menu_book Chapter 11

section 11 of a history of freedom of thought this is a LibriVox recording a LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a history of freedom of thought by John Bagnell Berra the progress of rationalism 19th century part 3 the agnostic holds that there are limits to human reason and that theology lies

outside those limits within those limits lies the world with which science including psychology deals science deals entirely with phenomena and has nothing to say to the nature of the ultimate reality which may lie behind phenomena there are four possible attitudes to this ultimate reality there is the attitude of the metaphysician and theologian who are convinced not only

that it exists but that it can be at least partly known there is the attitude of the man who denies that it exists but he must also be a metaphysician for its existence can only be disproved by metaphysical arguments then there are those who assert that it exists but deny that we can know anything about it and finally there are those who say that we cannot know whether it exists or not

these last are agnostics in the strict sense of the term men who profess not to know the third class go beyond phenomena in so far as they assert that there is an ultimate though unknowable reality beneath phenomena but agnostic is commonly used in a wide sense so as to include the third as well as the fourth class those who assume an unknowable as well as those who do not know whether

there is an unknowable or not Comte and Spencer for instance who believed in an unknowable are counted as agnostics the difference between an agnostic and an atheist is that the atheist positively denies the existence of a personal God the agnostic does not believe in it the writer of this period who held agnosticism in its purest form and who turned the dry light of reason onto

theological opinions with the most merciless logic was mr. Leslie Steven his best-known essay an agnostics apology fortnightly review 1876 raises the question have the dogmas of orthodox theologians any meaning do they offer for this is what we want an intelligible reconciliation of the discourse in the universe it is shown in detail that the various theological explanations of the

dealings of God with man when logically pressed issue in a confession of ignorance and what is this but agnosticism you may call your doubt a mystery but mystery is only the theological phrase for agnosticism quote why when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery do honest men proclaim in pulpits that

unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant we are a company of ignorant beings dimly discerning light enough for our daily needs but hopelessly differing whenever we attempt to describe the ultimate origin or end of our paths and yet when one of us ventures to declare that we don't know the map of the universe as well as the map of our infinitesimal

parish he is hooded reviled and perhaps told that he will be damned to all eternity for his faithlessness unquote the characteristic of Leslie Stevens essays is that they are less directed to showing that orthodox theology is untrue as that there is no reality about it and that its solutions of difficulties are sham solutions if it solved any part of the mystery it would be welcome but it

does not it only adds new difficulties it is quote a mere edifice of moonshine unquote the writer makes no attempt to prove by logic that ultimate reality lies outside the limits of human reason he bases this conclusion on the fact that all philosophers hopelessly contradict one another if the subject matter of philosophy were like physical science within the reach of the

intelligence some agreement must have been reached the broad church movement the attempts to liberalize Christianity to pour its old wine into new bottles to make it unsectarian and undogmatic to find compromises between theology and science found no favor in Leslie Stevens eyes and he criticized all this with a certain contempt there was a controversy about the efficacy of prayer is it

reasonable for instance to pray for rain here science and theology were at issue on a practical point which comes within the domain of science some theologians adopted the compromise that to pray against an eclipse would be foolish but to pray for rain might be sensible one phenomenon Stephen wrote quote is just as much the result of fixed causes as the other but it is easier for the

imagination to suppose the interference of a divine agent to be hidden away somewhere amidst the infinitely complex play of forces which elude our calculations in meteorological phenomena than to believe in it where the forces are simple enough to admit of prediction the distinction is of course invalid in a scientific sense almighty power can interfere as easily with the

events which are as with those which are not in the nautical almanac one cannot suppose that God retreats as science advances and that he spoke in thunder and lightning till Franklin unraveled the laws of their phenomena unquote again when a controversy about hell engaged public attention and some otherwise orthodox theologians be thought themselves that eternal

punishment was a horrible doctrine and then found that the evidence for it was not quite conclusive and were bold enough to say so Leslie Stevens stepped in to point out that if so historical Christianity deserves all that its most virulent enemies have said about it in this respect when the Christian creed really ruled man's consciences nobody could utter a word against the truth of

the dogma of hell if that dogma had not an intimate organic connection with the creed if it had been a mere unimportant accident it could not have been so vigorous and persistent wherever Christianity was strongest the attempt to eliminate it or soften it down is a sign of decline quote now at last your creed is decaying people have discovered that you know nothing about it that heaven

