WHAT ATTRACTED ME TO INGERSOLL'S CONTROVERSIAL CAREER?
I was deeply delighted to be introduced to Ingersoll's works in my 30's. (Thank you, Dwight!) Even though I had earned "Perfect Attendance" certificates for Sunday School until around age 15, my family's World Book encyclopedia set -- my "google search engine" in those days -- had introduced me to countless other cultures and religions around the world.
The encyclopedia books did not advocate other cultures and religions; they just documented their existence. And thus began my extensive research – my solid knowledge – beyond the narrow American religious and political perspectives that those who like to control things prefer we know nothing about.
Even though I've always acknowledged the good that many churches do, especially in terms of helping people who suffer from lack of the necessities of life, I nevertheless began to feel embarrassed when adults around me claimed that our religion was the only right one.
Even though I've always acknowledged the good that many churches do, especially in terms of helping people who suffer from lack of the necessities of life, I nevertheless began to feel embarrassed when adults around me claimed that our religion was the only right one.
I became offended that adults I trusted would teach God as a dreadful personality, such as one who would set up something like hell to torture different believers.
I became incensed that we hadn't been informed of the many pre-Christian religions which believed THEIR savior was born of a virgin, was sacrificed, and rose from the dead. Were those pagan beliefs imposed upon the teachings of Jesus during the early centuries -- to make THEIR god as popular, or more popular – than the previous sacrificial gods?
Many believe that Jesus didn’t actually exist, because there are so many stories like his that pre-date 2,000 years ago. Whatever the facts about that, in my adulthood, it seemed obvious that these sacrifice stories have been used throughout human history to obligate and subjugate people.
Especially within the construct of traditional Christianity, humanity is given little choice between either domination or damnation -- to dominate you with the guilt of "He died for you" – or to damn you if you resist such blatant manipulation.
Wisdom and Love would never do this. And I began to wonder if additional literary add-ins had created a rather bipolar Jesus, who is presented as wisely teaching one minute, but cruelly condemning and threatening the next.
Having grown up in the Midwest and resided on both coasts, I've encountered some psychologically sick people and some outright bad people, and that's what THEY do -- try to control you, and threaten to hurt you if you don’t comply. I think this unethical and sometimes outright criminal behavior is due to their own weak and needy personalities.
So how can it be that we're presented with a God and a Son of God who demand to be worshiped, who display the same weak and needy and cruel characteristics? A God who tries to make you feel guilty for something you didn't even do – other than get born – “into sin.”
Although I do love and strive to adhere to the Wisdom teachings of Jesus -- I do generally have more respect for other philosophies. Just one example (out of many in this world that I’ve studied) was practiced by one of the teachers in India not so long ago. When a student of his was late and was fearing his wrath, instead the student was met with this highly moral response: "I do not expect nor demand anything of others -- I would not use you for my own ends."
Wow – "I would not use you for my own ends." Now I’d say that’s a spiritual attitude which reflects a God that in no way is weak or cruel or needy. And that’s the God I myself have always experienced – the Spirit of Life – which is intelligent and constructive, not needy and brutal.
INGERSOLL SAVED PEOPLE FROM GRIEF AND ABUSE
INGERSOLL SAVED PEOPLE FROM GRIEF AND ABUSE
Back to my 30's. When I encountered Robert Ingersoll's 12 volumes, it felt utterly joyous to become immersed in his passionate, powerful – and often hilarious – expressions of the peculiarities of traditional religion. Mark Twain called him "an angelic orator." A reporter who came to condemn him, stayed to admire him. Robert was known as "a hard man to meet, if you don't want to like him" – and I say (as above) that's because his sparkling wit, lightning-bolt honesty, and vast love for humanity offered enormous RELIEF from religious force and fear in America's late 1800's.
That was a time when "church trials" were still conducted to humiliate and cast out young unwed mothers, regardless of whether they were victims of rape or incest. That was a time when it was still common to hear exhortations from the pulpit that urged men to beat their wives and children to make them comply with Bible interpretations.
After attending one of Robert's passionate lectures, a man wrote to him that he "...never took the rod to my wife and child again. That night changed my life." Ingersoll received many such letters, profusely thanking him for freeing bodies from harm – for freeing minds from fear – and for freeing souls from subjugation.
And so, from the seemingly limitless storehouse of Ingersoll's preserved works – ALL of which are available online these days – I've offered here only samples of his glittering jewels of love and intelligence – with Love and Intelligence being why I personally have long thought of Robert Ingersoll - as many people identify themselves today – "spiritual but not religious."
At the bottom of the home page on this site you'll find a link to Ingersoll's birthplace museum in Dresden, New York. By all means, consider throwing them a few dollars for preserving and promoting that special place which commemorates and educationally promotes "the most remarkable American you never heard of."
