The great infidels Los grandes infieles Les grands infidèles Os grandes infiéis Die groben ungläubigen


Robert G Ingersoll

I HAVE sometimes thought that it will not make great and splendid character to rock children in the cradle of hypocrisy. I do not believe that the tendency is to make men and women brave and glorious when you tell them that there are certain ideas upon certain subjects that they must never express; that they must go through life with a pretence as a shield; that their neighbours will think much more of them if they will only keep still; and that above all is a God who despises one who honestly expresses what he believes. For my part, I believe men will be nearer honest in business, in politics, grander in art — in everything that is good and grand and beautiful, if they are taught from the cradle to the coffin to tell their honest opinion.

⁠Neither do I believe thought to be dangerous. It is incredible that only idiots are absolutely sure of salvation. It is incredible that the more brain you have the less your chance is. There can be no danger in honest thought, and if the world ever advances beyond what it is to-day, it must be led by men who express their real opinions.

⁠We have passed midnight in the great struggle between Fact and Faith, between Science and Superstition. The brand of intellectual inferiority is now upon the orthodox brain. There is nothing grander than to rescue from the leprosy of slander the reputation of a good and generous man. Nothing can be nearer just than to benefit our benefactors.

⁠The Infidels of one age have been the aureoled saints of the next. The destroyers of the old are the creators of the new. The old passes away, and the new becomes old. There is in the intellectual world, as in the material, decay and growth, and ever by the grave of buried age stand youth and joy. The history of intellectual progress is written in the lives of Infidels. Political rights have been preserved by traitors — the liberty of the mind by heretics. To attack the king was treason — to dispute the priest was blasphemy. The sword and cross were allies. They defended each other. The throne and altar were twins — vultures from the same egg.

⁠It was James I. who said: “No bishop, no king.” He might have said: “No cross, no crown.”

⁠The king owned the bodies, and the priest the souls, of men. One lived on taxes, the other on alms. One was a robber, the other a beggar, and each was both.

⁠These robbers and beggars controlled two worlds. The king made laws, the priest made creeds. With bowed backs the people received the burdens of the one, and with wonder’s open mouth the dogmas of the other. If any aspired to be free they were crushed by the king, and every priest was a Herod who slaughtered the children of the brain. The king ruled by force, the priest by fear, and both by both.

⁠The king said to the people: “God made you peasants, and he made me king. He made rags and hovels for you, robes and palaces for me. Such is the justice of God.” And the priest said: “God made you ignorant and vile. He made me holy and wise. If you do not obey me, God will punish you here and torment you hereafter. Such is the mercy of God.”

⁠Infidels are intellectual discoverers. They sail the unknown seas and find new isles and continents in the infinite realms of thought.

⁠An Infidel is one who has found a new fact, who has an idea of his own, and who in the mental sky has seen another star.

⁠He is an intellectual capitalist, and for that reason excites the envy and hatred of the theological pauper. The Origin of God and Heaven, of the Devil and Hell.⁠

The origins of God and Heaven, of the Devil and Hell


IN the estimation of good orthodox Christians I am a criminal, because I am trying to take from loving mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, and lovers the consolations naturally arising from a belief in an eternity of grief and pain. I want to tear, break, and scatter to the winds the God that priests erected in the fields of innocent pleasure — a God made of sticks called creeds, and of old clothes called myths. I shall endeavour to take from the coffin its horror, from the cradle its curse, and put out the fires of revenge kindled by an infinite fiend.

⁠Is it necessary that Heaven should borrow its light from the glare of Hell?

⁠Infinite punishment is infinite cruelty, endless injustice, immortal meanness. To worship an eternal gaoler hardens, debases, and pollutes even the vilest soul. While there is one sad and breaking heart in the universe, no good being can be perfectly happy.

⁠Against the heartlessness of the Christian religion every grand and tender soul should enter solemn protest. The God of Hell should be held in loathing, contempt and scorn. A God who threatens eternal pain should be hated, not loved — cursed, not worshiped. A heaven presided over by such a God must be below the lowest hell. I want no part in any heaven in which the saved, the ransomed and redeemed will drown with shouts of joy the cries and sobs of hell — in which happiness will forget misery, where the tears of the lost only increase laughter and double bliss.

⁠The idea of hell was born of ignorance, brutality, fear, cowardice, and revenge. This idea testifies that our remote ancestors were the lowest beasts. Only from dens, lairs, and caves, only from mouths filled with cruel fangs, only from hearts of fear and hatred, only from the conscience of hunger and lust, only from the lowest and most debased could come this most cruel, heartless and bestial of all dogmas.

⁠Our barbarian ancestors knew but little of nature. They were too astonished to investigate. They could not divest themselves of the idea that everything happened with reference to them; that they caused storms and earthquakes; that they brought the tempest and the whirlwind; that on account of something they had done, or omitted to do, the lightning of vengeance leaped from the darkened sky. They made up their minds that at least two vast and powerful beings presided over this world; that one was good and the other bad; that both of these beings wished to get control of the souls of men; that they were relentless enemies, eternal foes; that both welcomed recruits and hated deserters; that both demanded praise and worship; that one offered rewards in this world, and the other in the next. The Devil has paid cash — God buys on credit.

⁠Man saw cruelty and mercy in nature, because he imagined that phenomena were produced to punish or to reward him. When his poor hut was torn and broken by the wind, he thought it a punishment. When some town or city was swept away by flood or sea, he imagined that the crimes of the inhabitants had been avenged. When the land was filled with plenty, when the seasons were kind, he thought that he had pleased the tyrant of the skies.

⁠It must he remembered that both gods and devils were supposed to be presided over by the greatest God and the greatest Devil. The God could give infinite rewards and could inflict infinite torments. The Devil could assist man here; could give him wealth and place in this world, in consideration of owning his soul hereafter. Each human soul was a prize contended for by these deities. Of course this God and this Devil had innumerable spirits at their command, to execute their decrees. The God lived in heaven and the Devil in hell. Both were monarchs and were infinitely jealous of each other. The priests pretended to be the agents and recruiting sergeants of this God, and they were duly authorised to promise and threaten in his name; they had power to forgive and curse. These priests sought to govern the world by force and fear. Believing that men could be frightened into obedience, they magnified the tortures and terrors of perdition. Believing also that man could in part be influenced by the hope of reward, they magnified the joys of heaven. In other words, they promised eternal joy and threatened everlasting pain. Most of these priests, born of the ignorance of the time, believed what they taught. They proved that God was good, by sunlight and harvest, by health and happiness; that he was angry, by disease and death. Man, according to this doctrine, was led astray by the Devil, who delighted only in evil. It was supposed that God demanded worship; that he loved to be flattered; that he delighted in sacrifice; that nothing made him happier than to see ignorant faith upon its knees; that above all things he hated and despised doubters and heretics, and that he regarded all investigation as rebellion.

⁠Now and then believers in these ideas, those who had gained great reputation for learning and sanctity, or had enjoyed great power, wrote books, and these books after a time were considered sacred. Most of them were written to frighten mankind, and were filled with threatenings and curses for unbelievers and promises for the faithful. The more frightful the curses, the more extravagant the promises, the more sacred the books were considered. All of the gods were cruel and vindictive, unforgiving and relentless, and the devils were substantially the same. It was also believed that certain things must be accepted as true, no matter whether they were reasonable or not; that it was pleasing to God to believe a certain creed, especially if it happened to be the creed of the majority. Each community felt it a duty to see that the enemies of God were converted or killed. To allow a heretic to live in peace was to invite the wrath of God. Every public evil — every misfortune — was accounted for by something the community had permitted or done. When epidemics appeared, brought by ignorance and welcomed by filth, the heretic was brought out and sacrificed to appease the vengeance of God. From the knowledge they had — from their premises — they reasoned well. They said, if God will inflict such frightful torments upon us here, simply for allowing a few heretics to live, what will he do with the heretics? Of course the heretics would be punished forever. They knew how cruel was the barbarian king when he had the traitor in his power. They had seen every horror that man could inflict on man. Of course a God could do more than a king. He could punish forever. The fires he would kindle never could be quenched. The torments he would inflict would be eternal. They thought the amount of punishment would be measured only by the power of God.

⁠These ideas were not only prevalent in what are called barbarous times, but they are received by the religious world of to-day.

⁠No death could be conceived more horrible than that produced by flames. To these flames they added eternity, and hell was produced. They exhausted the idea of personal torture.

⁠By putting intention behind what man called good, God was produced. By putting intention behind what man called bad, the Devil was created. Leave this “intention” out, and gods and devils fade away.

⁠If not a human being existed the sun would continue to shine, and tempests now and then would devastate the world; the rain would fall in pleasant showers, and the bow of promise would adorn the cloud; violets would spread their velvet bosoms to the sun, and the earthquake would devour; birds would sing, and daisies bloom, and roses blush, and the volcanoes would fill the heavens with their lurid glare; the procession of the seasons would not be broken, and the stars would shine just as serenely as though the world was filled with loving hearts and happy homes. But in the olden time man though otherwise. He imagined that he was of great importance. Barbarians are always egotistic. They think that the stars are watching them; that the sun shines on their account; that the rain falls for them and that gods and devils are really troubling themselves about their poor and ignorant souls.

⁠In those days men fought for their God as they did for their king. They killed the enemies of both. For this their king would reward them here, and their God hereafter. With them it was loyalty to destroy the disloyal. They did not regard God as a vague “spirit,” nor as an “essence” without body or parts, but as a being, a person, an infinite man, a king, the monarch of the universe, who had garments of glory for believers and robes of flame for the heretic and infidel.

⁠Do not imagine that this doctrine of hell belongs to Christianity alone. Nearly all religions have had this dogma for a corner-stone. Upon this burning foundation nearly all have built. Over the abyss of pain rose the glittering dome of pleasure. This world was regarded as one of trial. Here a God of infinite wisdom experimented with man. Between the outstretched paws of the Infinite the mouse, man, was allowed to play. Here man had the opportunity of hearing priests and kneeling in temples. Here he could read and hear read the sacred books. Here he could have the example of the pious and the counsels of the holy. Here he could build churches and cathedrals. Here he could burn incense, fast, wear haircloth, deny himself all the pleasures of life, confess to priests, count beads, be miserable one day in seven, make creeds, construct instruments of torture, bow before pictures and images, eat little square pieces of bread, sprinkle water on the heads of babes, shut his eyes and say words to the clouds, and slander and defame all who have the courage to despise superstition, and the goodness to tell their honest thoughts. After death, nothing could be done to make him better. When he should come into the presence of God, nothing was left except to damn him. Priests might convert him here, but God could do nothing there, — all of which shows how much more a priest can do for a soul than its creator; how much more potent is the example of your average Christian than that of all the angels, and how much superior earth is to heaven for the moral development of the soul. In heaven the Devil is not allowed to enter. There all are pure and perfect, yet they cannot influence a soul for good.

⁠Only here, on the earth, where the Devil is constantly active, only where his agents attack every soul, is there the slightest hope of moral improvement.

⁠Strange! that a world cursed by God, filled with temptations and thick with fiends, should be the only place where hope exists, the only place where man can repent, the only place where reform is possible. Strange that heaven, filled with angels and presided over by God, is the only place where reformation is utterly impossible! Yet these are the teachings of all the believers in the eternity of punishment.

⁠Masters frightened slaves with the threat of hell, and slaves got a kind of shadowy revenge by whispering back the threat. The poor have damned the rich and the rich the poor. The imprisoned imagined a hell for their gaolers; the weak built this place for the strong; the arrogant for their rivals; the vanquished for their victors; the priest for the thinker, religion for reason, superstition for science.

⁠All the meanness, all the revenge, all the selfishness, all the cruelty, all the hatred, all the infamy of which the heart of man is capable, grew, blossomed and bore fruit in this one word — Hell.

⁠For the nourishment of this dogma cruelty was soil, ignorance was rain, and fear was light.

⁠Christians have placed upon the throne of the universe a God of eternal hate. I cannot worship a being whose vengeance is boundless, whose cruelty is shoreless, and whose malice is increased by the agonies he inflicts.⁠

The appeal to the cemetery


WHOEVER attacks a custom or a creed, will be confronted with a list of the names of the dead who upheld the custom, or believed the creed. He is asked in a very triumphant and sneering way, if he knows more than all the great and honoured of the past. Every defender of a creed has graven upon his memory the names of all “great” men whose actions or words can be tortured into evidence for his doctrine. The church is always anxious to have some king or president certify to the moral character of Christ, the authority of the Scriptures, and the justice of the Jewish God. Of late years, confessions of gentlemen about to be hanged have been considered of great value, and the scaffold is regarded as a means of grace.

⁠All the churches of our day seek the rich. They are no longer the friends and defenders of the poor. Poverty no longer feels at home in the house of God. In the Temple of the Most High, garments out of fashion are considered out of place. People now, before confessing to God what worthless souls they have, enrich their bodies. Now words of penitence mingle with the rustle of silk, and light thrown from diamonds adorns the repentant tear. We are told that the rich, the fortunate, the holders of place and office, the fashionable, the respectable, are all within the churches. And yet all these People grow eloquent over the poverty of Christ — boast that he was born in a manger — that the Holy Ghost passed by all the ladies of titled wealth and fashion and selected the wife of a poor and unknown mechanic for the Mother of God.