and hell belong to dreamland that the impertinent young curate who tells me that I shall be burnt everlastingly for not sharing his superstition is just as ignorant as I am myself and that I know as much as my dog and then you calmly say again it is all a mistake only believe in a something and we will make it as easy for you as possible hell should have no more than a fine

equitable temperature really good for the Constitution there shall be nobody in it except Judas Iscariot and one or two others and even the poor devil shall have a chance if he will resolve to mend his ways unquote Mr. Matthew Arnold may I suppose be numbered among the agnostics but he was of a very different type he introduced a new kind of criticism of the Bible literary

criticism deeply concerned for morality and religion a supporter of the established church he took the Bible under his special protection and in three works Saint Paul and Protestantism 1870 literature and dogma 1873 and God and the Bible 1875 he endeavored to rescue that book from its orthodox exponents whom he regarded as the corruptors of Christianity it would be

just he says quote but hardly perhaps Christian unquote to fling back the word infidel at the orthodox theologians for their bad literary and scientific criticisms of the Bible and to speak of the torrent of infidelity which pours every Sunday from our pulpits the corruption of Christianity has been due to theology quote with its insane license of affirmation about God its

insane license of affirmation about immortality unquote to the hypothesis of quote a magnified and non-natural man at the head of mankind's and the world's affairs unquote and the fancy account of God quote made up by putting scattered expressions of the Bible together and taking them literally unquote he chastises with urbane persiflage the knowledge which the orthodox think they

possess about the proceedings and plans of God quote to think they know what passed in the council of the Trinity is not hard to them they could easily think they even knew what were the hangings of the Trinity's council chamber unquote yet quote the very expression the Trinity jars with the whole idea and character of Bible religion but lest the Socinian should be unduly elated at

hearing this let us hasten to add that so too and just as much does the expression a great personal first cause unquote he uses God as the least inadequate name for that universal order which the intellect feels after as a law and the heart feels after as a benefit and defines it as quote the stream of tendency by which all things strive to fulfill the law of their being unquote

he defined it further as a power that makes for righteousness and thus went considerably beyond the agnostic position he was impatient of the minute criticism which analyzes the biblical documents and discovers inconsistencies and he did not appreciate the importance of the comparative study of religions but when we read of a dignitary in a recent Church Congress laying down that the

narratives in the books of Jonah and Daniel must be accepted because Jesus quoted them we may wish that Arnold were here to reproach the Orthodox for quote want of intellectual seriousness unquote these years also saw the appearance of mr. John Morley's sympathetic studies of the French free thinkers of the 18th century Voltaire 1872 Rousseau 1873 and Dieter Rowe 1878 he edited the

fortnightly review and for some years this journal was distinguished by brilliant criticisms on the popular religion contributed by able men writing from many points of view a part of the book which he afterwards published under the title compromise appeared in the fortnightly in 1874 in compromise quote the whole system of objective propositions which make up the popular

belief of the day unquote is condemned as mischievous and it deserves that those who disbelieve should speak out plainly speaking out is an intellectual duty Englishmen have a strong sense of political responsibility and a correspondingly weak sense of intellectual responsibility even minds that are not commonplace are affected for the worse by the political spirit

which quote is the great force in throwing love of truth and accurate reasoning into a secondary place unquote and the principles which have prevailed in politics have been adopted by theology for her own use in the one case convenience first truth second in the other emotional comfort first truth second if the immorality is less gross in the case of religion there is quote

the stain of intellectual improbity unquote and this is a crime against society for quote they who tamper with veracity from whatever motive are tampering with the vital force of human progress unquote the intellectual insincerity which is here blamed is just as prevalent today the English have not changed their nature the political spirit is still rampant and we are ruled

by the view that because compromise is necessary in politics it is also a good thing in the intellectual domain the fortnightly under mr. Morley's guidance was an effective organ of enlightenment I have no space to touch on the works of other men of letters and of men of science in these combative years but it is to be noted that while denunciations of modern thought poured from the

pulpits a popular diffusion of free thought was carried on especially by mr. Bradlaugh in public lectures and in his paper the national reformer not without collisions with the civil authorities if we take the cases in which the civil authorities in England have intervened to repress the publication of unorthodox opinions during the last two centuries we find that the object has always been

