Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1900)
T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, JU L Y 5, E . M. 300 (1900.) 4 run it increases it, for, being false, of it prevents the introduction of those truths which alone can bring the The O nly P ap er of Its Kind. ___ mind into a true and right con- Piiblished Weekly by the Liberal Uni- d itio n , so th a t d e a th is simply versity C om pany, in the Intereste of looked upon as any n atu ral phe C onstructive, Moral -ecuiai 1S8>. nom ena, there being no glorious heaven in the sky to gain or lose J. E. H o sm e r,........................E d ito r nor an awful hell to avoid. When P. W . G e e r,....................... M an ag er this ogre oi Tear is banished from tin* world, a lo-aven worth a thous- Entered at the postofflee *t Silverton, j UlnBg as n)Uch as the little, Torch Reason O regon, as second-class m ail m a tte r. . J g , evil and the u ltim ate perfecting of ask you five questions here and hum anity based on E volution, is now? And why are books ami hooks issuing from the press con good, because it m akes us happy tin u ally on this very question? workers in its accom plishm ent, hut One point has been gained by the labors oi centuries of fre e th in k e rs, from childhood our race has been taught th a t to doubt the priests’ viz.: The idea of a god external to . . ..... th e u n iv e rse , w’ho stories is a great evil, and . so w® have scarcely begun to have wis- doni. But the serpent o f darkness cannot stand the sunlight oi tru th nor the searching light from the torch of reason, and we can now begin to m ake of our garden, the earth , an Eden w ithout a s e rp e n t, a heaven w ithout a hell, a paradise of equality, _ selfish, gold-streeted one in the sky for the elite will have come to SUBSCRIPTION RATES. earth, and every one can then afford $1 00 to be a happy, freethought Secu One year, in a d v an c e .................... re) ‘•W here love th e a ir w ith m usic tills,, Six m onths in a d v an c e .................... £ larist. Ami calm co n ten t and peace a b id e .” T h ree m o n th s, in a d v an c e ................ Then men will really live. They In clubs of five or m ore, one year, t n will be brave to overcome evil, but in a d v a n c e .. T H E G R E A T A L L V S . A GOD. Money should he sent by registered when they have done their best, in le tte r or m oney order. stead of “ resting on th e m ig h ty (?) j The ---- following - letter, with its a rm ” of an im agination, they will ' questions, we believe we can answ er Notice! bravely let come what will come.) to the satisfaction of the em anci- N othing can harm him who fears Dated; and it will certainly do no A h n a n d a p pointing o iu iu ig to w y th m is o notice denotes , are still uh i harm to those who th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d . nejt,her men, gods n o r «devils and i groping r t h a eta ?o u ‘’i . . r ^ v e . h e £ baa t h a t wonderful talism an , the | in the darkness of mntu linuclPfl m etaphysics. per w ith o u t in te rru p tio n . We have de-j a p p r o v a j o f his ow n conscience. | K indly set th e th in g t ,,„,1 left loft it aoing and theu went * on pr and it, ¿xcept {or a few rajraculous inter- ference8— th a t idea of God has been banished from the m inds of most intelligent persons, together with the, ideuof , in V 3 K and slam s people into hell if they do not salaam properly to him: but when you say th a t intelligent peo ple are satisfied as to the origin and purpose of things by being told that “eternal law s” or “ forces” “ govern m atter,” and “ evolve” the universe and run it, I th in k you are m is taken. It seems to me th at laws or forces, th a t can do what has been done and is doing in its heavens ' above, the earth below, and the j w aters under the e a rth ; and in the brain and heart of m an constitute precisely the kind of god I am will- i big to take m not <>f (h( off my h a t to. n<w I q(. , he .. . . . . if « you will «ti only i give • ¡thing itself, notice each question arid ,ne the right kind of a god; and each answer, for they lie at the whoever or w hatever does w hat is the time paid for unless so ordered. vvlj[ h a v e n o n e of it in th e w alls ot | verv door of tru th and the solution being done, and is what is, suits me 1 « i_ verv well, lum ping all the “ evil This will prevent any loss and we will | glorious Temple ofj of • the greate-t . 1 problem s of hum an - speak , of £ into . . the , , bargain, know ju st w here we sta n d . our r OI m r gicniv E We request you to send us th e nam es , H u m a n i t y . affairs. H ere is the letter: j H ugh O. P entecost . of Secularists who m ight become su , S e c u la rists h a v e h o p e, b u t it Hcri»»ers and we will m ail sam ple copies, t W e S e c u la r is ts n a v e j , E ditor T orch of R eason : 76, Elm Street, New York C ity . ' j is a reasonable hope. We have a In your issue of May 3, 1900, 11 j Mr. Pentecost knows th a t there , . , . , “ future hope,” but it is the unsel- rp:id an editorial entitled “ l h e | T hursday , J uly 5, E. M. 300. ■ fish, future hope for our race. It T ro th vs. Old T heories,” in which 11*re laws of n a iu re ’ b u t •>« <ioes not you say: “Science teaches us th a t'k n o w th a t there is a god. Laws is a hope (hat gives us im m ortality, F E A R , H O P E A N D DOUBT. space is occupied by m atter, and need no room. They are neither i hut it is the possible and, to those th a t one of the general properties in a terial nor im m aterial things, Quo V adis, the popular novel, who try , the very probable im m or- or m atter is imPen«‘rabj lily- They are not th in g s a t all. They W here, then, is there room for a repreeenta V iu itlu r. a Rom an e o n -, *«1»? of good works. The hum an are “ uniform occurrences of n a vert to C h ristianity, when