⁠They admit that all the men of Jerusalem who held high positions — all the people of wealth, influence and power — were the enemies of the Savior and held his pretensions in contempt. They admit that he had influence only with the poor, and that he was so utterly unknown — so indigent in acquaintance, that it was necessary to bribe one of his disciples to point him out to the police. They assert that he had done a great number of miracles — had cured the sick, and raised the dead — that he had preached to vast multitudes — had made a kind of triumphal entry into Jerusalem — had scourged from the temple the changers of money — had disputed with the doctors — and yet, notwithstanding all these things, he remained in the very depths of obscurity. Surely he and his disciples could have been met with the argument: that the “great” dead were opposed to the new religion.

⁠The apostles, it is claimed, preached the doctrines of Christ in Rome and Athens, and the people of those cities could have used the arguments against Christianity that Christians now use in its support. They could have asked the apostles if they were wiser than all the philosophers, poets orators, and statesmen dead — if they knew more coming as they did from a weak and barbarous nation, than the greatest men produced by the highest civilisation of the known world. With what scorn would the Greeks listen to a barbarian’s criticisms upon Socrates and Plato. How a Roman would laugh to hear a vagrant Hebrew attack a mythology that had been believed by Cato and Virgil.

⁠Every new religion has to overcome this argument of the cemetery — this logic of the grave. Old ideas take shelter behind a barricade of corpse and tombstones. They have epitaphs for battle cries, and malign the living in the name of the dead. The moment, however, that a new religion succeeds, it becomes the old religion and uses the same argument against a new idea that it once so gallantly refuted. The arguments used to-day against what they are pleased to call infidelity would have shut the mouth of every religious reformer, from Christ to the founder of the last sect. The general objection to the new is, that it differs somewhat from the old, and the fact that it does differ is urged as an argument against its truth.

⁠Every man is forced to admit that he does not agree with all the great men, living or dead. The average Catholic, if not a priest, as a rule will admit that Sir Isaac Newton was in some things his superior, that Demosthenes had the advantage of him in expressing his ideas in public, and that as a sculptor he is far below the unknown man of whose hand and brain was born the Venus de Milo, but he will not, on account of these admissions, change his views upon the important question of transubstantiation.

⁠Most Protestants will cheerfully admit that they are inferior in brain and genius to some men who have lived and died in the Catholic Church; that in the matter of preaching funeral sermons they do not pretend to equal Bossuet; that their letters are not so interesting and polished as those of Pascal; that Torquemada excelled them in the genius of organisation, and that for planning a massacre they would not for a moment dispute the palm with Catherine de Medici.

⁠And yet, after all these admissions, they would insist that the Pope is an unblushing impostor, and that the Catholic Church is a vampire fattened by the best blood of a thousand years.

⁠The truth is, that in favour of almost every sect, the names of some great men can he pronounced. In almost every church there have been men whose only weakness was their religion, and who in other directions achieved distinction. If you call men great because they were emperors, kings, noblemen, statesmen, millionaires — because they commanded vast armies and wielded great influence in their day then more names can be found to support and prop the Church of Rome than any other Christian sect.

⁠Is Protestantism willing to rest its claims upon the “great man” argument? Give me the idea, the religions, not that have been advanced and believed by the so-called great of the past, but that will be defended and believed by the great souls of the future.

⁠It gives me pleasure to say that Lord Bacon was a great man; but I do not for that reason abandon the Copernican system of astronomy, and insist that the earth is stationary. Samuel Johnson was an excellent writer of latinised English, but I am confident that he never saw a real ghost. Matthew Hale was a reasonably good judge of law, but he was mistaken about witches causing children to vomit crooked pins. John Wesley was quite a man, in a kind of religious way, but in this country few people sympathise with his hatred of republican government, or with his contempt for the Revolutionary Fathers. Sir Isaac Newton, in the domain of science, was the colossus of his time, but his commentary on the book of Revelation would hardly excite envy, even in the breast of a Spurgeon or a Talmage. Upon many questions, the opinions of Napoleon were of great value, and yet about his bed, when dying, he wanted to see burning the holy candles of Rome. John Calvin has been called a logician, and reasoned well from his premises, but the burning of Servetus did not make murder a virtue. Luther weakened somewhat the Power of the Catholic Church, and to that extent was a reformer, and yet Lord Brougham affirmed that his “Table Talk” was so obscene that no respectable English publisher would soil paper with a translation. He was a kind of religious Rabelais; and yet a man can defend Luther in his attack upon the church without justifying his obscenity. If every man in the Catholic Church was a good man that would not convince me that Ignatius Loyola ever met and conversed with the Virgin Mary. The fact is, very few men are right in everything.

⁠Great virtues may draw attention from defects, they cannot sanctify them. A pebble surrounded by diamonds remains a common stone, and a diamond surrounded by pebbles is still a gem. No one should attempt to refute an argument by pronouncing the name of some man, unless he is willing to adopt all the ideas and beliefs of that man. It is better to give reasons and facts than names. An argument should not depend for its force upon the name of its author. Facts need no pedigree logic has no heraldry, and the living should not awed by the mistakes of the dead.

⁠The greatest men the world has produced have known but little. They had a few facts, mingled with mistakes without number. In some departments they towered above their fellows, while in others they fell below the common level of mankind.

⁠Daniel Webster had great respect for the Scriptures, but very little for the claims of his creditors. Most men are strangely inconsistent. Two propositions were introduced into the Confederate Congress by the same man. One was to hoist the black flag, and the other was to prevent carrying the mails on Sunday. George Whitefield defended the slave trade, because it brought the negroes within the sound of the gospel, and gave them the advantage of associating with the gentlemen who stole them. And yet this same Whitefield believed and taught the dogma of predestination. Volumes might be written upon the follies and imbecilities of great men. A full rounded man — a man of sterling sense and natural logic — is just as rare as a great painter, poet, or sculptor. If you tell your friend that he is not a painter, that he has no genius for poetry, he will probably admit the truth of what you say, without feeling that he has been insulted in the least. But if you tell him that he is not a logician, that he has but little idea of the value of a fact, that he has no real conception of what evidence is, and that he never had an original thought in his life, he will cut your acquaintance. Thousands of men are most wonderful in mechanics, in trade, in certain professions, keen in business, knowing well the men among whom they live, and yet satisfied with religions infinitely stupid, with politics perfectly senseless and they will believe that wonderful things were common long ago, such things as no amount of evidence could convince them had happened in their day. A man may be a successful merchant, lawyer, doctor, mechanic, statesman, or theologian without one particle of originality, and almost without the ability to think logically upon any subject whatever. Other men display in some directions the most marvellous intellectual power, astonish mankind with their grasp and vigour, and at the same time, upon religious subjects drool and drivel like David at the gates of Gath.⁠

Sacred books


WE have found, at last, that other nations have sacred books much older than our own, and that these books and records were and are substantiated by traditions and monuments, by miracles and martyrs, Christs and apostles, as well as by prophecies fulfilled. In all of these nations differences of opinion as to the authenticity and meaning of these books arose from time to time, precisely as they have done and still do with us, and upon these differences were founded sects that manufactured creeds. These sects denounced each other, and preached with the sword and endeavoured to convince with the fagot. Our theologians were greatly astonished to find in other bibles the same stories, precepts, laws, customs and commands that adorn and stain our own. At first they accounted for this, by saying that these books were in part copies of the Jewish Scriptures, mingled with barbaric myths. To such an extent did they impose upon and insult probability, that they declared that all the morality of the world, all laws commanding right and prohibiting wrong, all ideas respecting the unity of a Supreme Being, were borrowed from the Jews, who obtained them directly from God. The Christian world asserts with warmth, not always born of candour, that the Bible is the source, origin, and fountain of law, liberty, love, charity, and justice; that it is the intellectual and moral sun of the world; that it alone gives happiness here, and alone points out the way to joy hereafter; that it contains the only revelation from the Infinite; that all others are the work of dishonest and mistaken men. They say these things in spite of the fact that the Jewish nation was one of the weakest and most barbaric of the past; in spite of the fact that the civilisation of Egypt and India had commenced to wane before that of Palestine existed. To account for all the morality contained in the sacred books of the Hindus by saying that it was borrowed from the wanderers in the Desert of Sinai, from the escaped slaves of the Egyptians, taxes to the utmost the credulity of ignorance, bigotry, and zeal.

⁠The men who make these assertions are not superior to other men. They have only the facts common to all, and they must admit that these facts do not force the same conclusions upon all. They must admit that men equally honest, equally well-informed as themselves, deny their premises and conclusions. They must admit that had they been born and educated in some other country, they would have had a different religion, and would have regarded with reverence and awe the books they now hold as false and foolish. Most men are followers, and implicitly rely upon the judgment of others. They mistake solemnity for wisdom, and regard a grave countenance as the title page and Preface to a most learned volume. So they are easily imposed upon by forms, strange garments, and solemn ceremonies. And when the teaching of parents, the customs of neighbours, and the general tongue approve and justify a belief or creed, no matter how absurd, it is hard even for the strongest to hold the citadel of his soul. In each country, in defence of each religion, the same arguments would be urged. There is the same evidence in favour of the inspiration of the Koran and Bible. Both are substantiated in exactly the same way. It is just as wicked and unreasonable to be a heretic in Constantinople as in New York. To deny the claims of Christ and Mohammed is alike blasphemous. It all depends upon where you are when you make the denial. No religion has ever fallen that carried with it down to dumb death a solitary fact. Mistakes moulder with the temples in which they were taught, and countless superstitions sleep with their dead priests.

⁠Yet Christians insist that the religions of all nations that have fallen from wealth and power were false, with of course the solitary exception of the Jewish, simply because the nations teaching them dropped from their dying hands the swords of power. This argument drawn from the fate of nations proves no more than would one based upon the history of persons. With nations as with individuals, the struggle for life is perpetual, and the law of the survival of the fittest applies equally to both.

⁠It may be that the fabric of our civilisation will crumbling fall to unmeaning chaos and to formless dust, where oblivion broods and even memory forgets. Perhaps the blind Samson of some imprisoned force, released by thoughtless chance, may so wreck and strand the world that man, in stress and strain of want and fear, will shudderingly crawl back to savage and barbaric night. The time may come in which this thrilled and throbbing earth, shorn of all life, will in its soundless orbit wheel a barren star, on which the light will fall as fruitlessly as falls the gaze of love upon the cold, pathetic face of death.⁠

Fear


THERE is a view quite prevalent, that in some way you can prove whether the theories defended or advanced by a man are right or not, by showing what kind of man he was, what kind of life he lived, and what manner of death he died.

⁠A man entertains certain opinions; he is persecuted. He refuses to change his mind; he is burned, and in the midst of flames cries out that he dies without change. Hundreds then say that he has sealed his testimony with his blood, and his doctrines must be true.

⁠All the martyrs in the history of the world are not sufficient to establish the correctness of an opinion. Martyrdom, as a rule, establishes the sincerity of the martyr, — never the correctness of his thought. Things are true or false in themselves. Truth cannot be affected by opinions; it cannot be changed, established, or affected by martyrdom. An error cannot be believed sincerely enough to make it a truth.

⁠No Christian will admit that any amount of heroism displayed by a Mormon is sufficient to prove that Joseph Smith was divinely inspired. All the courage and culture, all the poetry and art of ancient Greece, do not even tend to establish the truth of any myth.

⁠The testimony of the dying concerning some other world, or in regard to the supernatural, cannot be any better, to say the least, than that of the living. In the early days of Christianity a serene and intrepid death was regarded as a testimony in favour of the church. At that time Pagans were being converted to Christianity — were throwing Jupiter away and taking the Hebrew God instead. In the moment of death many of these converts, without doubt, retraced their steps and died in the faith of their ancestors. But whenever one died clinging to the cross of the new religion, this was seized upon as an evidence of the truth of the gospel. After a time the Christians taught that an unbeliever, one who spoke or wrote against their doctrines, could not meet death with composure — that the infidel in his last moments would necessarily be a prey to the serpent of remorse. For more than a thousand years they have made the “facts” to fit this theory. Crimes against men have been considered as nothing when compared with a denial of the truth of the Bible, the divinity of Christ, or the existence of God.

⁠According to the theologians, God has always acted in this way. As long as men did nothing except to render their fellows wretched; as long as they only butchered and burnt the innocent and helpless, God maintained the strictest and most heartless neutrality; but when some honest man, some great and tender soul expressed a doubt as to the truth of the Scriptures, or prayed to the wrong God, or to the right one by the wrong name, then the real God leaped like a wounded tiger upon his victim, and from his quivering flesh tore his wretched soul.

⁠There is no recorded instance where the uplifted hand of murder has been paralysed — no truthful account in all the literature of the world of the innocent being shielded by God. Thousands of crimes are committed every day — men are this moment lying in wait for their human prey — wives are whipped and crushed, driven to insanity and death — little children begging for mercy, lifting imploring, tear-filled eyes to the brutal faces of fathers and mothers — sweet girls are deceived, lured, and outraged, but God has no time to prevent these things — no time to defend the good and to protect the pure. He is too busy numbering hairs and watching sparrows.

⁠He listens for blasphemy; looks for persons who laugh at priests; examines baptismal registers; watches professors in colleges who begin to doubt the geology of Moses and the astronomy of Joshua. He does not particularly object to stealing if you won’t swear. A great many persons have fallen dead in the act of taking God’s name in vain, but millions of men, women, and children have been stolen from their homes and used as beasts of burden, but no one engaged in this infamy has ever been touched by the wrathful hand of God.

