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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1900)
4 T H E TORCH O F REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON , D E C E M B E R 20, E. M. 300 (1900.) Torch of Reason system , and our glorious p u b lic 1 legal action taken a t the earliest TIIE CHANGE OF IMMORTALITIES. useful, Secular, republican, Ameri- opportunity. Bui now, if all of the changes in The Only Paper of Its Kind. can education would come to its the ( inverse, including life, m ind, end—destroyed by a few fanatic Haeckel's ‘•Riddle of the Universe’ soul and ego, are equivalent corre P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U n i religious sects, who really do n o Solved. lates or resu ltan ts of each other agree am ong them selves. versity C om pany, in the In te re sts of m atter and all of its changes or C onstructive, M oral S ecularism . T hat this deplorable result would he realized is evident from the la t “ The best tim e to shoot bears is properties being indestructible, ev er con vertible, w ithout end or be T. B. W a k em a n ................... Editor ter part of the Rom an C atholic a r when you see th em .” The best time ticle we p rin t today. T his B lack to read books you cannot escape ginning— how about our im m ortal P. W. Geer..........................M anager I nder this law of correla burn opinion js there assigned at reading w ithout serious loss, is ity ? once as a reason why C atholic P a when they come flying off the tion or of “ substance,” as H aeckel E n tered a t th e postoffice a t S ilverton, rochial schools should take the press. H aeckel’s new book is un- names it, this venerable, selfish and Oregon, as second-class m ail m a tte r. place of the public schools. The escapeable. It is T ruth hringii g ignorant superstition gets no q u a r There are m any Liberal and other objectors are the world to judgem ent. It covers ter whatever. rig h t to the front with sim ilar as cosmology, biology and physiologi people, however, who still retain SUBSCRIPTION RATES. surances th a t if the public schools cal psychology—and gives us thv an interest in this “ be all and end a ll” question, as they have an u n are not kept strictly secular, they verdict of Science on them . T his One year, in a d v a n c e .......................... $1 00 scientific way of th in k in g of it. Six m o n th s, in a d v an c e .................... 50 will not be used by them , hut will verdict is the all im p o rtan t affair T hree m o n th s, in a d v an c e ................ 25 be replaced by Liberal and other to m ankind. For all of their relig U e shall therefore condense the In clubs of five or m ore, one year, schools or none. ion, conduct of life, and future 10th, 12th and 11th, [as th a t is 75 in a d v a n c e .......................................... For, this is a m atter of consci hones rest upon th a t verdict: the better order] chapters of H aeck M oney should he sen t by registered ence, as well as of fairness, justice, “ Whence are we; what are we to el’s book into three articles for the le tte r or m oney order. In this and pride, and no power on earth do; w hither are we to go;” are the first page of the Torch. can compel children and parents to old religious queries; and Science num ber you have the gist of his Notice! use and sustain a school in which solves them by showing w hat the ch ap ter on “ Consciousness,” which all of these four grand essentials of world really is; w hat man can and begins the story. The next will be on the “ Law of S ubstance,” or the A h a n d p ointing to th is notice denotes free and equal citizenship are vio ought to do in it; and w hat the re th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d . lated at once. T his word of w arn sults of hum an life really are; and correlation of the “ soul;’ or ego. You are e arn estly requested to re 1 he last will be on Im m o rtality new so th a t you m ay receive th e pa ing from the C atholics and others how they are continuous. [Egoistic]. We hope in the Torch per w ithout in te rru p tio n . W e have de m ust be heeded in time. It is of The first and astonishing thing cided th a t it is best for all concerned thereafter to present an article on th a t we do no t send papers longer th an the utm ost im portance; for when about this scientific solution of Man Im m ortality [A ltru istic], which th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. the great, common, secular, public and his world aH presented by This will prev en t any loss and we will school goes, th e foundation of the Haeckel and other com plete scien will close the “ Im m o rta l” series. know ju st w here we stand. If hum an science, thou g h t and We request you to send us th e nam es R epublic goes with it. Universal tists, is, th a t it is the exact reverse of S ecularists who m ight become sub late are of any account, these a r ti sc rib e rs an d we will m ail sam ple copies. education is the only basis and of the old Bible and Theologic so cles will be worth a m illion tim es condition of safe universal suffer- lution. If one is true, the other is age. Give us nothing but a creed- absolutely false: if the Universe is the cost of the Torch. If they have T hursday , D ec . 