "Behold the +bridegroom is at the door." Hence, to "watch and pray" was the only +reasonable occupation. We can see for ourselves how this belief in the +near end of the world would create a kind of morality altogether +unsuitable to people living in a world that does not come to an end. +Jesus never dreamt that the world was going to last, for at least +another two thousand years. If anyone had whispered such a thing in his +ears, he would have gasped for breath. Could the curtain of the future +have been lifted high enough for Jesus to have seen in advance some +of the changes that have come upon the world during the past +twenty centuries,--the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of +Mohammedanism,--carrying two continents and throwing the third into a +state of panic,--wresting the very Jerusalem of Jesus from the +Christians and holding it for a thousand years; had Jesus been able to +foresee the Dark Ages, the Italian Renaissance, the German Reformation, +the French Revolution, the American Revolution with its Declaration of +Independence, and later on, its Emancipation Proclamation,--and finally, +had Jesus caught even the most distant gleam of that magnificent and +majestic Empire, the Empire of Science, with its peaceful reign and +bloodless conquests, slowly and serenely climbing above the horizon, +bringing to man such a hope as had never before entered his breast, and +giving him the stars for eyes, and the wind for wings--had but a glimpse +of all this crossed the vision of this Jerusalem youth, his conception +of a world soon to be smashed would have appeared to him as the +infantile fancy of a--well, what shall I say?--I shall not say of a +fanatic, I shall not say, of an illiterate,--let me say--of an +enthusiast. The morality of Jesus not only lacked universality, but it +was also framed to fit a world under sentence of immediate destruction. + +Jesus' doctrine of a passing world was born of his pessimism. The old, +whether in years, or in spirit, as Shakespeare says, are always wishing +"that the estate of the Sun were now undone." Weariness of life is a +sign of exhaustion. The strong and the healthy love life. The young are +not pessimists. Jesus had the disease of aged and effete Asia. He was +not European in ardor or energy. He contemplated a passing panorama, a +world crashing and tumbling into ruins all about him, with Oriental +resignation. The groan of a dying world was music to him. He enjoyed the +anticipation of calamity. The end of the world would put an end to +effort and endeavor, both of which the Asiatic dislikes. To tell people +that the world is coming to an end soon,--today, tomorrow, is not to +kindle, but to extinguish hope; and without hope our world would be +darker even than if the sun were to be blotted out of the sky. + +The objection against Christianity, as also against its parent, Judaism, +is that it seeks to divert the attention of man from the work in hand to +something visionary and distant. It was to direct men's thoughts to some +other world that Jesus belittled this. + +What are you doing, asks the preacher. + +I am laboring for my daily bread. + +Indeed! Have you not heard that Jesus said: "Labor not for the meat that +perisheth?" + +And what are _you_ doing? + +We are building a city. + +What! Do you not know that it is written in the Word of God that, "Here +we have no abiding City?" + +And _you_-- + +I have married and have decided to share my life with the woman I love. + +And have you not read in St. Paul's Epistles, says the preacher again, +that they who are married neglect the things of the Lord? + +And _you_? + +We are laboring to improve the world we live in--to make it a little +cleaner and sweeter. + +But do you not know, asks the man of God, that the world will soon pass +away,--that, as Jesus has foretold, the sun will turn black, the stars +will fall, and the elements will be consumed in a general conflagration? + +The effect of the teaching of both Judaism and Christianity is to +incapacitate man for earnest work now and here. And what do these +religions offer in place of the home, the love, the world, which they +take away from us? Let us ask the priest: + +Where then _is_ our home? + +Yonder!--and he points into space with his finger. + +Where? In the clouds? + +Higher. + +In the stars? + +Higher still. + +In the ether? + +No, higher yet, far, far away. You can not see it. You have to take my +word for it. + +And, unfortunately, so many of us _take his word for it_. And upon what +terms will the priest condescend to pilot us to our invisible and aerial +mansions? We must turn over to him now, our all,--mind, body and lands. +The doctrine of a world hastening to destruction, while it has +demoralized the people, it has enriched the churches. During the middle +ages, and earlier, and also in more recent times, more than once the +credulous public has been scared out of its possessions by the preachers +of calamity. Jesus can not very well clear himself of responsibility for +this, because, it was he who tried to hurry the people out of a world +soon to be set on fire. When a young man asked Jesus' permission to go +and bury his father, he was told to "Let the dead bury their dead." This +was extraordinary advice to a son who wished to do his father a last +service. But Jesus was consistent. The world was catching fire and there +was no time to lose. The morality of Jesus was the morality of panic. He +would not give people the time to think of anything else but their own +salvation from the impending doom. This was Bunyan's interpretation of +the spirit of Christianity, for he made _Christian_, the hero of his +story, to flee at once from the city of destruction, leaving his wife +and children, his neighbors and his country behind. The morality of +panic! + +That this superstition that the world was about to be destroyed +influenced the whole teaching of Jesus, as well as depressed his +spirits, will be seen by an examination of his famous Sermon on the +Mount. Matthew and Luke give somewhat different reports of it. It is +likely that Luke's is the less embellished, and therefore more +representative of Jesus' real attitude toward life. In the third Gospel, +Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor." Matthew gives it as, "Blessed are +the poor in spirit." If the first document had the latter form, it is +not likely that a later copyist would drop the "in spirit," but if the +earlier simply read, "Blessed are the poor," a later writer might find +it convenient and necessary even, to soften it by adding the words "in +spirit." In Luke there is nothing said about hungering after +righteousness, it is merely, "Blessed are ye, that hunger now: for ye +shall be filled." The drift of the Sermon as given by Luke, which in +all probability is nearer the original than that given by Matthew, and +which is at any rate equally inspired, is to wean men from a world +which is but a snare and a delusion, and to get them to cultivate +other-worldliness. Let me quote a few of the beatitudes: + + "_Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are + ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that + weep now, for ye shall laugh_-- + + "_Woe unto you that are full; for ye shall hunger._ + + "_Woe unto you that laugh now; for ye shall mourn and weep._"[2] + + [2] Luke, VI Chap. + +And the next world according to Jesus was not really a better world, but +the reverse of this. Some are hungry now, some are full. In the world of +Jesus, those who are full now, will be hungry, and those who are hungry +now will be full. Here Lazarus is suffering, and Dives is in comfort; +there, they will change places. That is not a world worth looking +forward to. It is not even a _new_ world, but the old world turned about +and actually made much worse. The suffering, the misery, the pain, in +the world, now, are at least temporary, but there, they will be +_eternal_. Here, the rich man, at least, gives of the crumbs of his +table to Lazarus, but in heaven Lazarus refuses even a drop of water to +moisten the lips of Dives in hell. No healthy and optimistic soul could +have dreamed so prosaic a dream. The future is a place of revenge +according to Jesus. Such a future as he describes, with thrones for his +friends, and hell everlasting for the stranger, would, if really +accepted, smite humanity with the worst kind of pessimism. We could +pardon Jesus for wishing the destruction of this world, if he only +offered a better one in its place. + +It is in the light of this belief in a vanishing world that the +teachings of Jesus should be interpreted. "If any one," says Jesus, +"take away thy coat, let him take thy cloak also." Of course. Of what +use is property in a world soon to be set on fire? Besides, according to +the Sermon on the Mount, the way to have property in heaven is not to +have any here. To Jesus, the world was like a tavern--good only for a +night's lodging; or to change the simile, the world was like a sinking +ship from which, to save ourselves, everything else must be thrown +overboard. Who would care to accumulate wealth, who would care to marry, +or rear children, on a sinking ship? Could such an alarmist be a sane +moral teacher? Yet, Jesus must have been sane enough to realize that the +command not to resist evil,--to give to everyone that would borrow; to +turn also the other cheek to the aggressor; and to let the robber bully +people out of their belongings,--would upset the very foundations of +human society and create a chaos unspeakably injurious to the moral +life; but what is the difference if we are on a sinking ship! In the +same spirit, Jesus advises his disciples to let the tares grow up with +the wheat. It is not worth while trying to separate them now, the time +is so short. And when he says that we must "hate father, mother, and +children for his sake," he means that to escape this great, this +hastening calamity which he predicts, would be better for us than to +cultivate the affections and the friendships that will soon be no more. +It is really impossible for anyone believing in a heaven to be quite +just to the world that now is. The other world looks so important to the +believer that this one becomes, as John Wesley expressed it, "A fleeting +show." + +The position of Jesus on the important question of marriage and the +relation of the sexes is also to be studied in the light of the belief +that the world is not