⁠All kinds of criminals, except infidels, meet death with reasonable serenity. As a rule, there is nothing in the death of a pirate to cast any discredit on his profession. The murderer upon the scaffold, with a priest on either side, smilingly exhorts the multitude to meet him in heaven. The man who has succeeded in making his home a hell, meets death without a quiver, provided he has never expressed any doubt as to the divinity of Christ, or the eternal “procession” of the Holy Ghost. The king who has waged cruel and useless war, who has filled countries with widows and fatherless children, with the maimed and diseased, and who has succeeded in offering to the Moloch of ambition the best and bravest of his subjects, dies like a saint.

⁠The Emperor Constantine, who lifted Christianity into power, murdered his wife Fausta, and his eldest son Crispus, the same year that he convened the Council of Nice to decide whether Jesus Christ was a man or the Son of God. The council decided that Christ was consubstantial with the father. This was in the year 325. We are thus indebted to a wife-murderer for settling the vexed question of the divinity of the Savior. Theodosius called a council at Constantinople in 381, and this council decided that the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father. Theodosius, the younger, assembled another council at Ephesus to ascertain who the Virgin Mary really was, and it was solemnly decided in the year 431 that she was the Mother of God. In 451 it was decided by a council held at Chalcedon, called together by the Emperor Marcian, that Christ had two natures — the human and divine. In 680, in another general council, held at Constantinople, convened by order of Pognatius, it was also decided that Christ had two wills, and in the year 1274 it was decided at the Council of Lyons, that the Holy Ghost proceeded not only from the Father, but from the Son as well. Had it not been for these councils, we might have been without a Trinity even unto this day. When we take into consideration the fact that a belief in the Trinity is absolutely essential to salvation, how unfortunate it was for the world that this doctrine was not established until the year 1274. Think of the millions that dropped into hell while these questions were being discussed.

⁠This, however, is a digression. Let us go back to Constantine. This Emperor, stained with every crime, is supposed to have died like a Christian. We hear nothing of fiends leering at him in the shadows of death. He does not see the forms of his murdered wife and son covered with the blood he shed. From his white and shrivelled lips issued no shrieks of terror. He does not cover his glazed eyes with thin and trembling hands to shut out the visions of hell. His chamber is filled with the rustle of wings — of wings waiting to bear his soul to the thrilling realms of joy.

⁠Against the Emperor Constantine the church has hurled no anathema. She has accepted the story of his vision in the clouds, and his holy memory has been guarded by priest and pope. All the persecutors sleep in peace, and the ashes of those who burned their brothers in the name of Christ rest in consecrated ground. Whole libraries could not contain even the names of the wretches who have filled the world with violence and death in defence of book and creed, and yet they all died the death of the righteous, and no priest or minister describes the agony and fear, the remorse and horror, with which their guilty souls were filled in the last moments of their lives. These men had never doubted — they accepted the creed — they were not infidels — they had not denied the divinity of Christ — they had been baptised — they had partaken of the Last Supper — they had respected priests — they admitted that the Holy Ghost had “proceeded,” and these things put pillows beneath their dying heads, and covered them with the drapery of peace.

⁠Now and then, in the history of this world, a man of genius, of sense, of intellectual honesty has appeared. These men have denounced the superstitions of their day. They pitied the multitude. To see priests devour the substance of the people filled them with indignation. These men were honest enough to tell their thoughts. Then they were denounced, tried, condemned, executed. Some of them escaped the fury of the people who loved their enemies, and died naturally in their beds.

⁠It would not do for the church to admit that they died peacefully. That would show that religion was not actually necessary in the last moment. Religion got much of its power from the terror of death.⁠

The death test


YOU had better live well and die wicked, you had better live well and die cursing than live badly and die praying.

⁠It would not do to have the common people understand that a man could deny the Bible, refuse to look at the cross, contend that Christ was only a man, and yet die as calmly as Calvin did after he had murdered Servetus, or as did King David after advising one son to kill another.

⁠The church has taken great pains to show that the last moments of all infidels (that Christians did not succeed in burning) were infinitely wretched and despairing. It was alleged that words could not paint the horrors that were endured by a dying infidel. Every good Christian was expected to, and generally did, believe these accounts. They have been told and retold in every pulpit of the world. Protestant ministers have repeated the inventions of Catholic priests, and Catholics, by a kind of theological comity, have sworn to the falsehoods told by Protestants. Upon this point they have always stood together, and will as long as the same calumny can be used by both.

⁠Upon the death-bed subject the clergy grow eloquent. When describing the shudderings and shrieks of the dying unbeliever, their eyes glitter with delight.

⁠It is a festival.

⁠They are no longer men. They become hyenas. They dig open graves. They devour the reputations of the dead.

⁠It is a banquet.

⁠Unsatisfied still, they paint the terrors of hell. They gaze at the souls of the infidels writhing in the coils of the worm that never dies. They see them in flames — in oceans of fire — in gulfs of pain — in abysses of despair. They shout with joy. They applaud.

⁠It is an auto da fe, presided over by God and his angels.

⁠The men they thus describe were not atheists; they were all believers in God, in special providence, and in the immortality of the soul. They believed in the accountability of man — in the practice of virtue, in justice. and liberty, but they did not believe in that collection of follies and fables called the Bible. In order to show that an infidel must die overwhelmed with remorse and fear, they have generally selected from all the “unbelievers” since the day of Christ five men — the Emperor Julian, Spinoza, Voltaire, Diderot, David Hume, and Thomas Paine.

⁠Hardly a minister in the United States has attempted to “answer” me without referring to the death of one or more of these men. In vain have these calumniators of the dead been called upon to prove their statements. In vain have rewards been offered to any priestly malinger to bring forward the evidence.

⁠Let us once for all dispose of these slanders — of these pious calumnies.

Julian


THEY say that the Emperor Julian was an “apostate;” that he was once a Christian; that he fell from grace, and that in his last moments, throwing some of his own blood into the air, he cried out to Jesus Christ, “Galilean, thou hast conquered!”

⁠It must be remembered that the Christians had persecuted and imprisoned this very Julian; that they had exiled him; that they had threatened him with death. Many of his relatives were murdered by the Christians. He became emperor, and Christians conspired to take his life. The conspirators were discovered and they were pardoned. He did what he could to prevent the Christians from destroying each other. He held pomp and pride and luxury in contempt, and led his army on foot, sharing the privations of the meanest soldier.

⁠Upon ascending the throne he published an edict proclaiming universal religious toleration. He was then a Pagan. It is claimed by some that he never did entirely forget his Christian education. In this I am inclined to think there is some truth, because he revoked his edict of toleration, and for a time was nearly as unjust as though he had been a saint. He was emperor one year and seven months. In a battle with the Persians he was mortally wounded. “Brought back to his tent, and feeling that he had but a short time to live, he spent his last hours in discoursing with his friends on the immortality of the soul. He reviewed his reign and declared that he was satisfied with his conduct, and had neither penitence nor remorse to express for anything that he had done.” His last words were: “I submit willingly to the eternal decrees of heaven, convinced that he who is captivated with life, when his last hour has arrived is more weak and pusillanimous than he who would rush to voluntary death when it is his duty still to live.

⁠When we remember that a Christian emperor murdered Julian’s father and most of his kindred, and that he narrowly escaped the same fate, we can hardly blame him for having a little prejudice against a church whose members were fierce, ignorant, and bloody — whose priests were hypocrites, and whose bishops were assassins. If Julian had said he was a Christian — no matter what he actually was, he would have satisfied the church.

⁠The story that the dying emperor acknowledged that he was conquered by the Galilean was originated by some of the so-called Fathers of the Church, probably by Gregory or Theodoret. They are the same wretches who said that Julian sacrificed a woman to the moon, tearing out her entrails with his own hands. We are also informed by these hypocrites that he endeavoured to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem, and that fire came out of the earth and consumed the labourers employed in the sacrilegious undertaking.

⁠I did not suppose that an intelligent man could be found in the world who believed this childish fable, and yet in the January number for 1880, of the Princeton Review, the Rev. Stuart Robinson (whoever he may be) distinctly certifies to the truth of this story. He says: “Throughout the entire era of the planting of the Christian Church, the gospel preached was assailed not only by the malignant fanaticism of the Jew and the violence of Roman statecraft, but also by the intellectual weapons of philosophers, wits, and poets. Now Celsus denounced the new religion as base imposture. Now Tacitus described it as but another phase of the odium generius humani. Now Julian proposed to bring into contempt the prophetic claims of its founder by the practical test of rebuilding the Temple.” Here then in the year of grace 1880 is a Presbyterian preacher, who really believes that Julian tried to rebuild the Temple, and that God caused fire to issue from the earth and consume the innocent workmen.

⁠All these stories rest upon the same foundation, the mendacity of priests.

⁠Julian changed the religion of the Empire, and diverted the revenues of the church. Whoever steps between a priest and his salary, will find that he has committed every crime. No matter how often the slanders may be refuted, they will be repeated until the last priest has lost his body and found his wings. These falsehoods about Julian were invented some fifteen hundred years ago, and they are repeated to-day by just as honest and just as respectable people as these who told them at first. Whenever the church cannot answer the arguments of an opponent, she attacks his character. She resorts to falsehood, and in the domain of calumny she has stood for fifteen hundred years without a rival.

⁠The great Empire was crumbling to its fall. The literature of the world was being destroyed by priests. The gods and goddesses were driven from the earth and sky. The paintings were torn and defaced. The statues were broken. The walls were left desolate, and the niches empty. Art, like Rachel, wept for her children, and would not be comforted. The streams and forests were deserted by the children of the imagination, and the whole earth was barren, poor and mean.

⁠Christian ignorance, bigotry and hatred, in blind unreasoning zeal, had destroyed the treasures of our race. Art was abhorred, Knowledge was despised, Reason was an outcast. The sun was blotted from the intellectual heaven, every star extinguished, and there fell upon the world that shadow — that midnight, — known as “The Dark Ages.”

⁠This night lasted for a thousand years.

⁠The First Great Star — Herald of the Dawn — was Bruno.

Bruno


THE night of the Middle Ages lasted for a thousand years. The first star that enriched the horizon of this universal gloom was Giordano Bruno. He was the herald of the dawn.

⁠He was born in 1550, was educated for a priest, became a Dominican friar. At last his reason revolted against the doctrine of transubstantiation. He could not believe that the entire Trinity was in a wafer, or in a swallow of wine. He could not believe that a man could devour the Creator of the universe by eating a piece of bread. This led him to investigate other dogmas of the Catholic Church, and in every direction he found the same contradictions and impossibilities supported, not by reason, but by faith.

⁠Those who loved their enemies threatened his life. He was obliged to flee From his native land, and he became a vagabond in nearly every nation of Europe. He declared that he fought, not what priests believed, but what they pretended to believe. He was driven from his native country because of his astronomical opinions. He had lost confidence in the Bible as a scientific work. He was in danger because he had discovered a truth.

⁠He fled to England. He gave some lectures at Oxford. He found that institution controlled by priests. He found that they were teaching nothing of importance — only the impossible and the hurtful. He called Oxford “the widow of true learning.” There were in England, at that time, two men who knew more than the rest of the world. Shakespeare was then alive.

⁠Bruno was driven from England. He was regarded as a dangerous man, — he had opinions, he inquired after reasons, he expressed confidence in facts. He fled to France. He was not allowed to remain in that country. He discussed things — that was enough. The church said, “move on.” He went to Germany. He was not a believer — he was an investigator. The Germans wanted believers: they regarded the whole Christian system as settled; they wanted witnesses; they wanted men who would assert. So he was driven from Germany.

⁠He returned at last to his native land. He found himself without friends, because he had been true, not only to himself, but to the human race. But the world was false to him because he refused to crucify the Christ of his own soul between the two thieves of hypocrisy and bigotry. He was arrested for teaching that there are other worlds than this; that many of the stars are suns, around which other worlds revolve; that Nature did not exhaust all her energies on this grain of sand called the earth. He believed in a plurality of worlds, in the rotation of this, in the heliocentric theory. For these crimes, and for these alone, he was imprisoned for six years. He was kept in solitary confinement. He was allowed no books, no friends, no visitors. He was denied pen and paper. In the darkness, in the loneliness, he had time to examine the great questions of origin, of existence, of destiny. He put to the test what is called the goodness of God. He found that he could neither depend upon man nor upon any deity. At last. the Inquisition demanded him. He was tried, condemned, excommunicated and sentenced to be burned. According to Professor Draper, he believed that this world is animated by an intelligent soul — the cause of forms, but not of matter; that it lives in all things, even in such as seem not to live; that everything is ready to become organised; that matter is the mother of forms, and then their grave; that matter and the soul of things, together, constitute God. He was a pantheist — that is to say, an atheist. He was a lover of Nature, — a reaction from the asceticism of the church. He was tired of the gloom of the monastery. He loved the fields, the woods, the streams. He said to his brother-priests: Come out of your cells, out of your dungeons: come into the air and light. Throw away your beads and your crosses. Gather flowers; mingle with your fellow- men; have wives and children; scatter the seeds of joy; throw away the thorns and nettles of your creeds; enjoy the, perpetual miracle of life.

