, religious persecution,
wars of extermination and polygamy were taught by God, just to that
extent the Bible has done great harm. The idea of inspiration
enslaves the human mind and debauches the human heart.

_Question_. Is not Christianity and the belief in God a check upon
mankind in general and thus a good thing in itself?

_Answer_. This, again, brings up the question of what you mean by
Christianity, but taking it for granted that you mean by Christianity
the church, then I answer, when the church had almost absolute
authority, then the world was the worst.

Now, as to the other part of the question, "Is not a belief in God
a check upon mankind in general?" That is owing to what kind of
God the man believes in. When mankind believed in the God of the
Old Testament, I think that belief was a bad thing; the tendency
was bad. I think that John Calvin patterned after Jehovah as nearly
as his health and strength would permit. Man makes God in his own
image, and bad men are not apt to have a very good God if they make
him. I believe it is far better to have a real belief in goodness,
in kindness, in honesty and in mankind than in any supernatural
being whatever. I do not suppose it would do any harm for a man
to believe in a real good God, a God without revenge, a God that
was not very particular in having a man believe a doctrine whether
he could understand it or not. I do not believe that a belief of
that kind would do any particular harm.

There is a vast difference between the God of John Calvin and the
God of Henry Ward Beecher, and a great difference between the God
of Cardinal Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza and the God of Theodore
Parker.

_Question_. Well, Colonel, is the world growing better or worse?

_Answer_. I think better in some respects and worse in others;
but on the whole, better. I think that while events, like the
pendulum of a clock, go backward and forward, man, like the hands,
goes forward. I think there is more reason and less religion, more
charity and less creed. I think the church is improving. Ministers
are ashamed to preach the old doctrines with the old fervor. There
was a time when the pulpit controlled the pews. It is so no longer.
The pews know what they want, and if the minister does not furnish
it they discharge him and employ another. He is no longer an
autocrat; he must bring to the market what his customers are willing
to buy.

_Question_. What are you goin