unders. It is a blunder to say that an infinite
being lived in Palestine, learned the carpenter's trade, raised
the dead, cured the blind, and cast out devils, and that this God
was finally assassinated by the Jews. This is absurd. All these
statements are blunders, if not worse. I do not believe that Christ
ever claimed that he was of supernatural origin, or that he wrought
miracles, or that he would rise from the dead. If he did, he was
mistaken--honestly mistaken, perhaps, but still mistaken.
The morality inculcated by Mohammed is good. The immorality
inculcated by Mohammed is bad. If Mohammed was a prophet of God,
it does not make the morality he taught any better, neither does
it make the immorality any better or any worse.
By this time the whole world ought to know that morality does not
need to go into partnership with miracles. Morality is based upon
the experience of mankind. It does not have to learn of inspired
writers, or of gods, or of divine persons. It is a lesson that
the whole human race has been learning and learning from experience.
He who upholds, or believes in, or teaches, the miraculous, commits
a blunder.
Now, what is morality? Morality is the best thing to do under the
circumstances. Anything that tends to the happiness of mankind is
moral. Anything that tends to unhappiness is immoral. We apply
to the moral world rules and regulations as we do in the physical
world. The man who does justice, or tries to do so--who is honest
and kind and gives to others what he claims for himself, is a moral
man. All actions must be judged by their consequences. Where the
consequences are good, the actions are good. Where the consequences
are bad, the actions are bad; and all consequences are learned from
experience. After we have had a certain amount of experience, we
then reason from analogy. We apply our logic and say that a certain
course will bring destruction, another course will bring happiness.
There is nothing inspired about morality--nothing supernatural.
It is simply good, common sense, going hand in hand with kindness.
Morality is capable of being demonstrated. You do not have to take
the word of anybody; you can observe and examine for yourself.
Larceny is the enemy of industry, and industry is good; therefore
larceny is immoral. The family is the unit of good government;
anything that tends to destroy the family is immoral. Honesty is
the mother of confidence; it uni
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