⁠On the sixteenth day of February, in the year of grace 1600, by “the triumphant beast,” the Church of Rome, this philosopher, this great and splendid man, was burned. He was offered his liberty if he would recant. There was no God to be offended by his recantation, and yet, as an apostle of what he believed to be the truth, he refused this offer. To those who passed the sentence upon him he said: “It is with greater fear that ye pass this sentence upon me than I receive it.” This man, greater than any naturalist of his day; grander than the martyr of any religion, died willingly in defence of what he believed to be the sacred truth. He was great enough to know that real religion will not destroy the joy of life on earth; great enough to know that investigation is not a crime — that the really useful is not hidden in the mysteries of faith. He knew that the Jewish records were below the level of the Greek and Roman myths; that there is no such thing as special providence; that prayer is useless; that liberty and necessity are the same, and that good and evil are but relative. He was the first real martyr, — neither frightened by perdition, nor bribed by heaven. He was the first of all the world who died for truth without expectation of reward. He did not anticipate a crown of glory. His imagination had not peopled the heavens with angels waiting for his soul. He had not been promised an eternity of joy if he stood firm, nor had he been threatened with the fires of hell if he wavered and recanted. He expected as his reward an eternal nothing! Death was to him an everlasting end — nothing beyond but a sleep without a dream, a night without a star, without a dawn — nothing but extinction, blank, utter, and eternal. No crown, no palm, no “well done, good and faithful servant,” no shout of welcome, no song of praise, no smile of God, no kiss of Christ, no mansion in the fair skies — not even a grave within the earth — nothing but ashes, wind-blown and priest-scattered, mixed with earth and trampled beneath the feet of men and beasts.

⁠The murder of this man will never be completely and perfectly avenged until from Rome shall be swept every vestige of priest and pope, until over the shapeless ruin of St. Peter’s, the crumbled Vatican and the fallen cross, shall rise a monument to Bruno, — the thinker, philosopher, philanthropist, atheist, martyr.⁠

The church in the time of Voltaire


WHEN Voltaire was born, the natural was about the only thing in which the church did not believe. The monks sold little amulets of consecrated paper. They would cure diseases. If laid in a cradle they would prevent a child being bewitched. So, they could be put into houses and barns to keep devils away, or buried in a field to prevent bad weather, to delay frost, and to insure good crops. There was a regular formulary by which they were made, ending with a prayer, after which the amulets were sprinkled with holy water. The church contended that its servants were the only legitimate physicians. The priests cured in the name of the church, and in the name of God, by exorcism, relics, water, salt, and oil. St. Valentine cured epilepsy, St. Gervasius was good for rheumatism, St. Michael de Sanatis for cancer, St. Judas for coughs, St. Ovidius for deafness, St. Sebastian for poisonous bites, St. Apollonia for toothache, St. Clara for rheum in the eye, St. Hubert for hydrophobia. Devils were driven out with wax tapers, with incense, with holy water, by pronouncing prayers. The church, as late as the middle of the twelfth century, prohibited good Catholics from having anything to do with physicians.

⁠It was believed that the devils produced storms of wind, of rain and of fire from heaven; that the atmosphere was a battlefield between angels and devils; that Lucifer had power to destroy fields and vineyards and dwellings, and the principal business of the church was to protect the people from the Devil. This was the origin of church bells. These bells were sprinkled with holy water, and their clangour cleared the air of imps and fiends. The bells also prevented storms and lightning. The church used to anathematise insects. In the sixteenth century, regular suits were commenced against rats, and judgment was rendered. Every monastery had its master magician, who sold magic incense, salt, and tapers, consecrated palms and relics.

⁠Every science was regarded as an outcast, an enemy. Every fact held the creed of the church in scorn. Investigators were enemies in disguise. Thinkers were traitors, and the church exerted its vast power for centuries to prevent the intellectual progress of man. There was no liberty, no education, no philosophy, no science; nothing but credulity, ignorance, and superstition. The world was really under the control of Satan and his agents. The church, for the purpose of increasing her power, exhausted every means to convince the people of the existence of witches, devils, and fiends. In this way the church had every enemy within her power. She simply had to charge him with being a wizard, of holding communication with devils, and the ignorant mob were ready to tear him to pieces.

⁠To such an extent was this frightful course pursued, and such was the prevalence of the belief in the supernatural, that the worship of the devil was absolutely established. The poor people, brutalised by the church, filled with fear of Satanic influence, finding that the church did not protect, as a last resort began to worship the Devil. The power of the Devil was proven by the Bible. The history of Job, the temptation of Christ in the desert, the carrying of Christ to the top of the temple, and hundreds of other instances, were relied upon as establishing his power; and when people laughed about witches riding upon anointed sticks in the air, invisible, they were reminded of a like voyage when the Devil carried Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple.

⁠This frightful doctrine filled every friend with suspicion of his friend. It made the husband denounce the wife, the children the parents, and the parents the children. It destroyed all the sweet relations of humanity. It did away with justice in the courts. It destroyed the charity of religion. It broke the bond of friendship. It filled with poison the golden cup of life. It turned earth into a very hell, peopled with ignorant, tyrannical, and malicious demons.

⁠Such was the result of a few centuries of Christianity. Such was the result of a belief in the supernatural. Such was the result of giving up the evidence of our own senses, and relying upon dreams, visions, and fears. Such was the result of destroying human reason, of depending upon the supernatural, of living here for another world instead of for this, of depending upon priests instead of upon ourselves. The Protestants vied with the Catholics. Luther stood side by side with the priests he had deserted, in promoting this belief in devils and fiends. To the Catholic, every Protestant was possessed by a devil. To the Protestant, every Catholic was the homestead of a fiend. All order, all regular succession of causes and effects, were known no more. The natural ceased to exist. The learned and the ignorant were on a level. The priest had been caught in the net spread for the peasant, and Christendom was a vast madhouse, with insane priests for keepers.

Voltaire


WHEN Voltaire was born, the church ruled and owned France. It was a period of almost universal corruption. The priests were mostly libertines. The judges were nearly as cruel as venal. The royal palace was simply a house of assignation. The nobles were heartless, proud, arrogant, and cruel to the last degree. The common people were treated as beasts. It took the church a thousand years to bring about this happy condition of things.

⁠The seeds of the revolution unconsciously were being scattered by every noble and by every priest. They germinated in the hearts of the helpless. They were watered by the tears of agony. Blows began to bear interest. There was a faint longing for blood. Workmen, blackened by the sun, bent by labor, looked at the white throats of scornful ladies and thought about cutting them.

⁠In those days witnesses were cross-examined with instruments of torture. The church was the arsenal of superstition. Miracles, relics, angels and devils were as common as rags. Voltaire laughed at the evidences, attacked the pretended facts, held the Bible up to ridicule, and filled Europe with indignant protests against the cruelty, bigotry, and injustice of the time.

⁠He was a believer in God, and in some ingenious way excused this God for allowing the Catholic Church to exist. He had an idea that, originally, mankind were believers in one God, and practiced all the virtues. Of course this was a mistake. He imagined that the church had corrupted the human race. In this he was right.

⁠It may be that, at one time, the church relatively stood for progress, but when it gained power, it became an obstruction. The system of Voltaire was contradictory. He described a being of infinite goodness, who not only destroyed his children with pestilence and famine, but allowed them to destroy each other. While rejecting the God of the Bible, he accepted another God, who, to say the least, allowed the innocent to be burned for loving him.

⁠Voltaire hated tyranny, and loved liberty. His arguments to prove the existence of a God were just as groundless as those of the reverend fathers of his day to prove the divinity of Christ, or that Mary was the mother of God. The theologians of his time maligned and feared him. He regarded them as a spider does flies. He spread nets for them. They were caught, and he devoured them for the amusement and benefit of the public. He was educated by the Jesuits, and sometimes acted like one.

⁠It is fashionable to say that he was not profound, This is because he was not stupid. In the presence of absurdity he laughed, and was called irreverent. He thought God would not damn even a priest forever: this was regarded as blasphemy. He endeavoured to prevent Christians from murdering each other and did what he could to civilise the disciples of Christ. Had he founded a sect, obtained control of some country, and burned a few heretics at slow fires, he would have won the admiration, respect and love of the Christian world. Had he only pretended to believe all the fables of antiquity, had he mumbled Latin prayers, counted beads, crossed himself, devoured the flesh of God, and carried fagots to the feet of philosophy in the name of Christ, he might have been in heaven this moment, enjoying a sight of the damned.

⁠Instead of doing these things, he wilfully closed his eyes to the light of the gospel, examined the Bible for himself advocated intellectual liberty, struck from the brain the fetters of an arrogant faith, assisted the weak, cried out against the torture of man, appealed to reason, endeavoured to establish universal toleration, succoured the indigent, and defended the oppressed.

⁠These were his crimes. Such a man God would not suffer to die in peace. If allowed to meet death with a smile, others might follow his example, until none would be left to light the holy fires of the auto da fe. It would not do for so great, so successful an enemy of the church, to die without leaving some shriek of fear, some shudder of remorse, some ghastly prayer of chattered horror, uttered by lips covered with blood and foam.

⁠He was an old man of eighty-four. He had been surrounded with the comforts of life; he was a man of wealth, of genius. Among the literary men of the world he stood first. God had allowed him to have the appearance of success. His last years were filled with the intoxication of flattery. He stood at the summit of his age.

⁠The priests became anxious. They began to fear that God would forget, in a multiplicity of business, to make a terrible example of Voltaire.

⁠Toward the last of May, 1778, it was whispered in Paris that Voltaire was dying. Upon the fences of expectation gathered the unclean birds of superstition, impatiently waiting for their prey.

⁠”Two days before his death, his nephew went to seek the curé of Saint Sulpice and the Abbé Gautier and brought them into his uncle’s sick chamber, who was informed that they were there. ‘Ah, well!’ said Voltaire, ‘give them my compliments and my thanks.’ The Abbé spoke some words to him, exhorting him to patience. The curé of Saint Sulpice then came forward, having announced himself, and asked of Voltaire, elevating his voice, if he acknowledged the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sick man pushed one of his hands against the curé’s coif shoving him back, and cried, turning abruptly to the other side, ‘Let me die in peace.’ The curé seemingly considered his person soiled, and his coif dishonoured, by the touch of the philosopher. He made the nurse give him a little brushing, and went out with the Abbé Gautier.”

⁠He expired, says Wagniere, on the thirtieth of May, 1778, at about a quarter past eleven at night, with the most perfect tranquillity. Ten minutes before his last breath he took the hand of Morand, his valet de chamber, who was watching by him, pressed it and said: “Adieu, my dear Morand, I am gone.” These were his last words.

⁠From this death, so simple and serene, so natural and peaceful; from, these words so utterly destitute of cant or dramatic touch, all the frightful pictures, all the despairing utterances, have been drawn and made. From these materials, and from these alone, have been constructed all the shameless lies about the death of this great and wonderful man, compared with whom all of his calumniators, dead and living. were and are but dust and vermin.

⁠Voltaire was the intellectual autocrat of his time. From his throne at the foot of the Alps he pointed the finger of scorn at every hypocrite in Europe. He was the pioneer of his century. He was the assassin of superstition. He left the quiver of ridicule without an arrow. Through the shadows of faith and fable, through the darkness of myth and miracle, through the midnight of Christianity, through the blackness of bigotry, past cathedral and dungeon, past rack and stake, past altar and throne, he carried, with chivalric hands, the sacred torch of reason.⁠

Diderot


DOUBT IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD TRUTH.

DIDEROT was born in 1713. His parents were in what may be called the humbler walks of life. Like Voltaire he was educated by the Jesuits. He had in him something of the vagabond, and was for several years almost a beggar in Paris. He was endeavouring to live by his pen. In that day and generation, a man without a patron, endeavouring to live by literature, was necessarily almost a beggar. He nearly starved — frequently going for days without food. Afterward, when he had something himself, he was as generous as the air. No man ever was more willing to give, and no man less willing to receive, than Diderot.

⁠He wrote upon all conceivable subjects, that he might have bread. He even wrote sermons, and regretted it all his life. He and D’Alembert were the life and soul of the Encyclopaedia. With infinite enthusiasm he helped to gather the knowledge of the world for the use of each and all. He harvested the fields of thought, separated the grain from the straw and chaff, and endeavoured to throw away the seeds and fruit of superstition. His motto was, “Incredulity is the first step towards philosophy.”

⁠He had the vices of most Christians — was nearly as immoral as the majority of priests. His vices he shared in common, his virtues were his own. All who knew him united in saying that he had the pity of a woman, the generosity of a prince, the self-denial of an anchorite, the courage of Caesar, and the enthusiasm of a poet. He attacked with every power of his mind the superstition of his day. He said what he thought. The priests hated him. He was in favour of universal education — the church despised it. He wished to put the knowledge of the whole world within reach of the poorest.

⁠He wished to drive from the gate of the Garden of Eden the cherubim of superstition, so that the child of Adam might return to eat once more the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Every Catholic was his enemy. His poor little desk was ransacked by the police searching for manuscripts in which something might be found that would justify the imprisonment of such a dangerous man. Whoever, in 1750, wished to increase the knowledge of mankind was regarded as the enemy of social order.

