“RATIONAL” AND RELIGION.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17986, 3 April 1930, Page 9

“RATIONAL” AND RELIGION.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I fail to see any extenuative circumstances in "Rational's' letters. He threw down the challenge by making wild assertions which he could not substantiate. He then resorted to insolence, and not content with that he insulted his own country, which made him waht he is.—l am, etc., W.L.C. (To the Editor.)

Sir,—The debate in the Waikato Times between ‘'Rational” and his opponents I have read closely. Now, in a letter by “Alphonsus W. Sydney” (March 21), he uses the words “That arch-imposter Ingersoll.” This splendid man is widely known by name, but little is known about him. I Firstly, he was an atheist orator, but 1 his father was -a clergyman of the ! Congregationalist Church. The great j ingersoll was the youngest of three ; sons. He was a lawyer with a very lucrative practice. I read lately that Ingersoll was not attacked by mobs, because he was bigger than the mob and could handle it. The “mob,” though, fought him from a distance, as when the Governor of Delaware (U.S.A.) gave notice that he would be arrested and gaoled if he ever entered that State. There is a strong family likeness between him and Bradlaugh, | who carried on the same work in Engj land. Both had a religious upbringing, but fell under suspicion because !of their “wanting to know, you know." | ingersoll had a splendid library, and a | visitor once asked him what it had i cost him? “The Presidency of the j United States,” he replied. Finally, as ! regards Ingersoll, I believe that he was ! sincere and aboveboard, and those who | knew him best loved him most. Selah! j “Alphonsus W. Sydney” makes a ; remarkable confession when he says ! that he has searched his library and j can find no reference to “Mr Common i Sense,” and- that the subject of this I controversy can be treated only by I philosophers and tlieologians, which | leaves this pseudo-scholar without a | leg to stand upon. lam apprehensive | lest “A.W.S’s.” friends will be forced ito side with “Rationalist” if the alter-, ! native is to be a divorce between their ; studies and “Mr Common Sense,” who | may be justified by Christ himself, in ! the* words “Prove all things, and hold j fast to that which is good.” Amen. “Ednos” holds a theory that our •j legal code originated in the Bible. Murder, stealing, adultery, etc. (according to him) would never have been

suspected of evil intent unaccompanied by the flat “thus saith the Lord.” However, man's dislike to being rriurj dered, robbed, etc., has really a com- | mon sense (must you leave ms Mr i Sydney?) basis, in that he sees plainly | that the effects are invariably unple'aI sant and therefore immoral. Anthropologists are agred that ideas and acts, moral and immoral, are decided on other grounds, than those of purely utilitarian origin. “Anti-Rational” confesses to being a woman, in which case we see plainly the hand of destiny in the choice of her pen-name. \ I have noted that a woman of great intelligence is liable to cherish religious ideas far from rational. . i “W.L.C.’s” letter has the same uncompromising spirit as Holy Writ, and 1 copied it out, underlining the words “ . . . and the enormous powers of Almighty God throughout the universe.” To that I reply in the following extract from an American magazine: “Nothing is more ridiculous than the idea of a ‘god’ as the author of nature, or the idea that a ‘god’ exists in and regulates nature; for we ourselves are vastly better than any such ‘god’ could possibly be, .since we have created laws and principles which for our own best ends clearly surpass and improve upon those of insensate nature.” Finally, I congratulate the public of Hamilton on the possession of the Waikato Times.—l am, etc., TRUTH SEEKER. Wellington, March 31.