Showing posts with label Ingersoll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ingersoll. Show all posts

Two Fantastic Quotes from Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll: On Willful Disbelief & A Designer In Need Of Design

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#1 On Willful Disbelief: Can we control our thought? Can we tell what we are going to think tomorrow? Can we stop thinking? Is belief the result of that which to us is evidence, or is it a product of the will? Can the scales in which reason weighs evidence be turned by the will? Why then should evidence be weighed? If it all depends on the will, what is evidence? Is there any opportunity of being dishonest in the formation of an opinion? Must not the man who forms the opinion know what it is? He cannot knowingly cheat himself. He cannot be deceived with dice that he loads. He cannot play unfairly at solitaire without knowing that he has lost the game. He cannot knowingly weigh with false scales and believe in the correctness of the result.

The Bible quotes Jesus with having said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” The Christians say that it is the duty of every person to read, to understand, and to believe this revelation – that a man should use his reason; but if he honestly concludes that the Bible is not a revelation from God, and dies with that conclusion in his mind, he will be tormented forever. They say,” Read,” and then add: “Believe, or be damned.” Suppose then I read this Bible honestly, fairly, and when I get through I am compelled to say, “The book is not true.” If this is the honest result, if the book and my brain are both the work of the same Infinite God, whose fault is it that the book and the brain do not agree? Either God should have written a book to fit my brain, or should have made my brain to fit his book. The brain thinks without asking our consent; we believe, or disbelieve, without an effort of the will. Belief is a result. It is the effect of evidence upon the mind. The scales turn in spite of him who watches. There is no opportunity of being honest or dishonest in the formation of an opinion. The conclusion is entirely independent of desire. We must believe, or we must doubt, in spite of what we wish. --From Col. Ingersoll to Mr. Gladstone

"You Wouldn't Be An Atheist If You Were Born in a Different Time and Place."

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Bonus: Quote from Robert G. Ingersoll below!!
If I had the time I would start a whole series of quotes with my responses to see how you would respond. Here's a Tweet by @EscapingAtheism · Apr 23:
Almost all atheists today wouldn't be atheists if they were born someplace else, in say, pre-Columbian America, or seventh century Africa.
My Tweet in response: 
This is true if we were indoctrinated in a religious culture without knowing any alternatives, and without being taught to think according to logic and reason based on objective evidence. Got it! Religious indoctrination that stifles doubt and eschews evidence is the problem.
A follow-up Tweet:
The sociological fact that we believe whatever religion we were raised to believe leads us to the null hypothesis of doubt. The burden is upon us all to follow the objective evidence wherever it leads if we wish to be honest seekers of truth. Most people are oblivious to this need.

A Good Reading of Ingersoll's Mistakes of Moses

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The other 5 parts can be found on YouTube.

The Best Robert Ingersoll Site Online

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As some of you know, my friend Julian Haydon has provided me with some gems from the mouth of Robert Ingersoll to post (just click on the tag below to read them). Now he has developed what I consider the best site on Ingersoll. If you click around you'll see what some important people said about him, a biography, and a fully indexed list of his complete works. Take a good look. This agnostic was truly a great man, a genius. LINK

Robert Ingersoll On Miracles

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Robert Ingersoll was interviewed in the Pittsburgh Dispatch, December 11, 1880, where he was asked about miracles in one part of it. This is must reading, the end of it is funny, really funny.

Ingersoll's Preface to "Faith or Fact"

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This is once again sent to me by Julian Haydon.

Robert Ingersoll On Life, Death, Hope, Afterlife

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The Great Infidel, as he was known everywhere in the last half of the 19th century, was often called upon to speak at funerals – no better occasion to reflect on the greatest mysteries of life. And no one could do it better. He said no one knew or could know whether there was a life after death; but he was absolutely certain that if there were, the notion of eternal punishment for anyone was an ghastly priest-made libel upon a “loving and merciful” God. In some of these tributes he shows signs of hope for an afterlife -- the source being a longing to one day be reunited with those we have loved and who have loved us. -- Compiled by Julian W. Haydon.