going to last very long. + +It certainly would be absurd to have any weddings, as it would be cruel +to have children, or to accumulate property, or to acquire knowledge, in +such a world. Tolstoi, in his _Kreutzer Sonata_, which is a terrible +story, interprets the real Christian attitude toward marriage. He shows +conclusively that it is inconsistent for a follower of Jesus to marry. +Even as the believer must give up all property, he must also give up the +family. If he is single, he must not marry; if he is married, he must +live as though he was not married. Tolstoi proves his contention by +quoting among other texts, the following from Jesus: "And everyone that +hath forsaken wife or children or lands for my name's sake"--which words +are a direct recommendation to forsake kith and kin, wife and husband, +in fact everything. To be a Christian, according to Count Tolstoi, is to +follow the example of Jesus who abstained from marriage. What is the use +of talking about divorce when marriage is forbidden? Jesus said that +Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of men's hearts; and +marriage is permitted, according to Paul, as a concession to human +weakness. The Christian ideal, however, is celibacy. Jesus is very +positive on this point. You will not blame me if I quote his own words, +just as I find them in the New Testament. In the gospel of Matthew, +chapter nineteen, verse twelve, Jesus speaks of three kinds of eunuchs: +first, those who were born deformed; second, those who have been +mutilated by men; and third, those "who have made themselves eunuchs for +the kingdom of heaven's sake." This is an invitation to all who can to +emasculate themselves. Is not this pernicious teaching? A man could not +teach such a doctrine in America to-day without laying himself open to +the contempt of his fellows, but when preached by Jesus, hypocrisy and +cowardice combine to extol it as divine wisdom. Fortunately, such +teaching is _admired_--not obeyed. That is as far as hypocrisy cares to +go. It is owing to the healthy manhood of the occidental nations that +this Asiatic superstition has not altogether bankrupted civilization. In +the early centuries many of the followers of Jesus mutilated their +bodies "for the kingdom of heaven's sake." There is in Russia a sect +called _Skopskis_, with a membership of six thousand, which follows the +practice recommended by the founder of Christianity. + +The vows of _poverty_, _chastity_ and _obedience_, lead practically to +self-destruction. Poverty is helplessness, or nothingness; chastity is +self-mortification; obedience, by which is meant, absolute surrender of +the will to another, is the stamping out of the mind. Goodness! It is +not only the world that Christianity wishes to destroy, but also man. +Annihilation--the Buddhist Nirvana, seems to be its goal. How to make a +man a mere _zero_--poor, emasculated, and a mental slave, seems to be +the ideal of this Asiatic cult. After two thousand years of modern +education, such is the hold of Jesus upon the Christian world, that in +our churches is still sung the hymn: + + "O, to be nothing, nothing!" + +With this doctrine of celibacy in view, the indifference of Jesus to the +rights of women as human beings is not a surprise. It has been well said +that "those who trample upon manhood can have no real respect for +woman." Jesus never spoke of God except as a father. If the highest +principle or being in the universe is a "he," of course woman can never +hope to be on an equality with man. Motherhood will always occupy a +secondary place as long as the father is a god. If God is a father, what +mother can be on an equality with him? He must rule; she must obey. +Women do not stop to think that religion--Christianity, Judaism, +Mohammedanism--is the most stubborn obstacle in the path of their +advancement. Jesus ignored women in all the essentials of life. He did +not love any one of them sufficiently to share his life with her. He had +no place for the love of woman in his heart. He kept twelve men as his +constant companions. Suppose Jesus had invited some gentle and devoted +woman to the honor of apostleship,--what an example that would have +been! But he was not great enough to rise above the bigotry of his age. +Surely, there were women in his circle of acquaintance better than Judas +Iscariot, who sold him for a paltry sum of money. Women may wait upon +Jesus at the table, they may give birth to him, and nurse him; they may +fall at his feet to bathe them with their tears and wipe them with their +tresses--but to be his apostles--not that. Had Jesus been really a great +genius he would have understood that in the work of saving people, the +co-operation of woman is indispensable. There are no better saviors than +women. How many a husband has been saved from drink--from the gutter +even, by his wife. How many sons have been shielded from a prodigal's +fate by a mother's all-conquering devotion. Yet for this splendid force +or agency of reform, Jesus had no appreciation whatever. + + If I were hanged on the highest hill + Mother o' mine; + I know whose love would follow me still + Mother o' mine. + +Jesus failed to see in woman that which inspires the poet, the painter, +the hero, to do their best. He took the Asiatic view of woman. "Can man +be free," sang Shelley, "if woman be a slave?" Suppose Jesus had said +that! + +The bible is on the whole very unfair to woman. This is a sign of its +inferior morality. It is the bully who takes advantage of the physically +weak. When, in the Garden of Eden, God is about to punish the first +couple for their disobedience, he is much less considerate of the woman +than he is of the man. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," +is the curse for Adam. That was not a curse at all. Labor is not only +honorable, it is also pleasureable. Many work who do not have to--they +work, not from pressure, but from pleasure. Many who retire from +business do so with regret. It is indolence that is a curse. The divine +curse against the serpent is even milder. He is told to walk upon his +belly for the rest of his life--a change of locomotion was his +punishment. But when Jehovah curses the woman, he shows,--I was going to +say,--the effect of his Asiatic training. "Unto the woman he said, I +will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt +thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and +he shall rule over thee."[3] + +[3] Genesis III:16. + +"I will greatly multiply thy sorrow." And why? Is it because she is +stronger and can therefore endure more suffering than the man? Why +should she be struck a heavier and a more crushing blow? And observe +that she is cursed in the act which constitutes the greatest and most +heroic service a woman renders to the human race,--the giving birth to +children. The pain of child-bearing is to be henceforth, says the deity, +very much more painful. Well may we blush for Jehovah. If there is a +divine moment in human life, it is when a woman becomes a mother. All +the tenderness, the love, the gentleness, the devotion, the sweetness, +and the compassion, of which we are capable, will not be enough to +outweigh the suffering a woman endures to give life and light to a new +being. And think of choosing this delicate and helpless moment to strike +at her! And this is the being who has sent his son to save _us_! But who +shall save Jehovah? + +"And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." +At the threshold of life she is sold into slavery. She is not given to +Adam--to share with him the dignity of humanity, the duties and rights +of life,--but to be his creature. Suppose Jehovah had said: "A woman is +as much a human being as a man, and because of her physical weakness, I +shall charge myself to be her special protector and friend until man +shall have advanced sufficiently in culture and civilization to do full +justice to her." Ah, if Jehovah had only said _that_! In the Episcopal +and Catholic marriage services, to this day, the wife is asked to +promise to obey her husband. And this is the religion that pretends to +be just and impartial to women. From the silence of Jesus on this +subject, in a country and at a time when woman's condition was +deplorable, and where the curse with which she had been cursed had +really taken effect,--as well as from the few words he said about +marriage,--Jesus shows his utter incapacity to tear himself from his +Asiatic environment, or to rise to the nobler ideals of an advancing +civilization. + +Again, in the light of his belief in a world soon to disappear, it +becomes clear why Jesus ignored such subjects, for instance, as +education, art and politics. There is not a word in all the sayings and +sermons of Jesus about schools, or the acquisition of knowledge of +nature and its laws. He does not devote a single thought to the +education of children. Not once does he denounce ignorance, which is the +mother of all abominations. In the age in which he lived, ignorance was +the most abundant as well as the worst crop his own country raised. And +yet, Jesus had absolutely nothing to say against it. It would take time +to conquer knowledge, and the time was too short. Moreover, in the world +to come, such knowledge would be superfluous. What wisdom the believers +needed would be given to them miraculously, even as God rained down +manna in the desert to the children of Israel. This idea that +everything, even our daily bread, is _given_ to us, not acquired by us, +explains also why Jesus ignored the subject of labor--the great +transformer that transforms the world's waste places into gardens and +its swamps into flourishing cities. "Consider the lilies of the fields," +argues Jesus, with a suggestion of poetry in his usually severe and +solemn speech,--"they toil not, neither do they spin,"--from which it is +to be inferred that, if the lilies can be so fair and flourishing +without toil or labor, so can man, if he will only put his trust in God. + +The kingdom of heaven which is to take the place of this world when it +has been burned down to ashes, is not an evolution, or a growth out of +present conditions, but it is a totally different order, and is to be +introduced suddenly and by miracle. This idea makes human labor +unnecessary. Hence, the advice of Paul to the slave, not to seek his +freedom, and that of Jesus, to let the tares grow up with the wheat. It +is not by any effort on our