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What's God Got to Do with it? Robert Ingersoll on Free Thought, Honest Talk & the Separation of Church & State
Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) is one of the great lost figures in United States history, all but forgotten at just the time America needs him most. An outspoken and unapologetic agnostic, fervent champion of the separation of church and state, and tireless.
138 pages, Paperback
First published August 16, 2005
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About the author
Robert G. Ingersoll
1,004 books325 followers"On August 11, 1833, was born the greatest and noblest of the Western World; an immense personality, -- unique, lovable, sublime; the peerless orator of all time, and as true a poet as Nature ever held in tender clasp upon her loving breast, and, in words coined for the chosen few, told of the joys and sorrows, hopes, dreams, and fears of universal life; a patriot whose golden words and deathless deeds were worthy of the Great Republic; a philanthropist, real and genuine; a philosopher whose central theme was human love, -- who placed 'the holy hearth of home' higher than the altar of any god; an iconoclast, a builder -- a reformer, perfectly poised, absolutely honest, and as fearless as truth itself -- the most aggressive and formidable foe of superstition -- the most valiant champion of reason -- Robert G. Ingersoll." - Herman E. Kittredge
Robert Green Ingersoll, who became the best known advocate of freethought in the 19th-century, was born in Dresden, N.Y. The son of an impoverished itinerant pastor, he later recalled his formative church experiences: "The minister asked us if we knew that we all deserved to go to hell, and we all answered 'yes.' Then we were asked if we would be willing to go to hell if it was God's will, and every little liar shouted 'Yes!'" He became an attorney by apprenticeship, and a colonel in the Civil War, fighting in the Battle of Shiloh. In 1867, Ingersoll was appointed Illinois' first Attorney General. His political career was cut short by his refusal to halt his controversial lectures, but he achieved national political fame for his thrilling nomination speech for James G. Blaine for president at the national convention of the Republican Party in 1876. Ingersoll was good friends with three U.S. presidents. The distinguished attorney was known and admired by most of the leading progressives and thinkers of his day.
Ingersoll traveled the continent for 30 years, speaking to capacity audiences, once attracting 50,000 people to a lecture in Chicago—40,000 too many for the Exposition Center. His repertoire included 3 to 4-hour lectures on Shakespeare, Voltaire and Burns, but the largest crowds turned out to hear him denounce the bible and religion. He initially settled in Peoria, Illinois, then in Washington, D.C., where he successfully defended falsely accused men in the "Star Route" scandal, the most famous political trial of the 19th century. Religious rumors against Ingersoll abounded. One had it that Ingersoll's son was a drunkard who more than once had to be carried away from the table. Ingersoll wrote: "It is not true that intoxicating beverages are served at my table. It is not true that my son ever was drunk. It is not true that he had to be carried away from the table. Besides, I have no son!"
During the Civil War he was commissioned as Colonel and commander of the 11th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, and was captured near Corinth, Mississippi. Although soon released, he still made time to treat his Confederate captors to a rousing anti slavery speech.
He hoped for but was never awarded a Cabinet post. The Republicans were afraid of his unorthodox religious views. He was told that he could progress politically if he hid his religious views, but Ingersoll refused on the charge that withholding information from the public would be immoral.
He strongly advocated equal rights for blacks and women. He defended Susan B. Anthony from hecklers when she spoke in Peoria; when every hotel in the city refused to house Frederick Douglass, he welcomed him into his home.
More: https://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/it...
http://infidels.org/library/historica...
http://www.robertgreeningersoll.org/8-2/
http://www.positiveatheism.org/tochin...
http://www.philosopedia.org/index.php...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_G...
Robert Green Ingersoll, who became the best known advocate of freethought in the 19th-century, was born in Dresden, N.Y. The son of an impoverished itinerant pastor, he later recalled his formative church experiences: "The minister asked us if we knew that we all deserved to go to hell, and we all answered 'yes.' Then we were asked if we would be willing to go to hell if it was God's will, and every little liar shouted 'Yes!'" He became an attorney by apprenticeship, and a colonel in the Civil War, fighting in the Battle of Shiloh. In 1867, Ingersoll was appointed Illinois' first Attorney General. His political career was cut short by his refusal to halt his controversial lectures, but he achieved national political fame for his thrilling nomination speech for James G. Blaine for president at the national convention of the Republican Party in 1876. Ingersoll was good friends with three U.S. presidents. The distinguished attorney was known and admired by most of the leading progressives and thinkers of his day.
Ingersoll traveled the continent for 30 years, speaking to capacity audiences, once attracting 50,000 people to a lecture in Chicago—40,000 too many for the Exposition Center. His repertoire included 3 to 4-hour lectures on Shakespeare, Voltaire and Burns, but the largest crowds turned out to hear him denounce the bible and religion. He initially settled in Peoria, Illinois, then in Washington, D.C., where he successfully defended falsely accused men in the "Star Route" scandal, the most famous political trial of the 19th century. Religious rumors against Ingersoll abounded. One had it that Ingersoll's son was a drunkard who more than once had to be carried away from the table. Ingersoll wrote: "It is not true that intoxicating beverages are served at my table. It is not true that my son ever was drunk. It is not true that he had to be carried away from the table. Besides, I have no son!"