20, E. M. 300. al education, and the state and infinite and eternal, it was never in them some “ hard words,” and views that seem dubious to you, nation will be more than ever the created, and will never end. If Prayer and Bible not Secular nor victim s of creedal, selfish, jarrin g Man grew out of the n a tu ra l pro th e reading of the whole book is Republican. and m u tu ally destructive religious toplasm on the e a rth ’s surface, he the rem edy,— and th a t we will send to you at the publisher’s price $ 1 .5 0 . schools, sects and factions. The was never created. If he began in In the last Torch we presented great balance wheel of the Repub It is the true Book of Genesis. It and evoluted from a lowly and sav th e very able plea of our Hebrew lie will be gone; and with it all entirely reverses and and takes the age state, he was never perfect en fellow citizens ag ain st the opinion real governm ent of, for, and by the place of the old Bible in th a t ough to fall out of any Eden. If regard. of A ttorney-G eneral B lackburn al people. Despotism s and Theo he never fell he cannot be restored lowing the L ord’s P rayer and the cracies will rule in th e ir place. A by any vicarious atonem ent, and Nebular H ypothesis Shattered. Bible to be used and read in our word tot the wise is said to be suf public schools. On another page ficient; and never, as it seems to the C hrist story is a m yth. If the BY DANIEL K. TENNEY. you will find an equally able plea,' us, should it be more decidedly so earth rotates daily on its axis, and to the same purport, from our R om th an on this subject, and in this an n u ally around the sun, and if Not long ago the au th o rities in the sun moves with all its planets an Catholic fellow-citizens. These em ergency. T h at word is: “ The 300 m illions of miles per year charge of the Lick O bservatory, by articles, together with the leading Republic m ust be a Secular gov m eans of a reflecting telescope, p h o one from the Oregonian, in the ern m en t. resting upon an im p ar through space, all of which m odern tographed the celestial orbs, or Torch before the last, are so per tial Secular, common school educa- Astronom y proves,— th a t is the tried to. It is claim ed, by some fectly conclusive th a t we cannot cation or it will be no R epublic total and absolute end of C hristi nebuloti3 think« rs, th a t the pictures anity; and of all of the religions, believe th a t th is perversion of our a t a ll!” except the Religion of Liberty, thus obtained confirm the tru th of Secular school system can be per Now a word as to the way out. the nebular hypothesis. T he result Science and H u m an ity , which m ust sisted in, for they show conclusive T his opinion having been given by soon take their place. For, how of this astronom ic endeavor is thus ly :— • th e attorney-general, who is the stated: can there be a heaven or a personal 1. T h at the said P ray er and legal adviser of the state officers, And esp ecially am ong th o se m o su eri- Bible are “ sectarian ,” and th a t it will rem ain the law until it is ov God to live in it, w ithout a statio n ous an d w onderful clouds of fain tly glow would be not only unfair, unjust, erruled by the courts. It is, there ary earth and “ firm am ent,” as the ing gasses, called n ebulae h as th is tele unlaw ful and a misuse of public fore, necessary th a t a case shold be Bible said. How did E lijah and scope proved its ex cep tio n al power. Vast How sp ira ls, im m en se gulfs of b lack n ess s u r money to impose them upon the found, where a pupil is com pelled C hrist ascend to heaven. ro u n d ed by lum inous w alls, in tric a te sects who rep u d iate them , as do de to take part in, or better, is suspen will they and th e “ New Je ru sa le m ” W here is the hell in p a tte rn s of n eb u lo u s trac eries, as d e li cidedly the Hebrews, Rom an C ath ded from the school by reason of descend? cate in s tru c tu re as th e finest lacew oik, which Satan and his devils aw ait olics, Liberal C hristians, and the non-com pliance with these exer- beaded w ith sta rs, in te rlin k e d rings of “ the dam ned?” The old religious light, g leam in g like th e phosphoresence F reethought Liberals who do not ercises. Such a case should be believe in the old churches a t all. brought before our courts, so th at Heaven, Hell, Gods, Devils and of th e sea, b u t each so stu p en d o u s in circ u it th a t th e w hole solar system and 2. T h at the im m ediate effect a controlling legal decision may be Spooks become too silly to pursue further. The first daw n— the first m any so lar system s to g eth er, m ight be would be th a t all those sects, and obtained. As soon as this opinion em braced by i t ; o rb s of pale fire, whose large portions of our people, would is acted upon, such a case must blush of Science scatters them all gigantic w h irlin g m otion and w hose g ra w ithdraw th eir children from the arise, and legal proceedings should ir.to the real nothingness of m yths dual co m p actio n into new suns, tinder schools, which would thus become be taken. It m ust not be said that and allegories. They are not. They th e p ressu re of g rav itatio n , are all hut Orthodox P ro testan t schools only. this opinion was assented to by ac- never were “ Coelum non esse” : visible. Such are som e of th e m arvelous sh ap es an d ap p earan ces th a t th e se p h o But such schools could and would quiesence. Those who sleep upon Heaven is not,—said B runo, and to g rap h s show. not long be supported by public, th eir rights lose them ; and that with heaven all of its belongings In other w >rd.s they have been moneys, and so the public school [danger can only be obviated by disappear. ¡photographing the clouds in far off