Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 9, 1900)
T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON , A UG UST 9, E. M. 300 (1900.) 1 A very good way for our friends iclp build the L. U. O. is to to help quote to every C hristian they meet, The Only Paper of Its Kind. “ Give to him th at asketh thee,” and • . TT • then ask for as much as the Christ- Company . i n U.e In terest of“ ’ ¡an can raise. T his will result in C onstructive, Moral S ecularism . nothing but good for our work, for it will either get som ething from ___ Editor the C hristians, or it will help con- _l F H osm er, Torch of Reason • (StiCT»1? ............ . . . . . . C h ristian joss-houses and th eir tie* ceiving priests. And the saddest th in g about it is, th a t m any of th e brightest intellects are thus driven into debauchery, while, as a rule, a few of the d u ller or n a tu ra lly hypo- critical ones are preserved by the churches to dom ineer and govern the world. No one can estim ate T ’ y L C lV lf lF S t in n h ^ Q about an im m ortal soul, a heaven, angels, a God, a great white th ro n e, etc., etc., than other people do. O, how cruel, how m isleading, how dividing, how slave-producing is the religion of the bloody cross! Secularists, let us wake up and put som ething better in its place the Religion of Science and Hu- r e ? . XE&S O il J in tu rn will convert others, and in tarded by the false and u n n a tu ra l E n tered a t th e postoffice a t Silverton, this way we will soon have the d octrines of the C hristian religion, H E A D Q U A R T E R S , H E R O E S A N D Oregon, as second-class m ail m a tte r. but som etime a redeemed h u m an much-needed assistance. W EA PO N S. ity will look back to these slowly- SUBSCRIPTION RATES. evolving, heathen tim es and won “ Straw s show which way the wind der how people could be so weak P erhaps no better type of the One year, in a d v an c e .......................... $1 92 blows.” We went into a C hristian and foolish as to cling to o ld ,-d e world or of h u m an ity could be Six m onths in a d v an c e .................... 50 T hree m onths, in a<lvance................ 25 barber shop in Tillam ook the other caying theories of an ancient p riest found th an the Pacific coast and In clubs of five or m ore, one year, day and tried to get the newly-con hood instead of being guided by the its people. The co u n try itself has in advance.................................... Money should be sen t by registered verted and new ly-m arried barber to light of the advancing torch of m ountains, forests, plains, valleys, letter or m oney order. subscribe for the Torch, but he reason. and all the clim ates from the tro p doesn’t w ant to read both sides, One of God’s servants deigned to ical to the cold, barren regions of Notice! and no am ount of talk could per converse with us a few m inutes the high altitu d es or of A laska. The suade him th a t his custom ers should other day, and by quotations k in d people are from every p art of the A h a n d pointing to th is notice denotes have our paper. How differently ly inform ed us th a t we are fools, globe, and the home of the L. U. O. th a t vour su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d . You are e arn estly requested to re we were welcomed by Mr. C. P eter and th a t if we wanted to see the is thus in the very best region new so th a t you m ay receive th e pa son, T illam ook’s popular Free- devil we should look in a looking which could be discovered for the per w ith o u t in te rru p tio n . We have de cided th a t it is best for all concerned thought barber. He cheerfully paid glass, etc. We have learned self- form ing of th e great storm center th a t we do no t send papers longer th an us a dollar for a year’s subscription control, and so we were able to give of F reethought th a t is to bring the th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. This will p rev en t any loss and we will and would not take a cent for sh av tit for ta t w ithout getting angry, purifying atm osphere of the Re know ju st w here we sta n d . ing the “Secular preacher.” aud we informed the reverend(?) ligion of Science and H u m an ity to We request you to send us th e nam es of Secularists who m ight becom e su b th a t he, in our hum ble estim ation, the whole globe. scribers and we will m ail sam ple copies. is som ething of a hypocrite and Our u n d erta k in g is so gigantic F IS H IN G . th a t we could prove th a t he does th a t it will tak e some tim e before O ur challenge not being taken not believe or practice w hat he the th in k ers of the world fully up by any of the Tillam ook m inis preaches. He said th a t he believes grasp the thought and put the full If Jesus “ was God,” were not the ters, we have put in most of our the Bible to be the word of God force of their m ental shoulders to words he uttered when about to die time, since our last week’s w riting, and a com plete guide for the life of the wheel, but we have no cause to very strange? “ My God, my God, getting subscribers for the Torch, m an. “ V ery well,” said we, “ the com plain, for the fifth year of our why hast thou forsaken m e?” fishing, talking with old friends on book represents Jesus as saying, work will open with a num ber of the