During the Civil War he was commissioned as Colonel and commander of the 11th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, and was captured near Corinth, Mississippi. Although soon released, he still made time to treat his Confederate captors to a rousing anti slavery speech.
He hoped for but was never awarded a Cabinet post. The Republicans were afraid of his unorthodox religious views. He was told that he could progress politically if he hid his religious views, but Ingersoll refused on the charge that withholding information from the public would be immoral.
He strongly advocated equal rights for blacks and women. He defended Susan B. Anthony from hecklers when she spoke in Peoria; when every hotel in the city refused to house Frederick Douglass, he welcomed him into his home.
More: https://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/it...
http://infidels.org/library/historica...
http://www.robertgreeningersoll.org/8-2/
http://www.positiveatheism.org/tochin...
http://www.philosopedia.org/index.php...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_G...
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December 19, 2023
I didn’t learn about Robert Ingersoll in school, and I’ll wager you didn’t either, and that’s a travesty. I first discovered him some 30 years ago because he kept popping up in The Heretic’s Handbook of Quotations (a kind of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations for outsiders and rabble-rousers). Who was this mysterious free thinker with all these great quotes, and why had I never heard of him?
When I started researching Ingersoll, I was amazed to discover that he was one of the most prominent public men of the late 19th century — a Union colonel in the Civil War, a prominent king maker in the post war Republican Party, and the most famous public speaker in Gilded Age America at a time when public lectures were a primary entertainment. He was known as the Great Agnostic, and he packed lecture halls all across America speaking as the leading American voice of free thought. Mark Twain praised Ingersoll as an unsurpassed orator:
”I doubt if America has ever seen anything quite equal to it; I am well satisfied I shall not live to see its equal again.”
Robert Ingersoll was erased from American history by the forces of intolerance that he orated against. Those fundamentalist are once again a strong factor in our culture and in our politics. Tim Page edited this short volume, consisting of a short biography of Ingersoll’s life, and a small sampling of his work, to reintroduce him as a forceful voice of free thought. He writes in the book’s introduction:
”The present volume is intended to whet curiosity…it is, unapologetically, a reading edition for a present day audience.”
Ingersoll’s works were extensive. Now in the public domain, they all can be found on line for free. If you would know more of the man, Susan Jacoby has written a biography: The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought. Don’t stop with this small sampling of his work, but go on and learn more about our great American heritage of free thought and free thinkers.
”Our fathers founded the first secular government that was ever founded in this world…our fathers were the first men who had the sense, had he genius, to know that no church should be allowed to have a sword.”
”Our country is founded upon the dignity of labor — upon the equality of man…We have found that man is the only source of political power, and that the governed should govern. We have disenfranchised the aristocrats of the air and have given one country to mankind.”
”I am here tonight for the purpose of defending your right to differ with me. I want to convince you that you are under no compulsion to accept my creed; and that you are, so far as I am concerned, absolutely free to follow the torch of your reason according to your conscience; and I believe that you are civilized to that degree that you will extend to me the right that you claim for yourselves.”
”The more a man knows, the more willing he is to learn — the less a man knows, the more positive he is that he knows everything.”
When I started researching Ingersoll, I was amazed to discover that he was one of the most prominent public men of the late 19th century — a Union colonel in the Civil War, a prominent king maker in the post war Republican Party, and the most famous public speaker in Gilded Age America at a time when public lectures were a primary entertainment. He was known as the Great Agnostic, and he packed lecture halls all across America speaking as the leading American voice of free thought. Mark Twain praised Ingersoll as an unsurpassed orator:
”I doubt if America has ever seen anything quite equal to it; I am well satisfied I shall not live to see its equal again.”
Robert Ingersoll was erased from American history by the forces of intolerance that he orated against. Those fundamentalist are once again a strong factor in our culture and in our politics. Tim Page edited this short volume, consisting of a short biography of Ingersoll’s life, and a small sampling of his work, to reintroduce him as a forceful voice of free thought. He writes in the book’s introduction:
”The present volume is intended to whet curiosity…it is, unapologetically, a reading edition for a present day audience.”
Ingersoll’s works were extensive. Now in the public domain, they all can be found on line for free. If you would know more of the man, Susan Jacoby has written a biography: The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought. Don’t stop with this small sampling of his work, but go on and learn more about our great American heritage of free thought and free thinkers.
”Our fathers founded the first secular government that was ever founded in this world…our fathers were the first men who had the sense, had he genius, to know that no church should be allowed to have a sword.”
”Our country is founded upon the dignity of labor — upon the equality of man…We have found that man is the only source of political power, and that the governed should govern. We have disenfranchised the aristocrats of the air and have given one country to mankind.”
”I am here tonight for the purpose of defending your right to differ with me. I want to convince you that you are under no compulsion to accept my creed; and that you are, so far as I am concerned, absolutely free to follow the torch of your reason according to your conscience; and I believe that you are civilized to that degree that you will extend to me the right that you claim for yourselves.”