part; it is not by human science or labor, +but by magic, that is to say, by some unknown, mysterious and sudden +manner--like the thief at night, that the kingdom of God is to come. + +Little things as well as great issues, Jesus would have us leave to +providence. Therefore his warning: Take no thought for the morrow. In +other words labor is necessary for those people only who have no Father +in heaven who takes notice of even the falling sparrow. But the believer +has only to cast his net into the sea and fishes with pearls in their +mouths will help him pay for his wants. Faith will not only move +mountains, but it can make a single loaf of bread to satisfy the hunger +of thousands. In fact, a miracle-worker like Jesus could not +consistently recommend labor, which means application of means to ends. +Jesus was a magician. Morality is a Science. + +But let us now consider Jesus' answers to special problems presented to +him by many of his hearers for solution. You know the story of the rich +young man who came to Jesus to ask him the way to eternal life. "Keep +the ten commandments," Jesus told him. But when the youth answered that +he was already doing that, Jesus said, "If thou wilt be perfect, sell +all that thou hast and give it to the poor and thou shalt have +treasure in heaven." I am not surprised that the young man went away +disappointed. What is there in poverty to entitle a man to eternal life? +Is it not a perverse doctrine that associates beggary with moral +perfection? Why should the mendicant be the pet of heaven. If you give +all that you have to the poor, you will have to depend upon charity for +your living,--or starve. And where will the charity come from, if all +men were to follow the advice of Jesus and cultivate poverty? But wealth +means life, it means enjoyment of the world and exuberance of spirits, +which things Jesus dreads. Poverty means lassitude, asceticism, low +vitality, prostration and weariness of life,--which things Jesus +considered essential to the _destruction_ of the world, which he hoped +for. It is only for this world, however, that Jesus believes in poverty. +In the next, his followers will receive a hundred-fold for every +sacrifice made. They will be given thrones, crowns, jeweled streets to +walk in--and mansions of pure gold in which they will drink of the +fruit of the vine. Heaven, in the opinion of Jesus, is like a bank which +pays ten thousand per cent for every privation suffered in this world. +The most pronounced commercialism even is not so extravagant as that. +The heaven of Jesus is more materialistic than this world. + +It is often claimed that this doctrine of Jesus was a great comfort to +the unfortunate, who were given something to look forward to. If they +were poor, here, they could hope to be rich there. It is true to a great +extent that Christianity won its way into the hearts of the masses by +flattering them. "Unto the poor the Gospel is preached," said Jesus. And +what was its message to them?--You have lost this world, but the next +will be yours. In my opinion this promise, while it sounds big, is a +very empty one. It taught the poor to submit to oppression, instead of +inspiring them to rebellion against injustice. Jesus did not tell the +truth when he said that poverty, hunger, ignorance, misery, were +_blessed_. + +You are also familiar with the story of the men who came to Jesus to ask +him whether they should pay tribute to Caesar? Instead of giving to this +question a direct answer, Jesus resorts to quibbling--He asks for a +coin, and when one is presented, "Whose is the superscription," he asks. +"Caesar's," is the answer. "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's," +commands Jesus. But one moment: Is a coin Caesar's because his +superscription is upon it? Is it not rather the property of the man who +has earned it by his labor? Shall Caesar claim everything that he can +put his stamp upon? Was not Jesus recommending the blind worship of +force when he told them to respect Caesar's name? Suppose, instead of +evading the question, or attempting a _smart_ answer to it, Jesus had +calmly and clearly explained to them that no government, be it human or +divine, is just, which is not based upon the consent of the governed. +Ah, if Jesus had only said _that_. + +But he also tells us to "Give unto God the things that belong to God." +God and Caesar! Behold the two masters, from neither of which did Jesus +deliver man. And how do we give unto God the things that belong to God? +If we give it to the priests, will it reach God--and how much of it will +reach him? Moreover, if we are to tell the things that belong to Caesar +by the stamp upon them, how are we to tell the things that belong to +God? And how did the deity come to let Caesar in as a partner? And what +will there be left for us after God and Caesar have had each his share? +It is difficult to understand how the robust occidental can find any +moral uplift or guidance in so whimsical a piece of advice. Jesus was +asked a great question, the question of political autonomy and +international law, but he gave to it a trifling answer. + +Let us take another example. I have more than once called your attention +to the story