ry, and through the
arts. Religion can do nothing except to sow the seeds of discord
between men and nations. Commerce, manufactures, and the arts tend
to peace and the well-being of the world. What is known as religion
--that is to say, a system by which this world is wasted in
preparation for another--a system in which the duties of men are
greater to God than to his fellow-men--a system that denies the
liberty of thought and expression--tends only to discord and
retrogression. Of course, I know that religious people cling to
the Bible on account of the good that is in it, and in spite of
the bad, and I know that Freethinkers throw away the Bible on
account of the bad that is in it, in spite of the good. I hope
the time will come when that book will be treated like other books,
and will be judged upon its merits, apart from the fiction of
inspiration. The church has no right to speak of charity, because
it is an object of charity itself. It gives nothing; all it can
do is to receive. At best, it is only a respectable beggar. I
never care to hear one who receives alms pay a tribute to charity.
The one who gives alms should pay this tribute. The amount of
money expended upon churches and priests and all the paraphernalia
of superstition, is more than enough to drive the wolves from the
doors of the world.

_Question_. Have you noticed the progress Catholics are making in
the Northwest, discontinuing public schools, and forcing people to
send their children to the parochial schools; also, at Pittsburg,
Pa., a Roman Catholic priest has been elected principal of a public
school, and he has appointed nuns as assistant teachers?

_Answer_. Sectarian schools ought not to be supported by public
taxation. It is the very essence of religious tyranny to compel
a Methodist to support a Catholic school, or to compel a Catholic
to support a Baptist academy. Nothing should be taught in the
public schools that the teachers do not know. Nothing should be
taught about any religion, and nothing should be taught that can,
in any way, be called sectarian. The sciences are not religion.
There is no such thing as Methodist mathematics, or Baptist botany.
In other words, no religion has anything to do with facts. The
facts are all secular; the sciences are all of this world. If
Catholics wish to establish their own schools for the purpose of
preserving their ignorance, they have the right to do so; so has
any other denom