to prevent the spread of free thought among the masses the victims have been either poor uneducated people or men who propagated free thought in a popular form I touched upon this before and speaking of pain and it is worn out by the prosecutions of the 19th and 20th centuries the unconfessed motive has been fear of the people theology has been regarded as a good instrument for

keeping the poor in order and unbelief as a cause or accompaniment of dangerous political opinions the idea has not altogether disappeared that free thought is peculiarly indecent in the poor that it is highly desirable to keep them superstitious in order to keep them contented that they should be duly thankful for all the theological as well as social arrangements which have been

made for them by their betters I may quote from an essay of mr. Frederick Harrison an anecdote which admirably expresses the becoming attitude of the poor towards ecclesiastical institutions quote the master of a workhouse in Essex was once called in to act as chaplain to a dying pauper the poor soul faintly murmured some hopes of heaven but this master

abruptly cut short and warned him to turn his last thoughts towards hell and thankful you ought to be said he that you have a hell to go to the most important English free thinkers who appealed to the masses were Holyoke the apostle of secularism and Bradlaugh the great achievement for which Bradlaugh will be best remembered was the securing of the right of unbelievers to sit in

Parliament without taking an oath 1888 the chief work to which Holyoke who in his early years was imprisoned for blasphemy contributed was the abolition of taxes on the press which seriously hampered the popular diffusion of knowledge in England censorship of the press had long ago disappeared in most other European countries it was abolished in the course of the 19th

century in the progressive countries of Europe there has been a marked growth of tolerance I do not mean legal tolerance but the tolerance of public opinion during the last 30 years a generation ago Lord Morley wrote quote the preliminary stage has scarcely been reached the stage in which public opinion grants to everyone the unrestricted right of shaping his own

beliefs independently of those of the people who surround him unquote I think this preliminary stage has now been passed take England we are now far from the days when dr. Arnold would have sent the elder mill to botany Bay for irreligious opinions but we are also far from the days when Darwin's descent created an uproar Darwin has been buried in Westminster Abbey today books can

appear denying the historical existence of Jesus without causing any commotion it may be doubted whether what Lord Acton wrote in 1877 would be true now quote there are in our day many educated men who think it right to persecute unquote in 1895 Leckie was a candidate for the representation of Dublin University his rationalistic opinions were indeed brought up against

him but he was successful though the majority of the constituents were Orthodox in the 70s his candidature would have been hopeless the old commonplace that a free-thinker is sure to be immoral is no longer heard we may say that we have now reached a stage at which it is admitted by everyone who counts except at the Vatican that there is nothing in earth or heaven which may

not legitimately be treated without any of the assumptions which in old days authority used to impose in this brief review of the triumphs of reason in the 19th century we have been considering the discoveries of science and criticism which made the old orthodoxy logically untenable but the advance in freedom of thought the marked difference in the general attitude of men in all

lands towards theological authority today from the attitude of a hundred years ago cannot altogether be explained by the power of logic it is not so much criticism of old ideas as the appearance of new ideas and interests that changes the views of men at large it is not logical demonstrations but new social conceptions that bring about a general transformation of attitude towards

ultimate problems now the idea of the progress of the human race must I think be held largely answerable for this change of attitude it must I think be held to have operated powerfully as a solvent of theological beliefs I have spoken of the teaching of Diderot and his friends that man's energy should be devoted to making the earth pleasant a new idea was substituted for the old

ideal based on theological propositions it inspired the English utilitarian philosophers Bentham James Mill JS Mill Grote who preached the greatest happiness of the greatest number as the supreme object of action and the basis of morality this idea was powerfully reinforced by the doctrine of historical progress which was started in France 1750 by Tirgo who made progress the

organic principle of history it was developed by Condorcet 1793 and put forward by priestly in England the idea was seized upon by the French socialistic philosophers Saint-Simon and Fourier the optimism of Fourier went so far as to anticipate the time when the sea would be turned by man's ingenuity into lemonade when there would be 37 million poets as great as Homer 37

million writers as great as Moliere 37 million men of science equal to Newton but it was Kant who gave the doctrine weight and power his social philosophy and his religion of humanity are based upon it the triumphs of science endorsed it it has been associated with though it is not necessarily implied in the scientific theory of evolution and it is perhaps fair to say that it has been