⁠The intellectual superstructure of France rests upon the Encyclopaedia. The knowledge given to the people was the impulse, the commencement, of the revolution that left the church without an altar and the king without a throne. Diderot thought for himself, and bravely gave his thoughts to others. For this reason he was regarded as a criminal. He did not expect his reward in another world. He did not do what he did to please some imaginary God. He laboured for mankind. He wished to lighten the burdens of those who should live after him. Hear these noble words:

⁠”The more man ascends through the past, and the more he launches into the future, the greater he will be, and all these philosophers and ministers and truth-telling men who have fallen victims to the stupidity of nations, the atrocities of priests, the fury of tyrants, what consolation was left for them in death? This: That prejudice would pass, and that posterity would pour out the vial of ignominy upon their enemies. O Posterity! Holy and sacred stay of the unhappy and the oppressed; thou who art just, thou who art incorruptible, thou who findest the good man, who unmaskest the hypocrite, who breakest down the tyrant, may thy sure faith, thy consoling faith never, never abandon me!” Posterity is for the philosopher what the other world is for the devotee.

⁠Diderot took the ground that, if orthodox religion be true Christ was guilty of suicide. Having the power to defend himself he should have used it.

⁠Of course it would not do for the church to allow a man to die in peace who had added to the intellectual wealth of the world. The moment Diderot was dead, Catholic priests began painting and recounting the horrors of his expiring moments. They described him as overcome with remorse, as insane with fear; and these falsehoods have been repeated by the Protestant world, and will probably be repeated by thousands of ministers after we are dead. The truth is, he had passed his three-score years and ten. He had lived for seventy-one years. He had eaten his supper. He had been conversing with his wife. He was reclining in his easy chair. His mind was at perfect rest. He had entered, without knowing it, the twilight of his last day. Above the horizon was the evening star, telling of sleep. The room grew still and the stillness was lulled by the murmur of the street. There were a few moments of perfect peace. The wife said, “He is asleep.” She enjoyed his repose, and breathed softly that he might not be disturbed. The moments wore on, and still he slept. Lovingly, softly, at last she touched him. Yes, he was asleep. He had become a part of the eternal silence.

David Hume


THE worst religion of the world was the Presbyterianism of Scotland as it existed in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The Kirk had all the faults of the Church of Rome without a redeeming feature. The Kirk hated music, painting, statuary, and architecture. Anything touched with humanity — with the dimples of joy — was detested and accursed. God was to be feared — not loved.

⁠Life was a long battle with the Devil. Every desire was of Satan. Happiness was a snare, and human love was wicked, weak and vain. The Presbyterian priest of Scotland was as cruel, bigoted and heartless as the familiar of the Inquisition.

⁠One case will tell it all;

⁠In the beginning of this, the nineteenth century, a boy seventeen years of age, Thomas Aikenhead, was indicted and tried at Edinburgh for blasphemy. He had denied the inspiration of the Bible. He had on several occasions, when cold, jocularly wished himself in hell that he might get warm. The poor, frightened boy recanted — begged for mercy; but he was found guilty, hanged, thrown in a hole at the foot of the scaffold, and his weeping mother vainly begged that his bruised and bleeding body might be given to her.

⁠This one case, multiplied again and again, gives you the condition of Scotland when, on the twenty-sixth of April, 1711, David Hume was born.

⁠David Hume was one of the few Scotchmen of his day who were not owned by the church. He had the manliness to examine historical and religious questions for himself, and the courage to give his conclusions to the world. He was singularly capable of governing himself, He was a philosopher, and lived a calm and cheerful life, unstained by an unjust act, free from all excess, and devoted in a reasonable degree to benefiting his fellow-men. After examining the Bible he became convinced that it was not true. For failing to suppress his real opinion, for failing to tell a deliberate falsehood, he brought upon himself the hatred of the church.

⁠Intellectual honesty is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and whether God will forgive this sin or not his church has not, and never will.

⁠Hume took the ground that a miracle could not be used as evidence until the fact that it had happened was established. But how can a miracle be established? Take any miracle recorded in the Bible, and how could it be established now? You may say: Upon the testimony of those who wrote the account. Who were they? No one knows. How, could you prove the resurrection of Lazarus? Or of the widow’s son? How could you substantiate, today, the ascension of Jesus Christ? In what way could you prove that the river Jordan was divided upon being struck by the coat of a prophet? How is it possible now to establish the fact that the fires of a furnace refused to burn three men? Where are the witnesses? Who, upon the whole earth, has the slightest knowledge upon this subject?

⁠He insisted that at the bottom of all good was the useful; that human happiness was an end worth working and living for; that origin and destiny were alike unknown; that the best religion was to live temperately and to deal justly with our fellowmen; that the dogma of inspiration was absurd, and that an honest man had nothing to fear. Of course the Kirk hated him. He laughed at the creed.

⁠To the lot of Hume fell ease, respect, success, and honour. While many disciples of God were the sport and prey of misfortune, he kept steadily advancing. Envious Christians bided their time. They waited as patiently as possible for the horrors of death to fall upon the heart and brain of David Hume. They knew that all the furies would be there, and that God would get his revenge.

⁠Adam Smith, author of the “Wealth of Nations,” speaking of Hume in his last sickness, says that in the presence of death “his cheerfulness was so great, and his conversation and amusements ran so much in the usual strain, that, notwithstanding all his bad symptoms, many people could not believe he was dying. A few days before his death Hume said: ‘I am dying as fast as my enemies — if I have any — could wish, and as easily and tranquilly as my best friends could desire.'”

⁠Col. Edmondstoune shortly afterward wrote Hume a letter, of which the following is an extract:

⁠”My heart is full, could not see you this morning. I thought it was better for us both. You cannot die — you must live in the memory of your friends and acquaintances; and your works will render you immortal. I cannot conceive that it was possible for any one to dislike you, or hate you. He must be more than savage who could be an enemy to a man with the best head and heart and the most amiable manners. Adam Smith happened to go into his room while he was reading the above letter, which he immediately showed him. Smith said to Hume that he was sensible of how much he was weakening, and that appearances were in many respects bad; yet, that his cheerfulness was so great and the spirit of life still seemed to be so strong in him, that he could not keep from, entertaining some hopes.

⁠Hume answered, “When I lie down in the evening I feel myself weaker than when I arose in the morning; and when I rise in the morning, weaker than when I lay down in the evening. I am sensible, besides, that some of my vital parts are affected so that I must soon die.”

⁠”Well.” said Mr. Smith, “if it must be so, you have at least the satisfaction of leaving all your friends, and the members of your brother’s family in particular, in great prosperity.”

⁠He replied that he was so sensible of his situation that when he was reading Lucian’s Dialogues of the Dead, among all the excuses which are alleged to Charon for not entering readily into his boat, he could not find one that fitted him. He had no house to finish; he had no daughter to provide for; he had no enemies upon whom he wished to revenge himself; “and I could not well,” said he, “imagine what excuse I could make to Charon in order to obtain a little delay. I have done everything of consequence which I ever meant to do, and I could, at no time expect to leave my relations and friends in a better situation than that in which I am now likely to leave them; and I have, therefore, every reason to die contented.”

⁠”Upon further consideration,” said he, “I thought I might say to him, ‘Good Charon, I have been correcting my works for a new edition. Allow me a little time that I may see how the public receives the alterations.’ ‘But,’ Charon would answer, ‘when you have seen the effect of this, you will be for making other alterations. There will be no end to such excuses; so, my honest friend, please step into the boat.’ ‘But,’ I might still urge, ‘have a little patience, good Charon; I have been endeavouring to open the eyes of the public; if I live a few years longer, I may have the satisfaction of seeing the downfall of some of the prevailing systems of superstition.’ And Charon would then lose all temper and decency, and would cry out, ‘You loitering rogue, that will not happen these many hundred years. Do you fancy I will grant you a lease for so long a time? Get into the boat this instant.'”

⁠To the Comtesse de Boufflers, the dying man, with the perfect serenity that springs from an honest and loving life, writes:

⁠”I see death approach gradually without any anxiety or regret. * * * I salute you with great affection and regard, for the last time.”

⁠On the twenty-fifth of August, 1776, the philosopher, the historian, the infidel, the honest man, and a benefactor of his race, in the composure born of a noble life, passed quietly and panglessly away.

⁠Dr Black wrote the following account of his death;

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠”Monday, 26 August, 1776.

⁠”Dear Sir: Yesterday, about four o’clock in the afternoon, Mr. Hume expired. The near approach of his death became evident on the evening between Thursday and Friday, when his disease became exhaustive, and soon weakened him so much that he could no longer rise from his bed. He continued to the last perfectly sensible, and free from much pain or feeling of distress. He never dropped the smallest expression of impatience; but when he had occasion to speak to the people about him, always did it with all affection and tenderness. * * * When he became very weak, it cost him an effort to speak, and he died in such happy composure of mind that nothing could exceed it.”

⁠Dr. Cullen writes Dr. Hunter on the seventeenth of September, 1776, from which the following extracts are made:

⁠”You desire an account of Mr. Hume’s last days, and I give it to you with great pleasure. * * * It was truly an example des grands hommes qui sont morts en plaisantant; and to me, who have been so often shocked with the horrors of superstition, the reflection on such a death is truly agreeable. For many weeks before his death he was very sensible of his gradual decay; and his answer to inquiries after his health was, several times, that he was going as fast as his enemies could wish, and as easily as his friends could desire. He passed most of the time in his drawing- room, admitting the visits of his friends, and with his usual spirit conversed with them upon literature and politics and whatever else was started. In conversation he seemed to be perfectly at ease; and to the last abounded with that pleasantry and those curious and entertaining anecdotes which ever distinguished him. * * * His senses and judgment did not fail him to the last hour of his life. He constantly discovered a strong sensibility of the attention and care of his friends; and midst great uneasiness and languor never betrayed any peevishness or impatience.” (Here follows the conversation with Charon.) “These are a few particulars which may, perhaps, appear trivial; but to me, no particulars seem trivial which relate to so great a man. It is perhaps from trifles that we can best distinguish the tranquilness and cheerfulness of the philosopher at a time when the most part of mankind are under disquiet, and sometimes even horror. I consider the sacrifice of the cock as a more certain evidence of the tranquillity of Socrates than his discourse on immortality.”

⁠The Christians took it for granted that this serene and placid man died filled with remorse for having given his real opinions, and proceeded to describe, with every incident and detail of horror, the terrors of his last moments. Brainless clergymen, incapable of understanding what Hume had written, knowing only in a general way that he had held their creeds in contempt, answered his arguments by maligning his character.

⁠Christians took it for granted that he died in horror and recounted the terrible scenes.

⁠When the facts of his death became generally known to intelligent men, the ministers redoubled their efforts to maintain the old calumnies, and most of them are in this employment even unto this day. Finding it impossible to tell enough falsehoods to hide the truth, a few of the more intelligent among the priests admitted that Hume not only died without showing any particular fear, but was guilty of unbecoming levity. The first charge was that he died like a coward; the next that he did not care enough, and went through the shadowy doors of the dread unknown with a smile upon his lips. The dying smile of David Hume scandalised the believers in a God of love. They felt shocked to see a man dying without fear who denied the miracles of the Bible; who had spent a life investigating the opinions of men; in endeavouring to prove to the world that the right way is the best way; that happiness is a real and substantial good, and that virtue is not a termagant with sunken cheeks and hollow eyes.

⁠Christians hated to admit that a philosopher had died serenely without the aid of superstition — one who had taught that man could not make God happy by making himself miserable, and that a useful life, after all, was the best possible religion. They imagined that death would fill such a man with remorse and terror. He had never persecuted his fellowmen for the honour of God, and must needs die in despair. They were mistaken.

⁠He died as he had lived. Like a peaceful river with green and shaded banks he passed, without a murmur, into that waveless sea where life at last is rest.⁠

Benedict Spinoza


ONE of the greatest thinkers was Benedict Spinoza, a Jew, born at Amsterdam, in 1632. He studied medicine and afterward theology. He endeavoured to understand what he studied. In theology he necessarily failed. Theology is not intended to be understood, — it is only to be believed. It is an act, not of reason, but of faith. Spinoza put to the rabbis so many questions, and so persistently asked for reasons, that he became the most troublesome of students. When the rabbis found it impossible to answer the questions, they concluded to silence the questioner. He was tried, found guilty, and excommunicated from the synagogue.

⁠By the terrible curse of the Jewish religion, he was made an outcast from every Jewish home. His father could not give him shelter. His mother could not give him bread — could not speak to him, without becoming an outcast herself. All the cruelty of Jehovah, all the infamy of the Old Testament, was in this curse. In the darkness of the synagogue the rabbis lighted their torches, and while pronouncing the curse, extinguished them in blood, imploring God that in like manner the soul of Benedict Spinoza might be extinguished.

⁠Spinoza was but twenty-four years old when he found himself without kindred, without friends, surrounded only by enemies. He uttered no complaint. He earned his bread with willing hands, and cheerfully divided his crust with those still poorer than himself.

⁠He tried to solve the problem of existence. To him, the universe was One. The Infinite embraced the All. The All was God. According to his belief, the universe did not commence to be. It is; from eternity it was; to eternity it will be.

⁠He was right. The universe is all there is, or was, or will be. It is both subject and object, contemplator and contemplated, creator and created, destroyer and destroyed, preserver and preserved, and hath within itself all causes, modes, motions and effects.

⁠In this there is hope. This is a foundation and a star. The Infinite is the All. Without the All, the Infinite cannot be. I am something. Without me, the Infinite cannot exist.

