Part 6 (1/2)
There is no sort of a.n.a.logy between a finite artificer arranging a finite mechanism and an alleged divine creator originating all existence. From an alleged product you are only at liberty to infer a producer after having seen a similar product actually produced.
A PLEA FOR ATHEISM
THIS essay is issued in the hope that it may succeed in removing some of the many prejudices prevalent, not only against the actual holders of Atheistic opinions, but also against those wrongfully suspected of Atheism. Men who have been famous for depth of thought, for excellent wit, or great genius, have been recklessly a.s.sailed as Atheists by those who lack the high qualifications against which the malice of the calumniators was directed. Thus, not only have Voltaire and Paine been, without ground, accused of Atheism, but Bacon, Locke, and Bishop Berkeley himself, have, amongst others, been denounced by thoughtless or unscrupulous pietists as inclining to Atheism, the ground for the accusation being that they manifested an inclination to push human thought a little in advance of the age in which they lived.
It is too often the fas.h.i.+on with persons of pious reputation to speak in unmeasured language of Atheism as favoring immorality, and of Atheists as men whose conduct is necessarily vicious, and who have adopted Atheistic views as a desperate defiance against a Deity justly offended by the badness of their lives. Such persons urge that amongst the proximate causes of Atheism are vicious training, immoral and profligate companions, licentious living and the like. Dr. John Pye Smith, in his ”Instructions on Christian Theology,” goes so far as to declare that ”nearly all the Atheists upon record have been men of extremely debauched and vile conduct.” Such language from the Christian advocate is not surprising, but there are others who, while professing great desire for the spread of Freethought and having pretensions to rank amongst acute and liberal thinkers, declare Atheism impracticable, and its teachings cold, barren, and negative. Excepting to each of the above allegations, I maintain that thoughtful Atheism affords greater possibility for human happiness than any system yet based on, or possible to be founded on, Theism, and that the lives of true Atheists must be more virtuous-because more human-than those of the believers in Deity, the humanity of the devout believer often finding itself neutralised by a faith with which that humanity is necessarily in constant collision. The devotee piling the f.a.ggots at the _auto da fe_ of a heretic, and that heretic his son, might notwithstanding be a good father in every other respect (see Deuteronomy xiii, 6-10). Heresy, in the eyes of the believer, is highest criminality, and outweighs all claims of family or affection.
Atheism, properly understood, is no mere disbelief: is in no wise a cold, barren negative; it is, on the contrary, a hearty, fruitful affirmation of all truth, and involves the positive a.s.sertion of action of highest humanity.
Let Atheism be fairly examined, and neither condemned-its defence unheard-on the _ex parte_ slanders of some of the professional preachers of fas.h.i.+onable orthodoxy, whose courage is bold enough while the pulpit protects the sermon, but whose valor becomes tempered with discretion when a free platform is afforded and discussion claimed; nor misjudged because it has been the custom to regard Atheism as so unpopular as to render its advocacy impolitic. The best policy against all prejudice is to firmly advocate the truth. The Atheist does not say ”There is no G.o.d”
but he says: ”I know not what you mean by G.o.d; I am without idea of G.o.d; the word 'G.o.d' is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation. I do not deny G.o.d, because I cannot deny that of which I have no conception, and the conception of which, by its affirmer, is so imperfect that he is unable to define it to me. If, however, 'G.o.d' is defined to mean an existence other than the existence of which I am a mode, then I deny 'G.o.d,' and affirm that it is impossible such 'G.o.d' can be. That is, I affirm one existence, and deny that there can be more than one.” The Pantheist also affirms one existence, and denies that there can be more than one; but the distinction between the Pantheist and the Atheist is, that the Pantheist affirms infinite attributes for existence, while the Atheist maintains that attributes are the characteristics of mode-i.e., the diversities enabling the conditioning in thought.
When the Theist affirms that his G.o.d is an existence other than, and separate from, the so-called material universe, and when he invests this separate, hypothetical existence with the several attributes of personality, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, eternity, infinity, immutability, and perfect goodness, then the Atheist in reply says: ”I deny the existence of such a being;” and he is ent.i.tled to say this because this Theistic definition is selfcontradictory, as well as contradictory of every-day experience.
If you speak to the Atheist of G.o.d as creator, he answers that the conception of creation is impossible. We are utterly unable to construe it in thought as possible that the complement of existence has been either increased or diminished, much less can we conceive an absolute origination of substance. We cannot conceive either, on the one hand, nothing becoming something, or on the other, something becoming nothing.