”The more a man knows, the more willing he is to learn — the less a man knows, the more positive he is that he knows everything.”
September 1, 2022
If I had to pick a literary genre that I enjoy the most, I would probably choose the “once incredibly famous person who has since fallen into relative obscurity” genre.
There are often reasons why this happens of course. Someone’s political views may have fallen out of fashion, their work lacked a universalism in that it was incredibly specific to the time in which they lived, or simply the vagaries of fate consigned them to obscurity.
In the case of Bob Ingersoll, it is a wonder that he was ever popular at all.
In the late 19th century, religion remained at the center of American life. Many towns shut down on Sundays due to the Sabbath, others attempted (and occasionally succeeded) in enacting laws enforcing religious observance and punishing ‘blasphemy’. Take this Maryland law written in the mid 18th century but still on the books at the turn of the 20th:
“If any person shall hereafter, within this province, wittingly, maliciously, and advisedly, by writing or speaking, blaspheme or curse God, or deny our Savior, Jesus Christ, to be the Son of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the three persons, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall utter any profane words concerning the Holy Trinity, or any of the persons thereof, and shall thereof be convicted by verdict, shall, for the last offence, be bored through the tongue, and fined twenty pounds to be levied of his body. And for the second offence, the offender shall be stigmatized by burning in the forehead with the letter B, and fined forty pounds. And that for the third offence the offender shall suffer death without the benefit of clergy.”
It was in this climate that Ingersoll worked and thrived as a self professed agnostic, drawing huge crowds to his speeches and lectures. He did not however limit himself to skewering organized religion, he was an outspoken opponent of the treatment of black Americans, and in particular a tireless advocate for the rights of women.
Extremely eloquent and possessing a wonderful sense of humor, Ingersoll was loved and quoted by luminaries of the day from H.L. Mencken to Frederick Douglass, while a constant source of consternation to those who sought to maintain the status quo. A man with some political aspirations, Ingersoll sacrificed these knowing that America at the turn of the 20th century (as it is at the turn of the 22nd century) would never elect someone who didn’t profess a belief in God to be able to speak for those without voices.
There are too many wonderful lines from his speeches to copy them all here but here a few I particularly enjoyed and give a good sense of what a decent and brilliant man he was.
On blind Faith:
“If a man should tell you that he had the most beautiful painting in the world, and after taking you where it was should insist upon having your eyes shut, you would likely suspect either that he had no painting or that it was some pitiable daub. Should he tell you that he was a most excellent performer on the violin, and yet refuse to play unless your ears were stopped, you would think, to say the least of it, that he had an odd way of convincing you of his musical ability. But would his conduct be any more wonderful than that of a religionist who asks that before examining his creed you will have the kindness to throw away your reason?”
On Orthodoxy:
“Your good cook is a civilizer, and without good food, well prepared, intellectual progress is simply impossible. Most of the orthodox creeds were born of bad cooking. Bad food produced dyspepsia, and dyspepsia produced Calvinism, and Calvinism is the cancer of Christianity. Oatmeal is responsible for the worst features of Scotch Presbyterianism. Half cooked beans account for the religion of the Puritans. Fried bacon and saleratus biscuit underlie the doctrine of State Rights. Lent is a mistake, fasting is a blunder, and bad cooking is a crime.”
On God:
“Nothing can be more absurd than the idea that we can do something to please or displease an infinite Being. If our thoughts and actions can lessen or increase the happiness of God, then to that extent God is the slave and victim of man.”
On Women:
“In my judgment, the woman is the equal of the man. She has all the rights I have and one more, and that is the right to be protected. That is my doctrine. You are married; try and make the woman you love happy. Whoever marries simply for himself will make a mistake; but whoever loves a woman so well that he says, ‘I will make her happy’ makes no mistake. And so with the woman who says, ‘I will make him happy’. There is only one way to be happy, and that is to make somebody else so, and you cannot be happy by going cross lots; you have got to go the regular turnpike road.”
“As long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not written by a woman. Within its lids there is nothing but humiliation and shame for her. She is regarded as the property of man. She is made to ask forgiveness for becoming a mother. She is as much below her husband as her husband is below Christ. She is not allowed to speak. The gospel is too pure to be spoken by her polluted lips. Woman should learn in silence.”
On Income Inequality:
“You cannot be so poor that you cannot help somebody. Good nature is the cheapest commodity in the world; and love is the only thing that will pay ten per cent to borrower and lender both. Do not tell me that you have got to be rich! We have a false standard of greatness in the United States. We think here that a man must be great, that he must be notorious; that he must be extremely wealthy, or that his name must be upon the putrid lips of rumor. It is all a mistake. It is not necessary to be rich or to be great, or to be powerful, to be happy. The happy man is the successful man. Happiness is the legal tender of the soul. Joy is wealth.”
These are views that were exceedingly rare in the late 19th century for many but also provided a beacon of hope for others in what were otherwise dark times for anyone not white, male, or Christian. By all accounts Ingersoll was a man who though critical of those who tried to restrict freedom, was also quick to separate people from the organizations they belonged to, He worked for the abolition of the latter while always maintaining hope for the former.