of the thief on the cross. There were really two of them. +To one of them Jesus promised paradise. What became of the other? Both +men were malefactors, but one of them believed in Jesus and became a +saint at the last moment. Can anything be more immoral? Can anything be +more arbitrary or fatalistic? If we wished to show that it made no +difference how people lived, and that the only thing that saves is +faith, which is as effective at the eleventh hour as at the first--we +could not have invented a better argument than is furnished by this +story in the gospels. + +Observe that the man magically saved, as this malefactor was, becomes +meaner and more selfish after he is converted than he was before. He +imagines that God is just waiting yonder to welcome him, and that heaven +is being put in order for his reception,--while his crime sinks into a +mere nothing in his eyes. Like the thief on the cross, he has not a +single thought of his victims--not a single pang of remorse for the +suffering he has caused. Conversion has made him callous. Whether his +victims are saved or damned, he does not care. All his thoughts are +centered upon his own future happiness and glory. But suppose the thief +on the cross had said to Jesus when the latter invited him to paradise: +"But, what about my victims, Lord? The men and women and children I have +ruined and sent to their doom! How can I be happy in heaven, with my +victims in hell--to whom I gave no chance in the last hour to believe +and be saved? Hanging on the same cross with you, Lord, has made my +heart a little more tender, and has awakened my conscience. I have +become a better man since I met you. Let me then go where I can atone in +some real way for my crimes. Let my heaven consist in serving the people +I have wronged, until we can be saved together." If Jesus had only +provoked _that_ for a reply from the converted thief! + +Compare with this puffed-up vanity and meanness of the malefactor +converted by miracle, the glorious behavior of Othello in the presence +of death. Jesus' company made the thief on the cross contemptible; +Shakespeare's touch made Othello divine. As he is about to leap into the +arms of death, Othello is not thinking of his soul, or of his future; +his one and only thought is of his victim. He does not whine in the ears +of heaven, nor does he beg to be saved from the punishment he deserves. +He is no coward trying to sneak into heaven while his Desdemona lies in +her blood at his feet. Listen to the words the great poet speaks by his +mouth: + + Whip me, ye devils, + From the possession of this heavenly sight! + Blow me about in winds! Roast me in sulphur! + Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire! + +No vision of heaven, no thought of glory for himself, can tempt Othello +to forget his crime. He prefers hell for himself as the only thing with +which his awakened conscience can be calmed. That is the way to be +converted! + +The Christian doctrine of forgiveness is the doctrine of license. Jesus +commands us to forgive "seventy times seven." He does not seem to +realize that the more accommodating we are to the criminal, the more we +sap the foundations of morality. "Judge not," says Jesus, "that ye be +not judged." That is very queer advice. We are not to see wrong or crime +in others lest they should find the same in us. It is the religion of a +guilty conscience--which abstains from criticising lest his own faults +should be exposed. "You say nothing about me and I'll agree to say +nothing about you," is a conspiracy to defeat justice. "For with what +judgment ye judge ye shall be judged," continues Jesus. Not at all. If a +man has slandered you, must you slander him? If you have been robbed, +must you rob in return? Do you have to judge another with the same +prejudice, bigotry and malice with which he judges you? And must you +refrain from passing any righteous judgments from fear of being +misjudged or misunderstood by the world? Were we to follow this false +teaching, we would be giving crime a free sway,--with every tongue tied +against it. + +But did not Jesus say "Love one another," and is not that enough? If it +were enough, the past twenty centuries would have been centuries of +peace and brotherhood. Instead, they have been centuries of war and +persecution. The world is in need of a Jesus who can _make_ people love. +If Jesus has this power--why is Europe still armed to the teeth? I do +not deny the good intentions of Jesus. I question his _power_. He has +not even succeeded in making his own followers, Catholics and +Protestants, to love one another. Christianity has had a good, long +chance to show results. A religion which is split up into an +ever-increasing number of sects is not going to bring about unity and +brotherhood. "He that believeth not shall be damned," and "depart from +me ye cursed," takes from the rose of love both petals and perfume, and +leaves only the thorns. + +But Jesus also said "Love your enemies." The advice of Confucius to +"love our benefactors and to be just to our enemies," is more sensible. +It is neither practical nor desirable to love one's enemies. Can we love +the slanderer, the oppressor, the murderer? If our "enemy" is not