The words ”creation” and ”destruction” have no value except as applied to phenomena. You may destroy a gold coin, but you have only destroyed the condition, you have not affected the substance. ”Creation” and ”destruction” denote change of phenomena, they do not denote origin or cessation of substance. The Theist who speaks of G.o.d creating the universe, must either suppose that Deity evolved it out of himself, or that he produced it from nothing. But the Theist cannot regard the universe as evolution of Deity, because this would identify Universe and Deity, and be Pantheism rather than Theism. There would be no distinction of substance-no creation. Nor can the Theist regard the universe as created out of nothing, because Deity is, according to him, necessarily eternal and infinite. G.o.d's existence being eternal and infinite, precludes the possibility of the conception of vacuum to be filled by the universe if created. No one can even think of any point in extent or duration and say: Here is the point of separation between the creator and the created. It is not possible for the Theist to imagine a beginning to the universe. It is not possible to conceive either an absolute commencement, or an absolute termination of existence; that is, it is impossible to conceive beginning, before which you have a period when the universe has yet to be; or to conceive an end, after which the universe, having been, no longer exists. The Atheist affirms that he cognises to-day effects; that these are, at the same time, causes and effects-causes to the effects they precede, effects to the causes they follow. Cause is simply everything without which the effect would not result, and with which it must result. Cause is the means to an end, consummating itself in that end. Cause is the word we use to include all that determines change. The Theist who argues for creation must a.s.sert a point of time-that is, of duration, when the created did not yet exist.
At this point of time either something existed or nothing; but something must have existed, for out of nothing nothing can come. Something must have existed, because the point fixed upon is that of the duration of something. This something must have been either finite or infinite; if finite it could not have been G.o.d, and if the something were infinite, then creation was impossible: it is impossible to add to infinite existence.
If you leave the question of creation and deal with the government of the universe, the difficulties of Theism are by no means lessened. The existence of evil is then a terrible stumbling block to the Theist.
Pain, misery, crime, poverty, confront the advocate of eternal goodness, and challenge with unanswerable potency his declaration of Deity as all-good, all-wise, and all-powerful. A recent writer in the _Spectator_ admits that there is what it regards ”as the most painful, as it is often the most incurable, form of Atheism-the Atheism arising from a sort of horror of the idea of an Omnipotent Being permitting such a proportion of misery among the majority of his creatures.” Evil is either caused by G.o.d, or exists independently; but it cannot be caused by G.o.d, as in that case he would not be all-good; nor can it exist hostilely, as in that case he would not be all-powerful. If all-good he would desire to annihilate evil, and continued evil contradicts either G.o.d's desire, or G.o.d's ability, to prevent it. Evil must either have had a beginning or it must have been eternal; but, according to the Theist, it cannot be eternal, because G.o.d alone is eternal. Nor can it have had a beginning, for if it had it must either have originated in G.o.d, or outside G.o.d; but, according to the Theist, it cannot have originated in G.o.d for he is all-good, and out of all-goodness evil cannot originate; nor can evil have originated outside G.o.d, for, according to the Theist, G.o.d is infinite, and it is impossible to go outside of or beyond infinity.
To the Atheist this question of evil a.s.sumes an entirely different aspect. He declares that each evil is a result, but not a result from G.o.d nor Devil. He affirms that conduct founded on knowledge of the laws of existence may ameliorate each present form of evil, and, as our knowledge increases, prevent its future recurrence.
Some declare that the belief in G.o.d is necessary as a check to crime.
They allege that the Atheist may commit murder, lie, or steal without fear of any consequences. To try the actual value of this argument, it is not unfair to ask: Do Theists ever steal? If yes, then in each such theft the belief in G.o.d and his power to punish has been insufficient as a preventive of the crime. Do Theists ever lie or murder? If yes, the same remark has again force-Theism failing against the lesser as against the greater crime. Those who use such an argument overlook that all men seek happiness, though in very diverse fas.h.i.+ons. Ignorant and miseducated men often mistake the true path to happiness, and commit crime in the endeavor to obtain it. Atheists hold that by teaching mankind the real road to human happiness it is possible to keep them from the bye-ways of criminality and error. Atheists would teach men to be moral now, not because G.o.d offers as an inducement reward by-and-bye, but because in the virtuous act itself immediate good is insured to the doer and the circle surrounding him. Atheism would preserve man from lying, stealing, murdering, not from fear of an eternal agony after death, but because these crimes make this life itself a course of misery.
While Theism, a.s.serting G.o.d as the creator and governor of the universe, hinders and checks man's efforts by declaring G.o.d's will to be the sole directing and controlling power, Atheism, by declaring all events to be in accordance with natural laws-that is, happening in certain ascertainable sequences-stimulates man to discover the best conditions of life, and offers him the most powerful inducements to morality. While the Theist provides future happiness for a scoundrel repentant on his death-bed, Atheism affirms present and certain happiness for the man who does his best to live here so well as to have little cause for repenting hereafter.
Theism declares that G.o.d dispenses health and inflicts disease, and sickness and illness are regarded by the Theists as visitations from an angered Deity, to be borne with meekness and content. Atheism declares that physiological knowledge may preserve us from disease by preventing us from infringing the law of health, and that sickness results not as the ordinance of offended Deity, but from ill-ventilated dwellings and workshops, bad and insufficient food, excessive toil, mental suffering, exposure to inclement weather, and the like-all these finding root in poverty, the chief source of crime and disease; that prayers and piety afford no protection against fever, and that if the human being be kept without food he will starve as quickly whether he be Theist or Atheist, theology being no subst.i.tute for bread.