Looking back at Ingersoll’s words from the prism of the 22nd century, he would without a doubt be a powerful voice for justice, reason, and freedom in our world, just as he was in his.
He is a man deserving of a second look today by a world that desperately needs him.
There are often reasons why this happens of course. Someone’s political views may have fallen out of fashion, their work lacked a universalism in that it was incredibly specific to the time in which they lived, or simply the vagaries of fate consigned them to obscurity.
In the case of Bob Ingersoll, it is a wonder that he was ever popular at all.
In the late 19th century, religion remained at the center of American life. Many towns shut down on Sundays due to the Sabbath, others attempted (and occasionally succeeded) in enacting laws enforcing religious observance and punishing ‘blasphemy’. Take this Maryland law written in the mid 18th century but still on the books at the turn of the 20th:
“If any person shall hereafter, within this province, wittingly, maliciously, and advisedly, by writing or speaking, blaspheme or curse God, or deny our Savior, Jesus Christ, to be the Son of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the three persons, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall utter any profane words concerning the Holy Trinity, or any of the persons thereof, and shall thereof be convicted by verdict, shall, for the last offence, be bored through the tongue, and fined twenty pounds to be levied of his body. And for the second offence, the offender shall be stigmatized by burning in the forehead with the letter B, and fined forty pounds. And that for the third offence the offender shall suffer death without the benefit of clergy.”
It was in this climate that Ingersoll worked and thrived as a self professed agnostic, drawing huge crowds to his speeches and lectures. He did not however limit himself to skewering organized religion, he was an outspoken opponent of the treatment of black Americans, and in particular a tireless advocate for the rights of women.
Extremely eloquent and possessing a wonderful sense of humor, Ingersoll was loved and quoted by luminaries of the day from H.L. Mencken to Frederick Douglass, while a constant source of consternation to those who sought to maintain the status quo. A man with some political aspirations, Ingersoll sacrificed these knowing that America at the turn of the 20th century (as it is at the turn of the 22nd century) would never elect someone who didn’t profess a belief in God to be able to speak for those without voices.
There are too many wonderful lines from his speeches to copy them all here but here a few I particularly enjoyed and give a good sense of what a decent and brilliant man he was.
On blind Faith:
“If a man should tell you that he had the most beautiful painting in the world, and after taking you where it was should insist upon having your eyes shut, you would likely suspect either that he had no painting or that it was some pitiable daub. Should he tell you that he was a most excellent performer on the violin, and yet refuse to play unless your ears were stopped, you would think, to say the least of it, that he had an odd way of convincing you of his musical ability. But would his conduct be any more wonderful than that of a religionist who asks that before examining his creed you will have the kindness to throw away your reason?”
On Orthodoxy:
“Your good cook is a civilizer, and without good food, well prepared, intellectual progress is simply impossible. Most of the orthodox creeds were born of bad cooking. Bad food produced dyspepsia, and dyspepsia produced Calvinism, and Calvinism is the cancer of Christianity. Oatmeal is responsible for the worst features of Scotch Presbyterianism. Half cooked beans account for the religion of the Puritans. Fried bacon and saleratus biscuit underlie the doctrine of State Rights. Lent is a mistake, fasting is a blunder, and bad cooking is a crime.”
On God:
“Nothing can be more absurd than the idea that we can do something to please or displease an infinite Being. If our thoughts and actions can lessen or increase the happiness of God, then to that extent God is the slave and victim of man.”
On Women:
“In my judgment, the woman is the equal of the man. She has all the rights I have and one more, and that is the right to be protected. That is my doctrine. You are married; try and make the woman you love happy. Whoever marries simply for himself will make a mistake; but whoever loves a woman so well that he says, ‘I will make her happy’ makes no mistake. And so with the woman who says, ‘I will make him happy’. There is only one way to be happy, and that is to make somebody else so, and you cannot be happy by going cross lots; you have got to go the regular turnpike road.”
“As long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not written by a woman. Within its lids there is nothing but humiliation and shame for her. She is regarded as the property of man. She is made to ask forgiveness for becoming a mother. She is as much below her husband as her husband is below Christ. She is not allowed to speak. The gospel is too pure to be spoken by her polluted lips. Woman should learn in silence.”
On Income Inequality:
“You cannot be so poor that you cannot help somebody. Good nature is the cheapest commodity in the world; and love is the only thing that will pay ten per cent to borrower and lender both. Do not tell me that you have got to be rich! We have a false standard of greatness in the United States. We think here that a man must be great, that he must be notorious; that he must be extremely wealthy, or that his name must be upon the putrid lips of rumor. It is all a mistake. It is not necessary to be rich or to be great, or to be powerful, to be happy. The happy man is the successful man. Happiness is the legal tender of the soul. Joy is wealth.”
These are views that were exceedingly rare in the late 19th century for many but also provided a beacon of hope for others in what were otherwise dark times for anyone not white, male, or Christian. By all accounts Ingersoll was a man who though critical of those who tried to restrict freedom, was also quick to separate people from the organizations they belonged to, He worked for the abolition of the latter while always maintaining hope for the former.