the guiding spiritual force of the 19th century it has introduced the new ethical principle of duty to posterity we shall hardly be far wrong if we say that the new interest in the future and the progress of the race has done a great deal to undermine unconsciously the old interest in a life beyond the grave and it has dissolved the blighting doctrine of the radical corruption of

man nowhere has the theory of progress been more emphatically recognized than in the monistic movement which has been exciting great interest in Germany 1910 through 1912 this movement is based on the ideas of Heckel who is looked up to as the master but those ideas have been considerably changed under the influence the new leader while Heckel is a biologist Ostwald brilliant work was

done in chemistry and physics the new monism differs from the old in the first place in being much less dogmatic it declares that all that is in our experience can be the object of a corresponding science it is much more a method than a system for its sole ultimate object is to comprehend all human experience in unified knowledge secondly while it maintains with Heckel

evolution as the guiding principle in the history of living things it rejects his pantheism and his theory of thinking atoms the old mechanical theory of the physical world has been gradually supplanted by the theory of energy and Ostwald who is one of the foremost exponents of energy has made it a leading idea of monism what has been called matter is so far as we know now

simply a complex of energies and he has sought to extend the energetic principle from physical or chemical to biological psychical and social phenomena but it is to be observed that no finality is claimed for the conception of energy it is simply an hypothesis which corresponds to our present stage of knowledge and may as knowledge advances be superseded monism resembles the

positive philosophy and religion of Kant insofar as it means an outlook on life based entirely on science and excluding theology mysticism and metaphysics it may be called a religion if we adopt mr. Mac targets definition of religion as quote an emotion resting on a conviction of the harmony between ourselves and the universe at large unquote but it is much better not to use

the word religion in connection with it and the monists have no thought of finding a monistic as comp founded a positivist church they insist upon the sharp opposition between the outlook of science and the outlook of religion and find the mark of spiritual progress in the fact that religion is gradually becoming less indispensable the further we go back in the past the more valuable

is religion as an element in civilization as we advance it retreats more and more into the background to be replaced by science religions have been in principle pessimistic so far as the present world is concerned monism is in principle optimistic for it recognizes that the process of his evolution has overcome in increasing measure the bad element in man and will go on overcoming

it still more monism proclaims that development and progress are the practical principles of human conduct while the churches especially the Catholic Church have been steadily conservative and though they have been unable to put a stop to progress have endeavored to suppress its symptoms to bottle up the steam the monistic conference at Hamburg in 1911 had a

success which surprised its promoters the movement bids fair to be a powerful influence in diffusing rationalistic thought if we take the three large states of Western Europe in which the majority of Christians are Catholics we see how the ideal of progress freedom of thought and the decline of ecclesiastical power go together in Spain where the church has enormous

power and wealth and can still dictate to the court and the politicians the idea of progress which is vital in France and Italy has not yet made its influence seriously felt liberal thought indeed is widely spread in the small educated class but the great majority of the whole population are illiterate and it is the interest of the church to keep them so the education of the people as

all enlightened Spaniards confess is the pressing need of the country how formidable are the obstacles which will have to be overcome before modern education is allowed to spread was shown four years ago by the tragedy of Francisco Ferrer which reminded everybody that in one corner of Western Europe the medieval spirit is still vigorous Ferrer devoted himself to the

founding of modern schools in the province of Catalonia since 1901 he was a rationalist and his schools which had a marked success were entirely secular the ecclesiastical authorities execrated him and in the summer of 1909 chance gave them the means of destroying him a strike of working men at Barcelona developed into a violent revolution Ferrer happened to be in Barcelona for

some days at the beginning of the movement with which he had no connection whatever and his enemies seized the opportunity to make him responsible for it false evidence including forged documents was manufactured evidence which would have helped his case was suppressed the Catholic papers agitated against him and the leading ecclesiastics of Barcelona urged the

government not to spare the man who founded the modern schools the root of all the trouble Ferrer was condemned by a military tribunal and shot October 13 he suffered in the cause of reason and freedom of thought though as there is no longer an inquisition his enemies had to kill him under the false charge of anarchy and treason it is possible that the indignation which was felt in Europe

and was most loudly expressed in France may prevent the repetition of such extreme measures but almost anything may happen in a country where the church is so powerful and so bigoted and the politicians so corrupt end of section 11 you