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Read Ebook: An Atheist Manifesto by Lewis Joseph
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Ebook has 334 lines and 11857 words, and 7 pages
As an illustration of this concept of primitive man in this respect is the delusion he experiences when he believes that the sun "rises and sets," when as a matter of fact, it is the sun which is "stationary" as far as the earth is concerned, and it is the earth that "moves," as Galileo so courageously maintained--at the cost of his liberty.
There is a delusion that the sun shines and the water falls from the clouds to make the flowers bloom.
To the religionist this is an indication of the "beauty" in nature.
It is nothing of the kind.
Poisonous plants and obnoxious weeds are equally nourished by the warmth of the sun and the moisture of the water.
Is this, then, an indication of the "ugliness" of nature?
Certainly not.
Both are inevitable consequences of the environment in which they live. It could not be otherwise.
Is the hippopotamus one of nature's masterpieces?
Is its face and form the perfection of beauty and grace?
Would you consider this animal a work of living art if you were responsible for it?
And yet, if this beast could talk, it would probably say that its environment was made for its benefit and that its marvelous features, particularly its mouth, was especially "designed" for its enjoyment, and that its whole body was made in the "image and likeness of God."
The fact that the hippopotamus has survived these millions of years of the evolutionary process and still thrives today is proof that it is equally as favored by Nature as is man.
To nature the blossoms of the flowers and the obnoxious weeds are identical, and the fragrance of the one and the stench of the other are equally alike; both, if they could talk, would boast of Nature's preference for them.
While, as a matter of fact, both would be wrong.
The sun does not shine to bring us its necessary light and warmth without also bringing to light some new burden for our overtroubled hearts to bear; and everything in the universe shares the same and inevitable consequences.
While it is true that it is "an ill wind that blows no good," it is also true that what is "one man's meat is another man's poison."
To Nature matters of "great importance" and matters of "little consequence" are on an equal basis. The one is not "favored" above the other. It is the survival of the fittest, and not the most desirable that survives.
When conditions are favorable to the "wild" animals, they thrive by killing the other forms of life upon which they live, and when conditions are favorable to man, he kills and lives upon the forms of life which he considers exist solely for his pleasure and benefit.
To nature the germs of disease, as a form of life, are equally as important as the other forms of life that "breathe and have their being."
When conditions are favorable to the virus of influenza and pneumonia, we have what is known as an epidemic, and when conditions are favorable to the growth of cancer, it has what we might term a "Roman Holiday" by destroying a third of our population.
Germs of disease are merely invisible wild animals.
They are forms of life that thrive upon the soil of the human body.
Prayer has about as much effect upon them as it would have upon the hungry tiger ready to devour you.
A bullet from a gun would be far more effective against the tiger, and knowledge of the nature of the germs of disease, and the discovery of the methods of destroying them, are comparable to the invention of the gun and its use against the ferocious animal.
The knowledge of the one protects you against the invisible enemies of destruction, while the invention of the gun protects you against being destroyed by the wild beasts.
The germs of disease and the hungry tiger are both determined upon the same objective--your destruction--one by eating you in "chunks" and the other by minutely gnawing you away "piecemeal."
The results are identical.
It is not necessary to moralize upon the difference.
But this we know, that in our present scheme of life, as Ingersoll so eloquently states, "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray."
Our bodies are as much "meat" for the disease germs that eat us as the animal that furnishes the meat for our appetites.
Or as Shakespeare puts it:
"... in the sweetest bud The eating canker dwells."
In a broader and more comprehensive concept of disease, Shakespeare says, it is, as if a
"God omnipotent Is mustering in his clouds... Armies of pestilence; and they shall strike Your children yet unborn and unbegot...."
Who are you to say which one is the more favored in this scheme of life--the germs of disease or man--which one is preferred by nature; which one is more important than the other, since the ends accomplished are the same?
The life of the disease germ came into existence by the same process as did the life of man.
It is just as much a part of nature as is the dimpled babe.
If we cannot live without sunshine and water, neither can the germs of disease.
It might well be that we are nothing more than "disease germs" in the environment in which we live. The same basic construction by which they live forms the same pattern upon which our life is built.
To nature the night is just as important as the day, and the life of the germ we call disease is as important as the life of the body upon which it feeds.
It follows the same law of life; it is born, reproduces and dies.
There are forms of life that live by night that are equally as favored by nature as those which live by day.
Freaks of all kinds exist in nature--from the utterly ridiculous to the terrifying monstrosities. This is proof of the lack of design in Nature as far as man is concerned.
When man comes to the realization that he is not the "favorite" of God; that he was not specially created, that the universe was not made for his benefit, and that he is subject to the same laws of nature as all other forms of life, then, and not until then, will he understand that he must rely upon himself, and himself alone, for whatever benefits he is to enjoy; and devote his time and energies to helping himself and his fellow men to meet the exigencies of life and to set about to solve the difficult and intricate problems of living.
The recognition of a problem is the first step to its solution--
We are not "fallen" angels, nor were we "created" perfect.
On the contrary, we are the product of millions of years of an unpurposed evolution.
We are the descendants and inheritors of all the defects of our primitive ancestry--the evolution of the myriad forms of life from the infinitesimal to the mammoth--from the worm to the dinosaur.
The most important step in the development of man is the recognition of the fact that we are born without knowledge, and that the acquisition of knowledge is a slow and painful process.
If all man needed upon earth was a "knowledge of God," then why the necessity of establishing educational institutions?
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