street, visiting at the homes of ‘give to him th a t asketh of th ee;’ the greatest thinkers an d workers W hat a “ blessed hope” it is th at friends and relatives, etc. Last please let us have your coat.” in the world rejoicing, interested, a m ajority of the hum an fam ily is Sunday a party of F reethinkers “ All right, sir,” said he, aud he helping. Let every subscriber to still going to hell! Is n ’t it a sham e went picnicking up the Kilches took his coat p artly off, but his the Torch of Reason spread the th a t Infidels are try in g to make river, and w hat a fine tim e we had! “ bluff” did not work. We would news nor weary in telling th a t such people believe th a t death is perfect We caught seventy-five or eighty have taken the coat, and he p er men aud women as H erb ert S p en of the finest trout we ever saw, and ceived it and backed down. “ Come cer, George Jacob H olyoake, E. B. rest? we hope to be able to go trolling to my house,” said he, “ and you Foote, N. F. Griswold, T. B. W ake The energies spent in preaching for salm on in Tillam ook bay next shall have it;” and finally it tu rn ed m an, C. B. W aite, Gen. B irney, D. “ Jesus and him crucified,” and Sunday. This is certainly a p a ra out th a t in order to get the coat we A. B lodgett, E lizabeth Cady S ta n teaching about the “ home over dise for the sportsm an, and a l m ust go to Bay City, ab o u t seven ton, Daniel T. Ames, Susan H. there,” would save H u m an ity from though we cannot be classed with miles d ista n t, where we will call as W ixon, H elen G ardener, C. K. being crucified and build a heaven up-to-date Nimrods, yet we enjoy soon as convenient and dem and, Tenney and m any others are all here. _______________ deceiving the speckled beauties and not only the coat, but the rest of interested in this great educational, in eating them , too, when done to our fanatical friend’s wardrobe, his em ancipation m ovem ent, an d th a t Did Jesus love his enemies when watch and any other loose property it is only a question of a few short a nice brown. he said, “ But whosoever shall deny But God’s “ fishers of m en” have he m ay have gathered in the v in e years when the F reethought scien me before men, him will I also deny been casting their nets of supersti yard of the Lord. Do you suppose tists will score a great triu m p h before my F ath er which is in heav tion here, and we feel so sorry for we will get the “ stuff?” P robably over th e hosts of superstitious th e e n ? ” Is th a t doing good to them the hum an fish th a t we dare not the reverend gentlem an will have ology. It is com ing very rapidly. th a t hate him ? Is it tu rn in g the spend too much tim e with the finny, discovered by the time we visit his T he w ar has been declared; head- other cheek also? in h ab itan ts. There are six C hris hom e th a t th e word of God doesn’t q u arters established; volunteers are tian churches iu this little city, m ean ju st w hat it says. coming forw ard, and the m ain arm y If it wasn’t for the belief in a and drunkenness does not seem to We atten d ed a funeral in the M. of Jeh o v ah an d its bushw hackers hell, many of the C hristians would be on the decrease. B right boys E. C hurch yesterday and were are w atching th e sm oke of our be in the p en itentiary, according to who, at the age of ten, have better moved to tears for the poor, de- cam p fires. We need enduring th eir own statem ents, and statistics judgm ent and reason th an the hided living, but not for the dead, soldiers; we need m odern weapons; «how th a t “ the pen” is full of them average preacher, can ’t believe the The m an who talked to the sorrow- we need am m unitio n ; we need as it is. The belief iu spooks is a foolish stories they hear in these stricken people told them things as every ounce of physical, m ental, great thing, isn’t it? God-houses. Y oung people will tru th th a t he does not know to be m oral and financial support that have com pany, and there is no tru e; iu fact, things th a t every sci- the F reeth in k ers of th e world can Ye have heard th a t it h ath lieen other place for them to go but to en tist knows to be false. D o tsn ’t give, for it is a big fight ag ain st an. said th a t ye resist not evil, but the saloon. Thus the C hristian it seem awful th a t men of sm all organized arm y of years of experi whosoever shall sm ite thee on the churches are directly accountable calibre, both intellectually and ed- ence, whose only desire is to obey right cheek, turn to him the other for the drunkenness of Tillam ook, ucationally, should select such a its divine leaders. B ut th eir weap- also. But we say unto you, resist as well as of the rest of the coun- tim e of sorrow to propagate th eir one are the d a rts an d arrow s of an evil , and whosoever sm ite thee on try. These boys should not patron- unproven and unprofitable theories an cien t, heathen people, and we the right cheek try to get out of his ize the saloons, but they do; and —to hold out false hopes and m ake are sure to win with our up-to-date way, but when cornered defend they will until there is som ething the poor, deluded ones believe th a t weapons of Science. E very man yourself like a m an. J better to take the place of the they (th e preachers) know m ore, to his post!