tronomers, the geologists, the
naturalists, the chemists, and all the honest scientists. With a whip
of scorpions, drive them all out. We want them all. Keep the
ignorant, the superstitious, the bigoted, and the writers of charges
and specifications. Keep them, and keep them all. Repeat your pious
platitudes in the drowsy ears of the faithful, and read your bible to
heretics, as kings read some forgotten riot-act to stop and stay the
waves of revolution. You are too weak to excite anger. We forgive
your efforts as the sun forgives a cloud--as the air forgives the
breath you waste.

How long, O how long will man listen to the threats of God, and shut
his ears to the splendid promises of Nature? How long, O how long will
man remain the cringing slave of a false and cruel creed.

By this time the whole world should know that the real bible has not
yet been written; but is being written, and that it will never be
finished until the race begins its downward march or ceases to exist.
The real bible is not the work of inspired men, nor prophets, nor
apostles, nor evangelists, nor of Christ. Every man who finds a fact,
adds, as it were, a word to this great book. It is not attested by
prophecy, by miracles or by signs. It makes no appeal to faith, to
ignorance, to credulity of fear. It has no punishment for unbelief,
and no reward for hypocrisy. It appears to men in the name of
demonstration. It has nothing to conceal. It has no fear of being
read, of being investigated and understood. It does not pretend to be
holy or sacred; it simply claims to be true. It challenges the
scrutiny of all, and implores every reader to verify every line for
himself. It is incapable of being blasphemed. This book appeals to
all the surroundings of man. Each thing that exists testifies of its
perfection. The earth with its heart of fire and crowns of snow; with
its forests and plains, its rocks and seas; with its every wave and
cloud; with its every leaf, and bud, and flower, confirms its every
word, and the solemn stars, shining in the infinite abysses, are the
eternal witnesses of its truth.

Ingersoll's Lecture on The Bible

The true bible appeals to man in the name of demonstration. It has
nothing to conceal. It has no fear of being read, of being
contradicted, of being investigated and understood. It does not
pretend to be holy or sacred, it simply claims to be true. It
challenges the scrutiny of all