⁠Spinoza was a naturalist — that is to say, a pantheist. He took the ground that the supernatural is, and forever will be, an infinite impossibility. His propositions are luminous as stars, and each of his demonstrations is a Gibraltar, behind which logic sits and smiles at all the sophistries of superstition.

⁠Spinoza has been hated because he has not been answered. He was a real republican. He regarded the people as the true and only source of political power. He put the state above the church, the people above the priest. He believed in the absolute liberty of worship, thought and speech. In every relation of life he was just, true, gentle, patient, modest and loving. He respected the rights of others, and endeavoured to enjoy his own, and yet he brought upon himself the hatred of the Jewish and the Christian world. In his day, logic was blasphemy, and to think was the unpardonable sin. The priest hated the philosopher, revelation reviled reason, and faith was the sworn foe of every fact.

⁠Spinoza was a philosopher, a philanthropist. He lived in a world of his own. He avoided men. His life was an intellectual solitude. He was a mental hermit. Only in his own brain he found the liberty he loved. And yet the rabbis and the priests, the ignorant zealot and the cruel bigot, feeling that this quiet, thoughtful, modest man was in some way forging weapons to be used against the church, hated him with all their hearts.

⁠He did not retaliate. He found excuses for their acts. Their ignorance, their malice, their misguided and revengeful zeal excited only pity in his breast. He injured no man. He did not live on alms. He was poor — and yet, with the wealth of his brain, he enriched the world. On Sunday, February 21, 1677, Spinoza, one of the greatest and subtlest of metaphysicians — one of the noblest and purest of human beings, — at the age of forty-four, passed tranquilly away; and notwithstanding the curse of the synagogue under which he had lived and most lovingly laboured, death left upon his lips the smile of perfect peace.

Our infidels


⁠IN our country there were three infidels — Paine, Franklin and Jefferson. The colonies were filled with superstition, the Puritans with the spirit of persecution. Laws savage, ignorant and malignant had been passed in every colony, for the purpose of destroying intellectual liberty. Mental freedom was absolutely unknown. The Toleration Acts of Maryland tolerated only Christians — not infidels, not thinkers, not investigators. The charity of Roger Williams was not extended to those who denied the Bible, or suspected the divinity of Christ. It was not based upon the rights of man, but upon the rights of believers, who differed in non- essential points.

⁠The moment the colonies began to deny the rights of the king they suspected the power of the priest. In digging down to find an excuse for fighting George the Third, they unwittingly undermined the church. They went through the Revolution together. They found that all denominations fought equally well. They also found that persons without religion had patriotism and courage, and were willing to die that a new nation might be born. As a matter of fact the pulpit was not in hearty sympathy with our fathers. Many priests were imprisoned because they would not pray for the Continental Congress. After victory had enriched our standard, and it became necessary to make a constitution — to establish a government — the infidels — the men like Paine, like Jefferson, and like Franklin, saw that the church must be left out; that a government deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed could make no contract with a church pretending to derive its powers from an infinite God.

⁠By the efforts of these infidels, the name of God was left out of the Constitution of the United States. They knew that if an infinite being was put in, no room would be left for the people. They knew that if any church was made the mistress of the state, that mistress, like all others, would corrupt, weaken, and destroy. Washington wished a church established by law in Virginia. He was prevented by Thomas Jefferson. It was only a little while ago that people were compelled to attend church by law in the Eastern States, and taxes were raised for the support of churches the same as for the construction of highways and bridges. The great principle enunciated in the Constitution has silently repealed most of these laws. In the presence of this great instrument, the constitutions of the States grew small and mean, and in a few years every law that puts a chain upon the mind, except in Delaware, will be repealed, and for these our children may thank the Infidels of 1776.

⁠The church never has pretended that Jefferson or Franklin died in fear. Franklin wrote no books against the fables of the ancient Jews. He thought it useless to cast the pearls of thought before the swine of ignorance and fear. Jefferson was a statesman. He was the father of a great party. He gave his views in letters and to trusted friends. He was a Virginian, author of the Declaration of Independence, founder of a university, father of a political party, President of the United States, a statesman and philosopher. He was too powerful for the divided churches of his day. Paine was a foreigner, a citizen of the world. He had attacked Washington and the Bible. He had done these things openly, and what he had said could not he answered. His arguments were so good that his character was bad.

Thomas Paine


⁠THOMAS PAINE was born in Thetford, England. He came from the common people. At the age of thirty-seven he left England for America. He was the first to perceive the destiny of the New World. He wrote the pamphlet “Common Sense,” and in a few months the Continental Congress declared the colonies free and independent States — a new nation was born. Paine having aroused the spirit of independence, gave every energy of his soul to keep the spirit alive. He was with the army. He shared its defeats and its glory. When the situation became desperate, he gave them “The Crisis.” It was a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, leading the way to freedom, honour, and to victory.

⁠The writings of Paine are gemmed with compact statements that carry conviction to the dullest. Day and night he laboured for America, until there was a government of the people and for the people. At the close of the Revolution, no one stood higher than Thomas Paine. Had he been willing to live a hypocrite, he would have been respectable, he at least could have died surrounded by other hypocrites, and at his death there would have been an imposing funeral, with miles of carriages, filled with hypocrites, and above his hypocritical dust there would have been a hypocritical monument covered with lies.

⁠Having done so much for man in America, he went to France. The seeds sown by the great infidels were bearing fruit in Europe. The eighteenth century was crowning its grey hairs with the wreath of progress. Upon his arrival in France he was elected a member of the French Convention — in fact, he was selected about the same time by the people of no less than four Departments. He was one of the committee to draft a constitution for France. In the Assembly, where nearly all were demanding the execution of the king, he had the courage to vote against death. To vote against the death of the king was to vote against his own life. This was the sublimity of devotion to principle. For this he was arrested, imprisoned, and doomed to death. While under sentence of death, while in the gloomy cell of his prison, Thomas Paine wrote to Washington, asking him to say one word to Robespierre in favour of the author of “Common Sense.” Washington did not reply. He wrote again. Washington, the President, paid no attention to Thomas Paine, the prisoner. The, letter was thrown into the wastebasket of forgetfulness, and Thomas Paine remained condemned to death. Afterward he gave his opinion of Washington at length, and I must say, that I have never found it in my heart to greatly blame him.

⁠Thomas Paine, having done so much for political liberty, turned his attention to the superstitions of his age. He published “The Age of Reason;” and from that day to this, his character has been maligned by almost every priest in Christendom. He has been held up as the terrible example. Every man who has expressed an honest thought, has been warningly referred to Thomas Paine. All his services were forgotten. No kind word fell from any pulpit. His devotion to principle, his zeal for human rights, were no longer remembered. Paine simply took the ground that it is a contradiction to call a thing a revelation that comes to us second-hand. There can be no revelation beyond the first communication. All after that is hearsay. He also showed that the prophecies of the Old Testament had no relation whatever to Jesus Christ, and contended that Jesus Christ was simply a man. In other words, Paine was an enlightened Unitarian. Paine thought the Old Testament too barbarous to have been the work of an infinitely benevolent God. He attacked the doctrine that salvation depends upon belief. He insisted that every man has the right to think.

⁠After the publication of these views every falsehood that malignity could coin and malice pass was given to the world. On his return to America, after the election to the presidency of another infidel, Thomas Jefferson, it was not safe for him to appear in the public streets. He was in danger of being mobbed. Under the very flag he had helped to put in heaven his rights were not respected. Under the Constitution that he had suggested, his life was insecure. He had helped to give liberty to more than three millions of his fellow-citizens, and they were willing to deny it unto him. He was deserted, ostracised, shunned, maligned, and cursed. He enjoyed the seclusion of a leper; but he maintained through it all his integrity. He stood by the convictions of his mind. Never for one moment did he hesitate or waver.

⁠He died almost alone. The moment he died Christians commenced manufacturing horrors for his death-bed. They had his chamber filled with devils rattling chains, and these ancient lies are annually certified to by the respectable Christians of the present day. The truth is, he died as he had lived. Some ministers were impolite enough to visit him against his will. Several of them he ordered from his room. A couple of Catholic priests, in all the meekness of hypocrisy, called that they might enjoy the agonies of a dying friend of man. Thomas Paine, rising in his bed, the few embers of expiring life blown into flame by the breath of indignation, had the goodness to curse them both. His physician, who seems to have been a meddling fool, just as the cold hand of death was touching the patriot’s heart, whispered in the dull ear of the dying man: “Do you believe, or do you wish to believe, that Jesus Christ is the son of God?” And the reply was: “I have no wish to believe on that subject.”

⁠These were the last remembered words of Thomas Paine. He died as serenely as ever Christian passed away. He died in the full possession of his mind, and on the very brink and edge of death proclaimed the doctrines of his life.

⁠Every Christian, every philanthropist, every believer in human liberty, should feel under obligation to Thomas Paine for the splendid service rendered by him in the darkest days of the American Revolution. In the midnight of Valley Forge, “The Crisis” was the first star that glittered in the wide horizon of despair. Every good man should remember with gratitude the brave words spoken by Thomas Paine in the French Convention against the death of Louis. He said: “We will kill the king, but not the man. We will destroy monarchy, not the monarch.”

⁠Thomas Paine was a champion, in both hemispheres, of human liberty; one of the founders and fathers of this Republic; one of the foremost men of his age. He never wrote a word in favour of injustice. He was a despiser of slavery. He abhorred tyranny in every form. He was, in the widest and best sense, a friend of all his race. His head was as clear as his heart was good, and he had the courage to speak his honest thought.

⁠He was the first man to write these words: “The United States of America” He proposed the present Federal Constitution. He furnished every thought that now glitters in the Declaration of Independence.

⁠He believed in one God and no more. He was a believer even in special providence, and he hoped for immortality.

⁠How can the world abhor the man who said:

⁠”I believe in the equality of man, and that religious duties consist in doing justice, in loving mercy, and endeavouring to make our fellow-creatures happy.” —

⁠”It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself” —

⁠”The word of God is the creation which we behold.” —

⁠”Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.” —

⁠”My opinion is, that those whose lives have been spent in doing good and endeavouring to make their fellow-mortals happy, will be happy hereafter.” —

⁠”One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.”

⁠”I believe in one God, and no more, and I hope for happiness beyond this life.” —

⁠”Man has no property in man” — and

⁠”The key of heaven is not in the keeping of any sect!”

⁠Had it not been for Thomas Paine I could not deliver this lecture here to-night.

⁠It is still fashionable to calumniate this man — and yet Channing, Theodore Parker, Longfellow, Emerson, and in fact all the liberal Unitarians and Universalists of the world have adopted the opinions of Thomas Paine.

⁠Let us compare these Infidels with the Christians of their time,:

⁠Compare Julian with Constantine, — the murderer of his wife, — the murderer of his son — and who established Christianity with the same sword he had wet with their blood. Compare him with all the Christian emperors — with all, the robbers and murders and thieves — the parricides and fratricides. and matricides that ever wore the imperial purple on the banks of the Tiber or the shores of the Bosphorus.

⁠Let us compare Bruno with the Christians who burned him; and we will compare Spinoza, Voltaire. Diderot, Hume, Jefferson, Paine — with the men who it is claimed have been the visible representatives of God.

⁠Let it be remembered that the popes have committed every crime of which human nature is capable, and that not one of them was the friend of intellectual liberty — that not one of them ever shed one ray of light.

⁠Let us compare these Infidels with the founders of sectarian churches; you will see how narrow, how bigoted, how cruel were their founders, and how broad, how generous, how noble, were these infidels.

⁠Let us be honest. The great effort of the human mind is to ascertain the order of facts by which we are surrounded — the history of things.

⁠Who has accomplished the most in this direction — the church, or the unbelievers? Upon one side write all that the church has discovered — every phenomenon that has been explained by a creed, every new fact in Nature that has been discovered by a church, and on the other side write the discoveries of Humboldt, and the observations and demonstrations of Darwin!

⁠Who has made Germany famous — her priests, or her scientists?

⁠Goethe.

⁠Kant: That immortal man who said: “Whoever thinks that he can please God in any way except by discharging his obligations to his fellows, is superstitious.

⁠And that greatest and bravest of thinkers, Ernst Haeckel.

⁠Humboldt.

Italy: — Mazzini. Garibaldi.

⁠In France who are and were the friends of freedom — the Catholic priests, or Renan? the bishops, or Gambetta? — Dupanloup, or Victor Hugo?

⁠Michelet — Taine — Auguste Comte.

England — Let us compare her priests with John Stewart Mill, — Harriet Martineau, that “free rover on the breezy common of the universe.” — George Eliot — with Huxley and Tydall, with Holyoake and Harrison — and above and over all with Charles Darwin.

Conclusion


⁠LET us be honest. Did all the priests of Rome increase the mental wealth of man as much as Bruno? Did all the priests of France do as great a work for the civilisation of the world as Diderot and Voltaire? Did all the ministers of Scotland add as much to the sum of human knowledge as David Hume? Have all the clergymen, monks, friars, ministers, priests, bishops, cardinals and popes, from the day of Pentecost to the last election, done as much for human liberty as Thomas Paine? — as much for science as Charles Darwin?

⁠What would the world be if infidels had never been?

⁠The infidels have been the brave and thoughtful men; the flower of all the world; the pioneers and heralds of the blessed day of liberty and love; the generous spirits of the unworthy past; the seers and prophets of our race; the great chivalric souls, proud victors on the battlefields of thought, the creditors of all the years to be.