Looking back at Ingersoll’s words from the prism of the 22nd century, he would without a doubt be a powerful voice for justice, reason, and freedom in our world, just as he was in his.
He is a man deserving of a second look today by a world that desperately needs him.
May 26, 2016
[In view of my recent review of Christopher Hitchens' God is Not Great, I'm reposting this earlier review of a book on the Hitchens of the 19th century, Robert Ingersoll.]
A hundred years or so ago, it was easier than it would be today to go around the country telling everyone you didn't believe in God. Robert Ingersoll was a major figure in the day when public speaking had more pull both as an entertainment and informational experience. Saturated now as we are with mass media and by homogenizing messages that more rigidly define acceptable standards of expression and thought, the message that Ingersoll conveyed and the manner and method in which he conveyed it would be lost in the din, or ridiculed, marginalized and consigned to yesterday's news. It's a shame. The golden age of "freethought" is long over. H.L. Mencken tried valiantly in the generation after Ingersoll to continue the message of questioning religion, but the forces of big money and blind faith have effectively buried this illustrious legacy.
Ingersoll's impact in his own day was considerable, yet time and the opposition have buried him. Not only was he the leading advocate of secularism of his day, but he was the very embodiment of America: a Civil war veteran and POW and defender of the rights of black Americans and women. He was also one of the most fearless and articulate speakers in American history. Going deep into the Bible Belt to speak his mind uncompromisingly in front of hostile crowds was a challenge he accepted with relish.
This book is a breezy, well-selected springboard introduction to Ingersoll and his philosophy. It begins with a good short biography, and leads into deftly edited versions of Ingersoll's stump speeches. The idea is to present him and his ideas in a pithy, welcoming manner.
I won't shower you with quotes; the entire thing is a treasure trove. "God in the Constitution" is a classic, and should be required reading. Ingersoll is by turns eloquent, good-humored, charitable, funny, cutting, devastating and profound.
Ingersoll was a rationalist, but that does not mean he coldly lacks poetry and humor; indeed, these writings are suffused with them. His jabs at puffed-up religious righteous types are hilarious. His parables and anecdotes are charming. It's no wonder that even his philosophical and ideological enemies had admiration and good words for him. Perhaps the most moving piece here is an extract from an obituary, "On His Friendship with Reverend Clark," in which he talks about his own deep admiration and love for a man of the cloth who taught of a god of love and tolerance instead of one of hatred. Ingersoll's portraits of loving family life are also warm and moving.
These writings should be better known. And so should Ingersoll.
(kevinR@Ky 2016; amended, corrected and revised)
A hundred years or so ago, it was easier than it would be today to go around the country telling everyone you didn't believe in God. Robert Ingersoll was a major figure in the day when public speaking had more pull both as an entertainment and informational experience. Saturated now as we are with mass media and by homogenizing messages that more rigidly define acceptable standards of expression and thought, the message that Ingersoll conveyed and the manner and method in which he conveyed it would be lost in the din, or ridiculed, marginalized and consigned to yesterday's news. It's a shame. The golden age of "freethought" is long over. H.L. Mencken tried valiantly in the generation after Ingersoll to continue the message of questioning religion, but the forces of big money and blind faith have effectively buried this illustrious legacy.
Ingersoll's impact in his own day was considerable, yet time and the opposition have buried him. Not only was he the leading advocate of secularism of his day, but he was the very embodiment of America: a Civil war veteran and POW and defender of the rights of black Americans and women. He was also one of the most fearless and articulate speakers in American history. Going deep into the Bible Belt to speak his mind uncompromisingly in front of hostile crowds was a challenge he accepted with relish.
This book is a breezy, well-selected springboard introduction to Ingersoll and his philosophy. It begins with a good short biography, and leads into deftly edited versions of Ingersoll's stump speeches. The idea is to present him and his ideas in a pithy, welcoming manner.
I won't shower you with quotes; the entire thing is a treasure trove. "God in the Constitution" is a classic, and should be required reading. Ingersoll is by turns eloquent, good-humored, charitable, funny, cutting, devastating and profound.
Ingersoll was a rationalist, but that does not mean he coldly lacks poetry and humor; indeed, these writings are suffused with them. His jabs at puffed-up religious righteous types are hilarious. His parables and anecdotes are charming. It's no wonder that even his philosophical and ideological enemies had admiration and good words for him. Perhaps the most moving piece here is an extract from an obituary, "On His Friendship with Reverend Clark," in which he talks about his own deep admiration and love for a man of the cloth who taught of a god of love and tolerance instead of one of hatred. Ingersoll's portraits of loving family life are also warm and moving.
These writings should be better known. And so should Ingersoll.
(kevinR@Ky 2016; amended, corrected and revised)
June 4, 2022
Robert G. Ingersoll is the greatest American nobody knows about. He was the greatest orator of his time - post Civil War America - until his death in 1899. Oscar Wilde called him the most intelligent man in America. Mark Twain referred to one of Ingersoll's speeches as "the supreme combination of words that has ever been put together since the world began". He was brilliant, and thousands would come to see him speak. Many think he could've been President if only he had kept his agnosticism a secret. Just like in our superstition haunted times, a person couldn't hold high office and not believe in the supernatural.