all +this, he is not an enemy. But we can be just to the people who are mean, +deceitful, spiteful or pitiless toward us. Did Jesus love his enemies? +Why then was not Judas saved? And why did he say to his disciples that +for the people who rejected them there awaited the awful fate of Sodom +and Gomorrah? + +But did not Jesus pray for his murderers on the cross? Was his prayer +answered? If there is any truth in history, the Jews have suffered for +their supposed participation in the tragedy of Calvary more than words +can describe. I have always thought that the prayer, "Father, forgive +them, for they know not what they do," was put in Jesus' mouth, at the +last moment, for a theatrical effect. If the atonement was one of the +eternal decrees of God, the people who put Jesus to death were only +carrying it out. If, however, knowing that Jesus was a God, they, +nevertheless, wanted to kill him, they must have been imbeciles to +suppose a God could be murdered safely; but if they did not know the +truth and committed the crime ignorantly, they were not forgiven for it, +and the bible describes the fearful punishment prepared for them. + +Another much commended saying of Jesus is the following: "Inasmuch as ye +have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me." This has +been interpreted as a command to help and succor even the poorest of the +poor. I admire the thought. I applaud the generosity. But would it not +have been grander, if Jesus, instead of saying, "ye have done it unto +me," had said, "ye have done it unto Humanity." "For my sake" is not so +large and noble as "for Humanity's sake." One of my neighbor preachers +said the other day that he loved the poor and the lost "because Jesus +loved them." Then, it was _Jesus_ he loved, and not his fellows. +Evidently he would not love them, if Jesus did not. What would become of +this preacher's interest in his fellowmen, should he ever lose his faith +in Christ? That explains why people often say that without religion +there can be no morality. We desire a morality that can outlive all the +gods. Christ or no Christ,--can we still be kind and just and +compassionate toward the weak and the unfortunate? + +"If you take Jesus Christ out of the world, the world's a carcass, and +man's a disaster," cries the preacher at the top of his voice. Of +course. If everything is to be done for Jesus' sake, what will become of +morality, civilization or humanity with Jesus dropped out? We need no +better excuse for summoning all our energies to combat a religion that +commits the destinies of our world to the keeping of one man,--and he, +in all probability,--a myth.[4] + +[4] Read the author's _The Truth About Jesus--Is He a Myth?_ + +Let us recapitulate: Jesus taught a magical, not a scientific morality. +It was by being born of "water and the Holy Ghost," whatever that might +mean, and not by intellectual and moral effort, that people were to be +saved. He placed the creed above the deed, and himself above humanity. +"Believe in me, do good for my sake," gives to morality a sectarian +stamp, or taint, which is bound to corrupt it. Morality is born of +liberty. Christianity is the religion of absolutism, in which Jesus or +God is everything, and man a mere puppet. Christianity denies to man the +right to reason. He must only obey. There is no morality where there is +no liberty. By his doctrine of an impending catastrophe, a future hell, +and by his promises of fabulous wealth and glory beyond--Jesus helped to +disturb and distort the judgment of the weak and the fearful, +preventing thereby the cultivation of sane thoughts of life. The +morality of Jesus was the morality of panic. + +And what do we offer in place of supernaturalism, whether it be +Christianity, Judaism, Mohammedanism, Brahmanism, or any other "ism"? In +place of magic or miracle, we offer science; in place of "belief," we +offer knowledge--the open light of day and the unhampered interchange of +human love and thought. In place of Christ or God--both absent, and +neither dependent upon anything we can do for him--we offer Humanity, +forever at our side, and in daily need of our bravest service and most +unstinted love. + + + + + THE STORY OF MY MIND + OR + HOW I BECAME A RATIONALIST + +_Price, Fifty Cents_ + +¶ In this latest publication of the Independent Religious Society, M. M. +Mangasarian describes his religious experience--how, starting as a +Calvinist, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, and a pastor of +the Spring Garden Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, he thought and +fought his way up to + +=RATIONALISM= + +¶ The book contains a dedication to "My Children," in which the author +says: + + "I am going to put the story in writing, that you may have it with + you when I am gone, to remind you of the aims and interests for + which I lived, as well as to acquaint you with the most earnest and + intimate period in my career as a teacher of men." + + _ORDER THROUGH_ + + THE INDEPENDENT RELIGIOUS SOCIETY + ORCHESTRA HALL BUILDING CHICAGO + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Is the Morality of Jesus Sound?, by +M. M. Mangasarian + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41650 *** |