It is very important, in order that injustice may not be done to the Theistic argument, that we should have-in lieu of a clear definition, which it seems useless to ask for-the best possible clue to the meaning intended to be conveyed by the word ”G.o.d.” If it were not that the word is an arbitrary term, maintained for the purpose of influencing the ignorant, and the notions suggested by which are vague and entirely contingent upon individual fancies, such a clue could probably be most easily and satisfactorily obtained by tracing back the word ”G.o.d,” and ascertaining the sense in which it was used by the uneducated wors.h.i.+ppers who have gone before us, and collating this with the more modern Theism, qualified as it is by the superior knowledge of to-day.
Dupuis says: ”Le mot _Dieu_ parait destine a exprimer l'idee de la force universelle et eternellement active qui imprime le mouvement a tout dans la Nature, suivant les lois d'une harmonie constante et admirable, qui se developpe dans les diverses formes que prend la matiere organisee, qui se mele a tout, anime tout, et qui semble etre une dans ses modifications infiniment variees, et n'appartenir qu'a elle-meme.” ”The word G.o.d appears intended to express the universal and eternally active force which endows all nature with motion according to the laws of a constant and admirable harmony; which develops itself in the diverse forms of organised matter, which mingles with all, gives life to all; which seems to be one through all its infinitely varied modifications, and inheres in itself alone.”
In the ”Bon Sens” of Cure Meslier, it is asked: ”Qu'est-ce que Dieu?”
and the answer is: ”C'est un mot abstrait fait pour designer la force cachee de la nature; ou c'est un point mathematique qui n'a ni longueur, ni largeur, ni pro-fondeur.” ”It is an abstract word coined to designate the hidden force of nature; or is it a mathematical point having neither length, breadth, nor depth.”
The orthodox fringe of the Theism of to-day is Hebraistic in its origin-that is, it finds its root in the superst.i.tion and ignorance of a petty and barbarous people nearly dest.i.tute of literature, poor in language, and almost entirely wanting in high conceptions of humanity.
It might, as Judaism is the foundation of Christianity, be fairly expected that the ancient Jewish records would aid us in our search after the meaning to be attached to the word ”G.o.d.” The most prominent words in Hebrew rendered G.o.d or Lord in English, _Ieue_, and _Aleim_.
The first word Ieue, called by our orthodox Jehovah, is equivalent to ”that which exists,” and indeed embodies in itself the only possible trinity in unity-i.e., past, present, and future. There is nothing in this Hebrew word to help us to any such definition as is required for the sustenance of modern Theism. The most we can make of it by any stretch of imagination is equivalent to the declaration ”I am, I have been, I shall be.” The word _Ieue_ is hardly ever spoken by the religious Jews, who actually in reading subst.i.tute for it, Adonai, an entirely different word. Dr. Wall notices the close resemblance in sound between the word _Iehowa_ or _Ieue_, or Jehovah and Jove. In fact Jupiter and Ieue-pater (G.o.d the father) present still closer resemblance in sound. Jove is also [--Greek--] whence the word Deus and our Deity.
The Greek mythology, far more ancient than that of the Hebrews, has probably found for Christianity many other and more important features of coincidence than that of a similarly sounding name. The word [--Greek--] traced back, affords us no help beyond that it identifies Deity with the universe. Plato says that the early Greeks thought that the only G.o.ds [--Greek--] were the sun, moon, earth, stars, and heaven.
The word Aleim, a.s.sists us still less in defining the word G.o.d, for Parkhurst translates it as a plural noun signifying ”the curser,”
deriving it from the verb _to curse_. Dr. Colenso has collected for us a store of traditional meanings for the IAO of the Greek, and the _Ieue_ of the Hebrew, but though these are interesting to the student of mythology, they give no help to the Theistic demonstrator. Finding that philology aids us but little, we must endeavor to arrive at the meaning of the word ”G.o.d” by another rule. It is utterly impossible to fix the period of the rise of Theism amongst any particular people; but it is, notwithstanding, comparatively easy, if not to trace out the development of Theistic ideas, at any rate to point to their probable course of growth amongst all peoples.
Keightley, in his ”Origin of Mythology,” says: ”Supposing, for the sake of hypothesis, a race of men in a state of total or partial ignorance of Deity, their belief in many G.o.ds may have thus commenced: They saw around them various changes brought about by human agency, and hence they knew the power of intelligence to produce effects. When they beheld other and greater effects, they ascribed them to some unseen being, similar but superior to man.” They a.s.sociated particular events with special unknown beings (G.o.ds), to each of whom they ascribed either a peculiarity of power, or a sphere of action not common to other G.o.ds.
Thus, one was G.o.d of the sea, another G.o.d of war, another G.o.d of love, another ruled the thunder and lightning; and thus through the various then known elements of the universe, and the pa.s.sions of humankind.
This mythology became modified with the commencement of human knowledge.