This was excellent, and would be a perfect introduction to the core beliefs of this great man. It's a short book and quick read. For me it was a bit of rehash as I've read a number of his speeches in other publications.
Highlights in his collection include his US Centennial speech, his God in the Constitution speech, his tributes to Thomas Paine and Abraham Lincoln, his criticism of superstitious and supernatural beliefs, and his take on the separation of church and state. For something written 140 years ago his arguments for keeping churches the hell out of politics is surprisingly relevant and spot on. Among other things, he argues for the taxation of churches and the absolute banishment of religious dogma in public education.
Fans of modern day secular voices such as the late, great Hitchens, and Dawkins, will appreciate Ingersoll's speeches and essays as he was one of the first outspoken nonbelievers known to the American general public. He was a master of words. Wilde and Twain nailed it.
This was excellent, and would be a perfect introduction to the core beliefs of this great man. It's a short book and quick read. For me it was a bit of rehash as I've read a number of his speeches in other publications.
Highlights in his collection include his US Centennial speech, his God in the Constitution speech, his tributes to Thomas Paine and Abraham Lincoln, his criticism of superstitious and supernatural beliefs, and his take on the separation of church and state. For something written 140 years ago his arguments for keeping churches the hell out of politics is surprisingly relevant and spot on. Among other things, he argues for the taxation of churches and the absolute banishment of religious dogma in public education.
Fans of modern day secular voices such as the late, great Hitchens, and Dawkins, will appreciate Ingersoll's speeches and essays as he was one of the first outspoken nonbelievers known to the American general public. He was a master of words. Wilde and Twain nailed it.
April 26, 2019
"Nothing can be more absurd than the idea that we can do something to please or displease an infinite Being. If our thoughts and actions can lessen or increase the happiness of God, then to that extent God is the slave and victim of man."
A great collection of essays,on secularism,family,morality,Human rights.......Bob was way ahead of his time,it is impossible to not admire his mind,his writing.
A great collection of essays,on secularism,family,morality,Human rights.......Bob was way ahead of his time,it is impossible to not admire his mind,his writing.
September 28, 2018
This is a very good introduction to the work of Robert G Ingersoll who is a national treasure that almost no one knows about. In this slim you will find various selections from Ingersoll on a variety of subjects. It is both a sampling of the many topics he wrote and spoke about and also a very good insight into Ingersoll as a person. Tim Page did a very good job in selecting what went into this book and hopefully it will whet your appetite and give you the gumption to tackle the complete works of Ingersoll which comprise ten volumes.
May 5, 2011
I love a good sermon, and Bob Ingersoll's are among the best. You can hear the man stalking up and down, pausing significantly, letting the laughter rise or the silence stretch out, before thundering down his next line. I love even more how he uses the rhetorical arsenal of a skilled preacher to demolish the nonsense that a preacher delivers. And poetry!
"Every creed is a rock in running water: humanity sweeps by it. Every creed cries to the universe, 'Halt!' A creed is the ignorant Past bullying the enlightened Present."
Flourishes, lightning bolts, the most deadly serious mockery. It's good to know Mark Twain appreciated him, too, because they're kindred spirits. Still speaking, still muttering, accusing from beyond the grave neither one feared:
"How any human being ever has had the impudence to speak against the right to speak, is beyond the power of my imagination."
It's nice how an Old Atheist harmonizes so well with the maligned "New Atheists," who aren't new at all (and despite Ingersoll's claim that he was a mere agnostic, since being averse to arrogance of all types he thought it presumption to claim to know what did NOT exist outside of death). Emperors' clothing was just as transparent in the lecture halls of Ingersoll's day as it is now. On the value of hell and other useful lies:
"I do not believe in the civilizing effects of falsehood."
What a pleasant afternoon I spent wishing I'd had a copy of this book in ninth grade, when speech class in my Catholic high school was a droning hour of Significant Addresses, four-scores and Inaugurals, when a few lines of this icy-hot heresy would have brought the holy house down! Perhaps in that Other World of which Ingersoll claimed indifference, I can deliver a speech like "The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child" and let the pieties scatter.
"Every creed is a rock in running water: humanity sweeps by it. Every creed cries to the universe, 'Halt!' A creed is the ignorant Past bullying the enlightened Present."
Flourishes, lightning bolts, the most deadly serious mockery. It's good to know Mark Twain appreciated him, too, because they're kindred spirits. Still speaking, still muttering, accusing from beyond the grave neither one feared:
"How any human being ever has had the impudence to speak against the right to speak, is beyond the power of my imagination."
It's nice how an Old Atheist harmonizes so well with the maligned "New Atheists," who aren't new at all (and despite Ingersoll's claim that he was a mere agnostic, since being averse to arrogance of all types he thought it presumption to claim to know what did NOT exist outside of death). Emperors' clothing was just as transparent in the lecture halls of Ingersoll's day as it is now. On the value of hell and other useful lies:
"I do not believe in the civilizing effects of falsehood."