⁠Why should it be taken for granted that the men who devoted their lives to the liberation of their fellow-men should have been hissed at in the hour of death by the snakes of conscience, while men who defended slavery, practiced polygamy, justified the stealing of babes from the breasts of mothers, and lashed the naked hack of unpaid labor are supposed to have passed smilingly from earth to the embraces of the angels? Why should we think that the brave thinkers, the investigators, the honest men, must have left the crumbling shore of time in dread and fear, while the instigators of the massacre of St. Bartholomew; the inventors and users of thumbscrews, of iron boots and racks; the burners and tearers of human flesh; the stealers, the whippers and the enslavers of men; the buyers and beaters of maidens, mothers, and babes; the founders of the Inquisition; the makers of chains; the builders of dungeons; the calumniators of the living; the slanderers of the dead, and even the murderers of Jesus Christ, all died in the odour of sanctity, with white, forgiven hands folded upon the breasts of peace, while the destroyers of prejudice, the apostles of humanity, the soldiers of liberty, the breakers of fetters, the creators of light, died surrounded by the fierce hands of God?




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#FreeBritney and the importance of self-ownership #FreeBritney y la importancia de la autopropiedad #FreeBritney et l’importance de la propriété de soi #FreeBritney e a importância da autopropriedade #FreeBritney und die bedeutung der eigenverantwortung A definition of freedom Una definición de libertad Une définition de la liberté Uma definição de liberdade Eine definition von freiheit A monopoly on violence Un monopolio sobre la violencia Un monopole sur la violence Um monopólio da violência Ein gewaltmonopol A university built by the invisible hand Una universidad construida por la mano invisible Une université construite par la main invisible Uma universidade construída pela mão invisível Eine universität die von der unsichtbaren hand gebaut wurde Abstain from beans Abstenerse de frijoles S’abstenir de haricots Abster-se de feijão Verzichten sie auf bohnen Activities Activities Activities Activities Activities Against all nations and borders Contra todas las naciones y fronteras Contre toutes les nations et frontières Contra todas as nações e fronteiras Gegen alle nationen und grenzen Against authority Contra la autoridad Contre l’autorité Contra autoridade Gegen autorität Against woman suffrage Contra el sufragio femenino Contre le suffrage des femmes Contra o sufrágio feminino Gegen das frauenwahlrecht Altruism does not exist El altruismo no existe L’altruisme n’existe pas O altruísmo não existe Altruismus gibt es nicht An anti-capitalism anarcho-capitalist Un anticapitalismo anarcocapitalista Un anarcho-capitaliste anti-capitalisme Um anticapitalismo anarcocapitalista Ein antikapitalistischer anarcho-kapitalist An apolitical approach to libertarianism Un enfoque apolítico del libertarismo Une approche apolitique du libertarianisme Uma abordagem apolítica do libertarianismo Eine unpolitische herangehensweise an den libertarismus An experiment Un experimento Une expérience Um experimento Ein experiment An individualist formulation of collectivist property Una formulación individualista de la propiedad colectivista Une formulation individualiste de la propriété collectiviste Uma formulação individualista da propriedade coletivista Eine individualistische formulierung von kollektivistischem eigentum Anarchism and atheism, theism and statism La verdadera historia de la ética Anarchisme et athéisme, théisme et étatisme Anarquismo e ateísmo, teísmo e estatismo Anarchismus und atheismus, theismus und statismus Anarchism as scepticism El anarquismo como escepticismo L’anarchisme comme scepticisme Anarquismo como ceticismo Anarchismus als skepsis Anarchy and the problem of the commons La anarquía y el problema de los bienes comunes L’anarchie et le problème des communs Anarquia e o problema dos bens comuns Anarchie und das problem der commons Anatomy of the state Anatomia del estado Anatomie de l’état Anatomia do estado Anatomie des staates Animator Animator Animator Animator Animator Anthem Himno Hymne Hino Hymne Anyone for war? ¿Alguien para la guerra? Quelqu’un pour la guerre? Alguém para a guerra? Jemand für den krieg? Are anarchists pacifists? ¿Son los anarquistas pacifistas? Les anarchistes sont-ils pacifistes? Os anarquistas são pacifistas? Sind anarchisten pazifisten? Are anarcho-capitalists anti-war? ¿Son los anarcocapitalistas contra la guerra? Les anarcho-capitalistes sont-ils anti-guerre? Os anarcocapitalistas são anti-guerra? Sind anarcho-kapitalistische antikriegsführer? Are there different types of anarcho-capitalism? ¿Existen diferentes tipos de anarcocapitalismo? Existe-t-il différents types d'anarcho-capitalisme? Existem diferentes tipos de anarco-capitalismo? Gibt es verschiedene arten von anarcho-kapitalismus? Aren’t anarchists terrorists? ¿No son los anarquistas terroristas? Les anarchistes ne sont-ils pas des terroristes? Não são anarquistas terroristas? Sind anarchisten keine terroristen? Battleships and schools Acorazados y escuelas Cuirassés et écoles Battleships e escolas Schlachtschiffe und schulen Beyond patriarchy: A libertarian model of the family Más allá del patriarcado: Un modelo libertario de la familia Au-delà du patriarcat: Un modèle libertaire de la famille Além do patriarcado: Um modelo libertário da família Jenseits des patriarchats: Ein libertäres modell der familie Beyond the boss: Protection from business in a free nation Más allá del jefe: Protección de los negocios en una nación libre Au-delà du patron: Protection contre les affaires dans une nation libre Além do chefe: Proteção dos negócios em uma nação livre Jenseits des chefs: Schutz vor geschäften in einer freien nation Books Books Books Books Books Boot Boot Boot Boot Boot Borders Fronteras Les frontières Fronteiras Grenzen Bubblegum money Dinero de chicle Argent bubblegum Dinheiro bubblegum Bubblegum geld Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee But that would be anarchy! ¡Pero eso sería anarquía! Mais ce serait l’anarchie! Mas isso seria anarquia! Aber das wäre anarchie! Caging the beasts Enjaulando a las bestias Mise en cage des bêtes Enjaulando os animais Käfig die bestien Calculator Calculator Calculator Calculator Calculator Calendars Calendars Calendars Calendars Calendars Camera Camera Camera Camera Camera Can anarcho-capitalism work? ¿Puede funcionar el anarcocapitalismo? L'anarcho-capitalisme peut-il fonctionner? O anarco-capitalismo pode funcionar? Kann anarcho-kapitalismus funktionieren? Can voluntaryism fix the machine? ¿Puede el voluntariado arreglar la máquina? Le volontariat peut-il réparer la machine? O voluntariado pode consertar a máquina? Kann freiwilligkeit die maschine reparieren? Capitalism Capitalismo Capitalisme Capitalismo Kapitalismus Capitalism and the environment Capitalismo y medio ambiente Le capitalisme et l’environnement Capitalismo e meio ambiente Kapitalismus und umwelt Capitalism versus statism Capitalismo versus estatismo Capitalisme contre étatisme Capitalismo versus estatismo Kapitalismus versus statismus Captain Davies and Private Slovik Capitán Davies y Soldado Slovik Capitaine Davies et Soldat Slovik Capitão Davies e Soldado Particular Slovik Kapitän Davies und Private Slovik Checks and balances: Two kinds Verificaciones y saldos: Dos tipos Contrôles et soldes: Deux types Cheques e saldos: Dois tipos Checks and balances: Zwei arten Children Niños Les enfants Crianças Kinder Children and the family Los niños y la familia Les enfants et la famille Crianças e família Kinder und die familie Christopher Hitchens on evidence Christopher Hitchens en evidencia Christopher Hitchens en preuve Christopher Hitchens em evidência Christopher Hitchens über beweise Code Code Code Code Code Communication Communication Communication Communication Communication Competition and cooperation Competencia y cooperación Concurrence et coopération Concorrência e cooperação Wettbewerb und zusammenarbeit Controls Controls Controls Controls Controls Counter the state Contrarrestar el estado Contre l’état Contador do estado Gegen den staat Coverage but not care Cobertura pero no importa Couverture mais pas attention Cobertura, mas não me importo Abdeckung, aber egal Creativity Creatividad La créativité Criatividade Kreativität Day of infamy: July 26, 1941 Día de la infamia: 26 de Julio de 1941 Jour d’infamie: 26 Juillet 1941 Dia da infâmia: 26 de Julho de 1941 Tag der schande: 26 Juli 1941 Define your terms: Capitalism Define tus términos: Capitalismo Définissez vos termes: Capitalisme Defina seus termos: Capitalismo Definieren sie Ihre begriffe: Kapitalismus Define your terms: Corporatism Define tus términos: Corporativismo Définissez vos termes: Corporatisme Defina seus termos: Corporativismo Definieren sie Ihre begriffe: Korporatismus Define your terms: State Define tus términos: Estado Définissez vos termes: Etat Defina seus termos: Estado Definieren sie Ihre begriffe: Staat Define your terms: Statism Define tus términos: Estatismo Définissez vos termes: Statisme Defina seus termos: Statism Definieren sie Ihre begriffe: Statismus Define your terms: Voluntaryism Define tus términos: Voluntariado Définissez vos termes: Volontariat Defina seus termos: Voluntariado Definieren sie Ihre begriffe: Freiwilligkeit Democracy is impossible La democracia es imposible La démocratie est impossible Democracia é impossível Demokratie ist unmöglich Democracy is slavery La democracia es esclavitud La démocratie est l’esclavage Democracia é escravidão Demokratie ist sklaverei Deplatforming is not censorship Derribar las plataformas no es censura Déplatformer n’est pas de la censure Deplantar não é censura Deplatforming ist keine zensur Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Discs Discs Discs Discs Discs Disproving the state Refutando el estado La réfutation de l’état Desprovando o estado Den staat widerlegen Do anarcho-capitalists favour chaos? ¿Los anarcocapitalistas favorecen el caos? Les anarcho-capitalistes favorisent-ils le chaos? Os anarco-capitalistas favorecem o caos? Bevorzugen anarcho-kapitalisten das chaos? Dock Dock Dock Dock Dock Does money inspire us to cooperate? ¿El dinero nos inspira a cooperar? L’argent nous inspire-t-il à coopérer? O dinheiro nos inspira a cooperar? Inspiriert uns geld zur zusammenarbeit? Does spanking violate the non-aggression principle? ¿Las nalgadas violan el principio de no agresión? La fessée viole-t-elle le principe de non-agression? A surra viola o princípio da não agressão? Verstößt spanking gegen das nichtangriffsprinzip? Don’t anarchists assume that all people are innately virtuous? ¿No asumen los anarquistas que todas las personas son virtuosas por naturaleza? Les anarchistes ne supposent-ils pas que tout le monde est naturellement vertueux? Os anarquistas não presumem que todas as pessoas são virtuosas por natureza? Gehen anarchisten nicht davon aus, dass alle menschen von natur aus tugendhaft sind? Don’t anarchists favour chaos? ¿No favorecen los anarquistas el caos? Les anarchistes ne sont-ils pas favorables au chaos? Os anarquistas não favorecem o caos? Bevorzugen anarchisten kein chaos? Don’t anarchists favour the abolition of the family, property, religion, and other social institutions besides the state? ¿No favorecen los anarquistas la abolición de la familia, la propiedad, la religión y otras instituciones sociales además del estado? Les anarchistes ne sont-ils pas favorables à l’abolition de la famille, de la propriété, de la religion et d’autres institutions sociales en plus de l’État? Os anarquistas não favorecem a abolição da família, propriedade, religião e outras instituições sociais além do estado? Befürworten anarchisten nicht die abschaffung der familie, des eigentums, der religion und anderer sozialer Institutionen neben dem staat? Economics Económicas Économie Economia Wirtschaft Education Educación Éducation Educação Bildung Education in colonial America Educación en la América colonial L’éducation en Amérique coloniale Educação na América colonial Bildung im kolonialen Amerika Eight dangerous myths about spanking Ocho mitos peligrosos sobre las nalgadas Huit mythes dangereux sur la fessée Oito mitos perigosos sobre surras Acht gefährliche mythen über prügel Encyclopaedia Encyclopaedia Encyclopaedia Encyclopaedia Encyclopaedia Environment Medio ambiente Environnement Meio Ambiente Umgebung Ethics Ética Éthique Ética Ethik Ethics, human nature, and government Ética, naturaleza humana, y gobierno. Éthique, nature humaine, et gouvernement Ética, natureza humana, e governo Ethik, menschliche natur, und regierung Existence, logic, evidence, and truth Existencia, lógica, evidencia y verdad Existence, logique, évidence et vérité Existência, lógica, evidência e verdade Existenz, logik, beweise und wahrheit Family Familia Famille Família Familie Files Files Files Files Files Film Editor Film Editor Film Editor Film Editor Film Editor Fonts Fonts Fonts Fonts Fonts Forget the argument from efficiency Olvida el argumento de la eficiencia Oubliez l’argument de l’efficacité Esqueça o argumento da eficiência Vergessen sie das argument der effizienz Free association Asociación libre Association libre Associação livre Freie vereinigung Free body Cuerpo libre Corps libre Corpo livre Freier körper Free enterprise and health care Libre empresa y asistencia sanitaria Libre entreprise et soins de santé Livre iniciativa e saúde Freies