| Show THE NEED OP AN j By E. Elmer M. D. It has been shown that freedom alone does not mean advancement that the liberal thinker should not only be one who is capable of but also of and that it is only the man with an ideal who reaches after his own The human ideal must be formed by human For centuries we have been taught the exact opposite a god must give us our and very slowly have we learned that orthodoxy has no suitable ideal offer to any but the ignorant or Orthodoxy simply tells us that if we grovel here we will glory that now we are worms of the but if we believe the orthodox creeds shall become angels in Belief in creeds and financial support of the church are always placed ahead of tenderness and helpfulness may be component parts of our we may enjoy kindly service and spend our lives doing good to and yet if we fail to subscribe to the orthodox creed we shall be doomed to torment with the devil and his The idea that we should personally create a high and worthy ideal this ideal our very with mysticism and by superstition is not taught by They tell us that there has been but one ideal on and that this was one of the gods created before the world became the child of a certain woman before We are asked to believe that this very worthy carpenter-street-preacher-god is the only possible ideal that mankind can ever expect to and that some time or other he is coming back to and if we are not wearing robes washed white in his devil will beto A Low Can one imagine a. lower ideal than that offered by the It certainly appeals only to selfishness and the childish idea of reward and Nowhere are you told to do right because it is the right thing to It gives you the easy You are promised something for You are to be given a ticket good for millions of years of doing nothing in a If you will only subscribe to a certain supposed to have been evolved from Biblical you are to get a reserved seat the right All thinkers agree that science has revealed to us v many of the laws by which human beings may their bodies of We do not need to be told that scrofula and syphilis are to be prevented by the observance of health We are coming to understand that viciousness and ignorance are all to be ousted from the earth by an intelligent application of the laws of That the truth is the only thing in the world K that will never That right is the only possible shortest line between two And yet in face of all this we find orthodoxy declaring that you may steal from your slander your trample truth and mercy under your sneer at virtue and and lift your hand in murder against your brother and yet this god-man the highest ideal of the church will welcome you to a seat in heaven if you and just before you This is the ideal of the twentieth Is it one to command the respect and consideration of the The gray hairs you the women you the man you murder will probably go to but by that one orthodox are railroaded straight to Is this ideal ever going to redeem What Is Orthodoxy offers of beautifully to the needs of the the the the thief and the It gives them the chance to indulge the foulest iniquities as long as they choose and then for It is the religion for the lazy the selfish man who is always anxious to save his own the contemptible man who continually disgraces mankind and who would find no suitable companionship among the call Is there anything to admire in this theory of We are told that Jesus Christ the only ideal of the church about doing for three Granting that the story of His life as told by His enthusiastic admirers is is there anything so very wonderful about this Does this place Him upon a throne where He is to stand for an eternity as the only ideal Do we not know true-hearted men and splendid women who go about doing not for three x but for a whose every thought is to uplift the the crime-stained and the and thus add to the beauty and health of whose one object in life is to hasten the day when brotherhood and love shall in place of hate and disease Men and women by the thousands are doing this and yet they do not pretend that they are but thoughtful with a high According to orthodoxy many of these true-hearted people will never to heaven when they but they are not troubled with They do not lie awake nights worrying about how they are to save their own The one thing troubling them is how selfishness and disease may be speedily removed from They are banding not to worship a god of their own or of others' but to admire right and and to hasten the day when these shall be the only trinity recognized on |