What a pleasant afternoon I spent wishing I'd had a copy of this book in ninth grade, when speech class in my Catholic high school was a droning hour of Significant Addresses, four-scores and Inaugurals, when a few lines of this icy-hot heresy would have brought the holy house down! Perhaps in that Other World of which Ingersoll claimed indifference, I can deliver a speech like "The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child" and let the pieties scatter.
June 1, 2010
Recommended by Evan.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Series of short articles, commentary, "sermons," written by Ingersoll with his views on religion and how it interferes with government and life in general.
Fascinating, and pleasant read. Hard to choose a favorite, but enjoyed God in The Constitution, A Christmas Sermon, The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child, On Lent, Why I am an Agnostic, On Suicide, Free Speech and Honest Talk, On Love, On Human Happiness, and On Separation of Church and State.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Series of short articles, commentary, "sermons," written by Ingersoll with his views on religion and how it interferes with government and life in general.
Fascinating, and pleasant read. Hard to choose a favorite, but enjoyed God in The Constitution, A Christmas Sermon, The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child, On Lent, Why I am an Agnostic, On Suicide, Free Speech and Honest Talk, On Love, On Human Happiness, and On Separation of Church and State.
July 26, 2016
A little of this and a little of that. This book is a great introduction to Ingersoll. The selection is bits and pieces from several of his lectures. For the reader wanting an in depth biography "American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll," is a better choice. Those who are interested in the full lectures, many are free via google books, Ingersoll blog sites, and your local library (including library web).
April 21, 2025
This is such a relevant read even today and especially so in the current political climate. I now consider Ingersoll as one of the wisest politicians who ever lived and it baffles me that America has allowed him to fall into obscurity. If it was compulsory reading in all schools, there’s a good chance we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Why, with all the education of today, are there not more people who understand this:
Religion should have the influence upon mankind that its goodness, that its morality, its justice, its charity, its reason, and its argument give it, and no more. Religion should have the effect upon mankind that it necessarily has, and no more. The religion that has to be supported by law is not only without value, but a fraud and a curse. The religious argument that has to be supported by a musket is hardly worth making. A prayer that must have a cannon behind it better never be uttered. Forgiveness ought not to go in partnership with shot and shell. Love need not carry knives and revolvers.
Why, with all the education of today, are there not more people who understand this:
Nothing can be more absurd than the idea that we can do something to please or displease an infinite Being. If our thoughts and actions can lessen or increase the happiness of God, then to that extent God is the slave and victim of man.
July 17, 2019
A little of this and a little of that. This book is a great introduction to Ingersoll. The selection is bits and pieces from several of his lectures. For the reader wanting an in depth biography "American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll," is a better choice. Those who are interested in the full lectures, many are free via google books, Ingersoll blog sites, and your local library (including library web).
October 22, 2021
"The more a man knows the more he is willing to learn. The less a man knows the more positive he is that he knows everything "
Here is a man after my heart and so it goes on . Many pearls of wisdom throughout said with humour and wit.
Gives god and his believers a good shellacking with loads of logic .
Keep an open mind, keep searching for the truth. Embrace freedom, avoid absolutism.
Life will only be enhanced.
Here is a man after my heart and so it goes on . Many pearls of wisdom throughout said with humour and wit.
Gives god and his believers a good shellacking with loads of logic .
Keep an open mind, keep searching for the truth. Embrace freedom, avoid absolutism.
Life will only be enhanced.
February 13, 2020
What an amazing philosopher, logician and orator. This book includes speeches as short as a page and some of several pages. His thoughts are as relevant today as ever, and sure to get the faithful and secular pondering.
April 18, 2022
I LOVE THIS LITTLE BOOK.
Robert Ingersoll is my hero. The last few stories took my breath away in their honesty, and their grace, and showed me there is a lot more to faith than what you hear on Sunday.
Robert Ingersoll is my hero. The last few stories took my breath away in their honesty, and their grace, and showed me there is a lot more to faith than what you hear on Sunday.
July 2, 2017
The world needs the words of Robert Ingersoll now, more than ever.
December 19, 2017
Great Words
Great Words by a great man. He seems to be forgotten by history. I hope to share this book because his words and his thoughts are still very much current.
Great Words by a great man. He seems to be forgotten by history. I hope to share this book because his words and his thoughts are still very much current.
March 5, 2019
A nice set of essays, mostly regarding the thoughts of a renowned agnostic about God, nature, and man.
August 5, 2023
An excellent collection, the literary equivalent of a Greatest Hits album from the 19th century's pre-eminent humanist.
January 9, 2024
Ingersoll was one of the best. He will always be a favorite of people that value reason over superstition.
December 26, 2025
a quote: "The church is, and always has been, incapable of a forward movement. Religion always looks back."
September 25, 2021
One of the greatest orators to ever walk this earth.
October 24, 2025
Our times are so crap that Ingersoll feels so ahead of his times.
“happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.”
“ as long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not written by a woman. Within its lids there is nothing but humiliation and shame for her. She’s regarded as the property of man. She is made to ask forgiveness for becoming a mother. She is as much below her husband as her husband is below Christ.”