speaking f a m ily m ust he adjusted to tru th god? If he(?) is im m aterial, he is nothing, and if m aterial, he m ust tu ral phenom ena,” and it is as ab- of Lygia, his betrothed, who was io B ut some ask, “ W h at harm does it v, ___ ... in organic _____ form, ; like men surd to ask where is there room for be either he cast to the lions by the order o f , do for one to believe in the mimor- and women, or in inorganic form, these law s as it would be to ask Nero, as saying: “ I will believe in j tality oi the soul; if one is goo like an invisible gas, as oxygen. lour friend Pentecost where is there Then vou sav: “ The great, eternal - the , uniform occurrence of t H is (C h rist’s) loving kindness even and honest ill Ills belief, w ly e- ln e u y o u v s room for if I see her in the jaws of the lion.” ; stroy Ids hope?” The people who laws which govern m atter have evolved the universe as it is and the e a rth ’s tu rn in g on its axis. A Tiie au th o r says th a t V initius ask such questions need to become the life forms th erein .” stone needs room to fall, but it feared, not to hope; he feared only broader. '1 he little circle of the in Then further on: “ The idea of need ? no room for the law (th e uni- doubt. We who claim th at belief dividual man or woman is not the the eternal forces is as easy to rest form occurrence) llia t it falls six- - , « o in gods and their SODS is very in- great question, and saying nothing th e m ind on as the idea ot an eter- „a l god, and much more so when *eeu feet the first second and gams jurious to the individual and to the about the fact th a t no good man we consider th a t it solves the whole a velocity of thirty-tw o. A god, it world, can see in tins the key to exists who m ight not be m ade bet- question.” ’ it were possible for one to exist, the tru th s of Secularism and the ter by receiving and giving out Let us adm it th a t there is no god woujd be a thing, not a process nor a overthrow of all su p ern atu ral re- more tru th , we m ust remember th a t and no place for one in the universe. jaw an(j would need room. Laws ’ ligions. The word fear is often tru th is the only creed on which all After th at adm ission would you 1 • n answer . • ,t, M m ic tio n s? r .— of nature need no room, and there kindly these questions — used to express th a t which is not can finally unite and th a t CMOS is 1 “ The great, eternal law s.” If is no room for a god anywhere. real fear. We should fear, a b h o r ! necessaky for the establishm ent of ......................” ’ ~ ‘ " .................... stuff and fight deatli and love light and kioht conditions , which alone can life, and yet we should not super- firing out the higOest and best in If they are im m aterial die stitiously fear death or a n y th in g , mao. nothing, and if m aterial they m ust m an-like power, which govern- else. The n atu ral fear of death The fear to doubt is the most j have form. Is n ’t there as m uch m atter. All m atter follows the has been a great factor in civiliza- dam nable thing in the C h ristia n ' room for God as there is for a law ljne o{ th e least resistance, because lion. It makes us th in k l I t urges creed. No mind can conceive the or laws, in a universe of im pene- ¡t ca n q h t jp ¡t These laws of na- us to take care of our bodies. It evil th a t has come from it, because | traole m atter? ture are sim ply w hat uniformly 2. How do these laws, necessarily has m ade us study the laws of na- no m ind can form a correct idea of (on your theory) neither m aterial takes place under uniform con- ture, prolonged our lives and given what we “ m ight have been if this nor im m aterial, acquire the wisdom ditions. us aid and comfort in m any ways, subtle serpent had not crawled into and power to “ govern m atter?” 3. Not being things, they did not and will, with the n atu ral fear of the garden of hum an thought, 3. From w hat did they evolve evolve the universe in the sen-® pain, finally give hum an beings a But in order to secure the uudi- the “ universe as it is and the life th a t t , slowly crealed it The A nd w hat were - , longevity which will he worth much vided services of their Hocks, the lorms therein? they doi, g before they evolved it? universe has alw ays existed as t.ir more than the C h ristian s’ old- priests propagated, cultivated and 4 “ The idea of the eternal forces as we know, for the m atter •* fashioned idea of the im m ortality nourished it; aud today, every- is as easy to rest the m ind on as the which it is composed is indestru of a soul p art of m an. But super- where we tu rn , we are either met idea of an eternal G o d .’ Perhaps. an(j e^e rn a l. The universe “its stitious fear is very bad, and by its glaring eyes and hissing But isn’t ihe reverse of th a t prop»- ,g„ haa ,)een evo,Ted by he should be banished from the tongue or behold the cow ardly sition true, also? It you cannot im agine a god without a god-m aker, these laws, or, perhaps, it would m inds of men, women and children thing craw ling away into the dark how can vou im agine force w ithout better understood to ray th a t m a as soon as possible. But belief in su- holes which it has dug beneath the rt force-maker? ter is changing all the time, ai p ern atu ral religions, the stories of tree of life. 5. You say th a t the idea of the ^ a t it has reached the condition in C h ristian s to the contrary notw ith- D oubt— not the fear of a god is eternal forcis . . . solves the which „ e find Ut ao d the laws, t. e, H ow so? If t h e ----------------------- ------------------------------ standing, does not lessen this super- the beginning of wisdom. A reas- w hole q u estio n . whole question is solved why do I Continued on (Uh page. htitious fear of death. In the long onabie faith in our trium ph over litV w cdo n o t ^ n d ^ J 1 ! Away w ith superstitious fearl We