Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (June 15, 1899)
TH E TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, JUN E 15, 1899. ETHICAL BASIS AGAItf. amount of discussion, and even ad- -— ----- mit that the Bible has been the Before this reaches our readers caUge of more dissension in the te9t of membership and the World than any other one thing. ,>f lecturers and teachers in the This is a serious charge against >regon State Secular Union will its author, who is the embodiment lVe passed through the crucial an knowledge, all wisdom, all lest of another convention. We truth and all perfection, and who ¡ derstand that there is to be some }iag published (it is so claimed) an ppoetiion to the retention of that infallible guide for man8i^ |^ art of our constitution and an at- special direction in this life, inpt to repeal it, but if such an and One which alone can Attempt is made and is successful, ]and him safely in the port of par- ■ members and friends who be- adise in the life which is to come. \ f / lieve there is no success outside of 'What think you is God’s opinion kA J this^noral part of our work need about such a dissussion of the . . not fear, for misguided votes never school board? If the Bible is really his only MZ iltered the truth; and although ioted out, burned at the stake, made known revelation to man, and he ap- w ostracised, condemned »uu and w* con ana stracisea, conueuwcu ne has nas a really reaiiv divinely «r igned to the everlasting flames of pointed ministry to teach it, then kA> n imaginary hell, the right can there ought not to be any uncer- _ . Lnt ’lrrht 011(1 _ 2 _ x_ as — « 4 to /^ «+ QtlV w l w its a mnniiinn meaning nr or any, lever be anything but v right and x tainty • A • disagreement among his teachers. k|A he truth will finally triumph. But there are misunderstandings . . We hope that the report of our oeloved Union will show that the of its meaning and fierce disagree- najority of those present are not ments among his divinely appoint- kA> only moral people, but that they ed teachers. This leads to the oelieve that a good, moral charac question as to who are his chosen ter should be part of the qualifica ministers to teach his infallible kA/ tions of membership in our organi word. zation. The part of our constitu Are they of his chosen people, tion referring to the qualifications the Jews? That cannot be, for jf lecturers and teachers cannot be they entirely deny one-half of the too carefully guarded, for all know Bible as being God’s word at all that the greatest cause of our slow and do not claim any of it to be in progress lias been the miserable spired. way in which the Freethought Are thev the Catholic priest cause has been represented bv men hood, who declare that they are and women of corrupt and degrad the only custodians of God’s reve- ing characters. “ will ten the story, U .ion, to man and the on,y info..- THE .—The Liberal University a T H E ONLY SCHOOL OF T H E KIND. i J a 3 _ __ .. . ikir. ible expounders nf of the same? nd whether the O. S. S. U. contin es is to build DU11U on UI1 the m r foundation ivu..uui.w.. it ~ Can they . bp the hosts of dissent- ,s so Wisely erected, or whether i t , ere, the formulatore of new faiths pses into loose, unprogressive and the builders of creeds which lethods, matters not. The real are numbered by the hundreds? Now, his divinely appointed mse’ will march on, and if it is ecessary for the moral, progress- ministers must either be some of re Freethinkers to form a separate these, all of these, or none of these. rganization, it may be for the Perhaps they will never settle it est. We hope, however, that all among themselves. It will have nay see the wisdom of making our to be settled from outside the di i-ork stand’ for a pure, scientific vinely appointed a"d called inter □orality, founded on the elevation preters, if settled at all. Jew ««.<. and ,nd i happiness nappiness of oi our race, instead lusboau p ut jf ^ e Bible of the uc« on the old heathen belief in a Christian is God’s only revela- 1 and his anthropomorphic ithropomorphic son. tjon to man, then the great rpajor- our work succeeds it will be be- itv of the race have never lu>d any V r iuse we give to the world some- revelation from G°d at all, and dng better than Christianity, and God has had no purpose or will iere is nothing that can possibly concerning them, or desire for their ke its place excepting the good adoration and worship. nd true parts of all religions — ’Tis strange, ’tis passing strange, hicai Secularism. that a universal God in nature should be such a partial God in grace; that he would not reveal Excluded From the Schools. Himself alike to each inhabitant of r And then Well, here is a pretty how’d do! the me earth. ----- _ it is so e le Bihle—the Word of God—ex- strange that he should so mix up uded from the public schools! his only authentic revelationsit a . hy is it thus excluded? The such intelligent creavures o l. a bool boards say that it is a book members of school hoards are un- iat cannot be understood. There- able to comprehend it su cie” i the school boards are wise, that well to declare it a proper o ley will not admit a book into the use in the schools. Well, they jblic schools which cannot be un- have decided that it is no ?rstood. But the board, while Whether wisely or unwisely, ia not blaring it to be God’s word, for us to say. But it is tough or 4 ;ree that it would cause any its author.—[Humanity. • • « A « F ree from S u perstition S trictly N on-Sectarian I Pupils are Given Every O pportunity to Learn W ithout Being Hampered by Supersti- tions and Dogmas. . i h o c a tio n H e a lth fu l. S o c ie ty G ood. E x p e n s e s M o d e ra te ? _ A Splendid Corps of Teachers and Good Facil- ities for Teaching. For information, address « J. E. H O SM ER , Ph. D., B. S. D., P R E S ID E N T , SILVERTON, OREGON,