Robert Ingersoll On the Outsider Test for Faith

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Before I argued for it Ingersoll did.

Christianity Today's Condescending Review of Ingersoll

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Anyone who has written a book critical of Christianity sees exactly what Timothy Larsen is doing in reviewing Susan Jacoby's new book, The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought. It's what most Christians do when reviewing such a book. They claim the infidel is ignorant or a second class intellectual. As many of you know, Julian Haydon has been sending me essays by Ingersoll over the last few months in order to keep his memory alive. Julian responds to Larsen as follows:

Superstition by Robert Ingersoll, Part 4 the Conclusion

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This final part was sent to me by my friend Julian Haydon. Enjoy. If you want to learn more about Ingersoll get Susan Jacoby's new book The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought.

Part 3 of 4 "Superstition" by Robert Ingersoll

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Sent to me by Julian Haydon, enjoy:

Superstition, Part 2 by Robert Ingersoll

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As before, Julian Haydon is sending me these excellent excerpts. Enjoy.

What is Superstition? by Robert Ingersoll Part 1 of 4

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Again I thank Julian Haydon for sending me these items from Ingersoll.

My Reviewers Reviewed, by Robert Ingersoll

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This is the final part of a lecture delivered by Col. Ingersoll in San Francisco Cal., June 27, 1877. It was a reply to various clergymen of that city, who had made violent attacks upon him after the delivery of his lectures, "The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child," and "The Ghosts." [Thanks once again to Julian Haydon for this excerpt].

My Reviewers Reviewed, by Robert Ingersoll

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This lecture was delivered by Col. Robert Ingersoll in San Francisco Cal., June 27, 1877. It was a reply to various clergymen of that city, who had made violent attacks upon him after the delivery of his lectures, "The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child," and "The Ghosts." Thanks once again to Julian Haydon for sending me this.

More Fun With Robert Ingersoll, The Talmagian Catechism

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The Reverend De Witt Talmage, head of the Presbyterian Church in America, was so incensed by Ingersoll, that he devoted six sermons denouncing him as "The Great Blasphemer". Ingersoll answered these seriously; and then followed up by satirizing the teachings of the Reverend in what he called The Talmagian Catechism. Here is Part 2 of 3. Part 1 can be read here. Thanks to Julian Haydon for these excerpts!

Do You Want Some Fun? More From Robert Ingersoll

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The Reverend De Witt Talmage, head of the Presbyterian Church in America, was so incensed by Ingersoll, that he devoted six sermons denouncing him as "The Great Blasphemer". Ingersoll answered these seriously, and then followed up by satirizing the teachings of the Reverend in what he called The Talmagian Catechism. Here is Part 1 of 3, as selected by Julian Haydon.

Final Installment of "Some Reasons Why" by Robert Ingersoll

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This piece contains a masterful evisceration of the fundamentals of Christianity. Here are samples from Julian Haydon:

Some Reasons Why, by Robert Ingersoll

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My friend Julian Haydon with another excerpt from the illustrious Ingersoll. He writes:
Ingersoll compares Biblical and Pagan morality: "If the Jehovah of the Jews had taken upon himself flesh, and dwelt as a man among the people had he endeavored to govern, had he followed his own teachings, he would have been a slaveholder, a buyer of babes, and a beater of women. He would have waged wars of extermination. He would have killed grey-haired and trembling age, and would have sheathed his sword, in prattling, dimpled babes. He would have been a polygamist, and would have butchered his wife for differing with him on the subject of religion."

A Comparison of Books, by Robert G. Ingersoll

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Julian Haydon with another bit from Robert G. Ingersoll: "If it was worth God's while to make a revelation at all, it was certainly worth his while to see that it was correctly made—that it was absolutely preserved."