“ nothing can be more absurd than the idea that we can do something to please, or displease an infinite Being. if our thoughts and actions can lessen or increase the happiness of God, then to that extent God is the slave and victim of man.”
“ suppose there is one man on an island. You will all admit now that he would have the right to do his own thinking. You will all admit that he has the right to express his thought. Now, will someone tell me how many men would have to immigrate to that island before the original settler would lose his right to think and his right to express himself?”
“ the more a man knows, the more willing he is to learn – the less a man knows, the more positive he is that he knows everything.”
“ small people delight in what they call consistency - that is, it gives them immense pleasure to say that they believe now exactly as they did 10 years ago. This simply amounts to a certificate that they have not grown that they have not developed and that they know just as little now as they ever did”
“ I cannot believe that there is any being in this universe who created a human soul for eternal pain. I would rather that every God would destroy himself; I would rather that we all should go to eternal chaos, to black and starless night, than that just one soul should suffer eternal agony.”
“ it is 1000 times better to know how to cook than it is to understand any theology in the world.”
“happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.”
“ as long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not written by a woman. Within its lids there is nothing but humiliation and shame for her. She’s regarded as the property of man. She is made to ask forgiveness for becoming a mother. She is as much below her husband as her husband is below Christ.”
“ nothing can be more absurd than the idea that we can do something to please, or displease an infinite Being. if our thoughts and actions can lessen or increase the happiness of God, then to that extent God is the slave and victim of man.”
“ suppose there is one man on an island. You will all admit now that he would have the right to do his own thinking. You will all admit that he has the right to express his thought. Now, will someone tell me how many men would have to immigrate to that island before the original settler would lose his right to think and his right to express himself?”
“ the more a man knows, the more willing he is to learn – the less a man knows, the more positive he is that he knows everything.”
“ small people delight in what they call consistency - that is, it gives them immense pleasure to say that they believe now exactly as they did 10 years ago. This simply amounts to a certificate that they have not grown that they have not developed and that they know just as little now as they ever did”
“ I cannot believe that there is any being in this universe who created a human soul for eternal pain. I would rather that every God would destroy himself; I would rather that we all should go to eternal chaos, to black and starless night, than that just one soul should suffer eternal agony.”
“ it is 1000 times better to know how to cook than it is to understand any theology in the world.”
November 17, 2008
Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) was a great American thinker/politician who, while well known and infamous in his own day, never gained the long-standing fame he deserved because he was an ardent and quite vocal agnostic. Less than 140 pages long, this book is a great selection of his essays and speeches, all of which are marvelously reasoned and articulated. One flaw with his writing, however, is the fact that it becomes repetitive after a while. This, along with the fact that he never wrote a definitive and comprehensive work, probably helped Ingersoll slide into obscurity. Nevertheless, it is well written and a fast read, so I recommend it.
September 12, 2012
Ingersoll was a brilliant writer and thinker. Unlike so many of the leading figures of atheism today, he maintained a tolerance for religion and respected members of the clergy. He was courteous of those whose worldview differed from his own.
That may not be so easy today when religion - especially radical religion - would legislate faith if it could and the secular is under heavy attack. Both sides of the religion debate could take a lesson from Ingersoll's playbook. His is a form of discourse that is to be admired and emulated and hopefully returned to one day.
Tim Page has assembled a greatest hits of sorts - this book serves as a wonderful primer to Ingersoll's work.
That may not be so easy today when religion - especially radical religion - would legislate faith if it could and the secular is under heavy attack. Both sides of the religion debate could take a lesson from Ingersoll's playbook. His is a form of discourse that is to be admired and emulated and hopefully returned to one day.
Tim Page has assembled a greatest hits of sorts - this book serves as a wonderful primer to Ingersoll's work.
January 5, 2010
This book was incredibly depressing. I can't think of any other words for it, its the sadness of a man caught in his delusion and unable to see out of it. Its the sadness of the church not representing Christ, and the loss of a man because of it. True, the writing is dynamic, depressing, and as Christians we could learn a great deal from it.
April 26, 2014
Very interesting read. I hadn't read any of Ingersoll, and I wasn't disappointed. He very clearly lays out the arguments for why theism isn't well supported. I would like to read more by Ingersoll, as he writes very clearly. One can tell that these are supposed to be speeches or essays of persuasion.
September 22, 2009
A very nice collection with Tim's excellent introduction. The critical apparatus is a trifle meager. I might wish for more but this is still something you might want to give as a stocking stuffer. That would put the X back in xmas. I wish Library of America would undertake an edition.
January 4, 2010
THE man! As long ago as the 19th century, there were proud atheists and agnostics unafraid to speak their minds in primitive, religionist America. Ingersoll was the greatest of these and it is wonderful to have some of his most germane thoughts in such a tidy edition.
Read
July 29, 2011A small book packed with brilliant lecture exerpts from a 19th century free thinker who was the bane of oppressive organized religion. The full title of the book includes 'free thought, honest talk & the separation of church & state. This says it all.
Read
February 7, 2012Being a collection of short excerpts, this small volume must be a much easier read than any more complete collection. Of course I haven't read any other collection, so this is pure speculation. A pleasurable, light read.
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