unternehmertum und gesundheitsversorgung Free families to statist societies and back again Familias gratuitas a sociedades estatistas y viceversa Libérer les familles des sociétés d’état et inversement Famílias livres para sociedades estatistas e vice-versa Freie familien zu statistischen gesellschaften und wieder zurück Free markets and monopoly Mercados libres y monopolio Marchés libres et monopole Mercados livres e monopólio Freie märkte und monopol Free markets are regulated Los mercados libres están regulados Les marchés libres sont réglementés Os mercados livres são regulamentados Freie märkte sind reguliert Free mind Mente libre Esprit libre Mente livre Freigeist Free trade Libre comercio Libre échange Livre comércio Freihandel Freedom on a leash Libertad con correa Liberté en laisse Liberdade na coleira Freiheit an der leine Freedom to chose your own money Libertad para elegir tu propio dinero Liberté de choisir son propre argent Liberdade para escolher seu próprio dinheiro Freiheit dein eigenes geld zu wählen Freedom, liberty, peace, happiness, and prosperity Libertad, libertad, paz, felicidad y prosperidad Liberté, liberté, paix, bonheur et prospérité Liberdade, liberdade, paz, felicidade e prosperidade Freiheit, freiheit, frieden, glück und wohlstand Freedom, reason, and cults Libertad, razón y cultos Liberté, raison et cultes Liberdade, razão e cultos Freiheit, vernunft und kulte Frequently asked questions Preguntas frecuentes Questions fréquemment posées Perguntas frequentes Häufig gestellte fragen Funding public goods: Six solutions Financiación de bienes públicos: Seis soluciones Financement des biens publics: Six solutions Financiamento de bens públicos: Seis soluções Finanzierung öffentlicher güter: Sechs lösungen Government Gobierno Gouvernement Governo Regierung Government as rape Gobierno como violación Le gouvernement comme viol Governo como estupro Regierung als vergewaltigung Government control of immigration: Is it a violation of individual sovereignty? Control gubernamental de la inmigración: ¿es una violación de la soberanía individual? Contrôle gouvernemental de l’immigration: est-ce une violation de la souveraineté individuelle? Controle governamental da imigração: É uma violação da soberania individual? Kontrolle der einwanderung durch die regierung: Handelt es sich um eine verletzung der individuellen souveränität? Government is force El gobierno es fuerza Le gouvernement est la force Governo é força Regierung ist kraft Government makes healthcare worse and more expensive El gobierno empeora la atención médica y la encarece Le gouvernement rend les soins de santé pires et plus chers Governo torna a saúde pior e mais cara Die regierung macht die gesundheitsversorgung schlechter und teurer Green rising: The dangers of political environmentalism Levantamiento verde: Los peligros del ambientalismo político Levée verte: Les dangers de l’environnementalisme politique Crescimento verde: Os perigos do ambientalismo político Grüner aufstieg: Die gefahren des politischen umweltschutzes Guns prevent thousands of crimes every day Las armas previenen miles de delitos todos los días Les armes à feu empêchent des milliers de crimes chaque jour As armas evitam milhares de crimes todos os dias Waffen verhindern jeden tag tausende von verbrechen Hard money in the voluntaryist tradition Dinero duro en la tradición voluntarista De l’argent dur dans la tradition du volontariat Dinheiro duro na tradição voluntária Hartes geld in der freiwilligen tradition Have there been any anarcho-capitalist societies? ¿Ha habido sociedades anarcocapitalistas? Y a-t-il eu des sociétés anarcho-capitalistes? Houve alguma sociedade anarco-capitalista? Gab es anarcho-kapitalistische gesellschaften? Have there been any historical examples of anarchist societies? ¿Ha habido ejemplos históricos de sociedades anarquistas? Y a-t-il eu des exemples historiques de sociétés anarchistes? Houve algum exemplo histórico de sociedades anarquistas? Gab es historische beispiele für anarchistische gesellschaften? Health Salud Santé Saúde Gesundheit Health care: An anarchist approach Cuidado de la salud: Un enfoque anarquista Soins de santé: Une approche anarchiste Cuidados de saúde: Uma abordagem anarquista Gesundheitsversorgung: Ein anarchistischer ansatz Healthcare is a right? La asistencia sanitaria es un derecho? La santé est un droit? Saúde é um direito? Gesundheitswesen ist ein recht? Home Home Home Home Home Home is best El hogar es lo mejor La maison est la meilleure Lar é o melhor Zuhause ist am besten How can governments be abolished? ¿Cómo se pueden abolir los gobiernos? Comment les gouvernements peuvent-ils être abolis? Como os governos podem ser abolidos? Wie können regierungen abgeschafft werden? How do anarcho-capitalists compare with other anarchists? ¿Cómo se comparan los anarcocapitalistas con otros anarquistas? Comment les anarcho-capitalistes se comparent-ils aux autres anarchistes? Como os anarco-capitalistas se comparam a outros anarquistas? Wie vergleichen sich anarcho-kapitalisten mit anderen anarchisten? How environmentalism disdains the poor Cómo el ambientalismo desdeña a los pobres Comment l’environnementalisme méprise les pauvres Como o ambientalismo desdenha os pobres Wie umweltschutz die armen verachtet How free is the “free market”? ¿Qué tan libre es el “mercado libre”? Le “marché libre” est-il gratuit? Quão livre é o “mercado livre”? Wie frei ist der “freie Markt”? How government solved the health care crisis Cómo el gobierno resolvió la crisis de salud Comment le gouvernement a résolu la crise des soins de santé Como o governo resolveu a crise da saúde Wie die regierung die gesundheitskrise gelöst hat How might an anarchist society be achieved? ¿Cómo se puede lograr una sociedad anarquista? Comment une société anarchiste pourrait-elle être réalisée? Como uma sociedade anarquista pode ser alcançada? Wie könnte eine anarchistische gesellschaft erreicht werden? How might an anarcho-capitalist society be achieved? ¿Cómo se puede lograr una sociedad anarcocapitalista? Comment parvenir à une société anarcho-capitaliste? Como uma sociedade anarco-capitalista pode ser alcançada? Wie könnte eine anarcho-kapitalistische gesellschaft erreicht werden? How the free market works Cómo funciona el mercado libre Comment fonctionne le marché libre Como funciona o mercado livre Wie der freie markt funktioniert How the state destroys social cooperation Cómo el estado destruye la cooperación social Comment l’état détruit la coopération sociale Como o Estado destrói a cooperação social Wie der staat die soziale zusammenarbeit zerstört How the state thrives, how the state fails Cómo prospera el estado, cómo falla el estado Comment l’état prospère, comment l’état échoue Como o estado prospera, como o estado falha Wie der staat gedeiht, wie der staat versagt How to establish a government Cómo establecer un gobierno Comment établir un gouvernement Como estabelecer um governo Wie man eine regierung gründet How to prevent violent criminal behaviour in the next generation Cómo prevenir el comportamiento criminal violento en la próxima generación Comment prévenir les comportements criminels violents dans la prochaine génération Como evitar comportamentos criminosos violentos na próxima geração Wie man gewalttätiges kriminelles verhalten in der nächsten generation verhindert How would anarchists handle the public goods problem? ¿Cómo manejarían los anarquistas el problema de los bienes públicos? Comment les anarchistes géreraient-ils le problème des biens publics? Como os anarquistas lidariam com o problema dos bens públicos? Wie würden anarchisten mit dem problem der öffentlichen güter umgehen? How would anarcho-capitalism work? ¿Cómo funcionaría el anarcocapitalismo? Comment fonctionnerait le capitalisme anarcho? Como funcionaria o anarco capitalismo? Wie würde der anarchokapitalismus funktionieren? How would anarcho-capitalists handle the public goods problem? ¿Cómo manejarían los anarcocapitalistas el problema de los bienes públicos? Comment les anarcho-capitalistes traiteraient-ils le problème des biens publics? Como os anarco-capitalistas lidariam com o problema dos bens públicos? Wie würden anarcho-kapitalisten mit dem problem der öffentlichen güter umgehen? How would left anarchy work? ¿Cómo funcionaría la anarquía de izquierda? Comment fonctionnerait l'anarchie de gauche? Como a anarquia de esquerda funcionaria? Wie würde die anarchie funktionieren? Human nature La naturaleza humana Nature humaine Natureza humana Menschliche natur i suport publick skools apoyo a publick skools je soutiens les écoles publick eu apoio skools publick ich unterstütze publick skools I, Pencil Yo, Lápiz Moi, Crayon Eu Lápis Ich, Bleistift Ignorance of the law is an excuse La ignorancia de la ley es una excusa L’ignorance de la loi est une excuse A ignorância da lei é uma desculpa Unwissenheit über das gesetz ist eine entschuldigung Immigration controls are socialist Los controles de inmigración son socialistas Les contrôles de l’immigration sont socialistes Os controles de imigração são socialistas Einwanderungskontrollen sind sozialistisch Immigration: Anarchy worked Inmigración: La anarquía funcionó Immigration: L’anarchie a fonctionné Imigração: Anarquia trabalhou Einwanderung: Anarchie hat funktioniert Importing freedom Importando libertad Importer la liberté Importando liberdade Freiheit importieren In defence of anarchism En defensa del anarquismo Pour la défense de l’anarchisme Em defesa do anarquismo Zur verteidigung des anarchismus In defence of organ-legging En defensa de las piernas de órganos En défense du legging d’orgue Em defesa da legging de órgãos Zur verteidigung von organbeinen In search of the super villain En busca del super villano À la recherche du super méchant Em busca do super vilão Auf der suche nach dem superschurken Individual liberty Libertad individual Liberté individuelle Liberdade individual Individuelle freiheit Intellectual property without legislation Propiedad intelectual sin legislación Propriété intellectuelle sans législation Propriedade intelectual sem legislação Geistiges eigentum ohne gesetzgebung Interventionism Intervencionismo Interventionnisme Intervencionismo Interventionismus Is anarchism the same thing as libertarianism? ¿Es el anarquismo lo mismo que el libertarismo? L’anarchisme est-il la même chose que le libertarisme? Anarquismo é a mesma coisa que libertarianismo? Ist anarchismus dasselbe wie libertarismus? Is anarchism the same thing as socialism? ¿Es el anarquismo lo mismo que el socialismo? L’anarchisme est-il la même chose que le socialisme? Anarquismo é a mesma coisa que socialismo? Ist anarchismus dasselbe wie sozialismus? Is anarcho-capitalism the same thing as libertarianism? ¿Es el anarcocapitalismo lo mismo que el libertarismo? L'anarcho-capitalisme est-il la même chose que le libertarisme? Anarco-capitalismo é a mesma coisa que libertarianismo? Ist anarchokapitalismus dasselbe wie libertarismus? Is anarcho-capitalism utopian? ¿Es utópico el anarcocapitalismo? L’anarcho-capitalisme est-il utopique? O anarco-capitalismo é utópico? Ist der Anarcho-Kapitalismus utopisch? Is evil necessary? ¿Es necesario el mal? Le mal est-il nécessaire? O mal é necessário? Ist das böse notwendig? Is health care a human right? Es el cuidado de la salud un derecho humano? Les soins de santé sont-ils un droit humain? A saúde é um direito humano? Ist die gesundheitsversorgung ein menschenrecht? Is laissez faire capitalism exploitative? ¿El capitalismo de laissez faire es explotador? Le capitalisme du laissez-faire est-il exploiteur? O capitalismo do laissez faire é explorador? Ist der laissez-faire-kapitalismus ausbeuterisch? Is voting an act of violence? ¿Es votar un acto de violencia? Le vote est-il un acte de violence? O voto é um ato de violência? Ist das wählen ein akt der gewalt? Isn’t anarchism utopian? ¿No es utópico el anarquismo? L’anarchisme n’est-il pas utopique? O anarquismo não é utópico? Ist der anarchismus nicht utopisch? Judeo-Christian morality versus the free society La moral Judeocristiana frente a la sociedad libre Moralidade Judaico-Cristã versus sociedade livre Moralidade Judaico-Cristã versus sociedade livre Jüdisch-Christliche moral gegen die freie gesellschaft Justice Justicia Justice Justiça Gerechtigkeit Keep calm and forever libertarian Mantén la calma y por siempre libertario Restez calme et libertaire pour toujours Mantenha a calma e sempre libertário Bleib ruhig und für immer libertär Kill private capital, kill civilisation Mata capital privado, mata civilización Tuez des capitaux privés, tuez la civilisation Matar capital privado, matar civilização Töte privates kapital, töte die zivilisation Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Law enforcement socialism Socialismo de aplicación de la ley Socialisme répressif Socialismo policial Strafverfolgungssozialismus Law, property rights, and air pollution Ley, derechos de propiedad y contaminación del aire Loi, droits de propriété et pollution atmosphérique Lei, direitos de propriedade e poluição do ar Recht, eigentumsrechte und luftverschmutzung Libertarian anarchism: Responses to ten objections Anarquismo libertario: Respuestas a diez objeciones Anarchisme libertaire: Réponses à dix objections Anarquismo libertário: Respostas a dez objeções Libertärer anarchismus: Antworten auf zehn einwände Liberty as a lack of unchosen positive obligations La libertad como falta de obligaciones positivas no elegidas La liberté comme un manque d’obligations positives non choisies Liberdade como falta de obrigações positivas não escolhidas Freiheit als mangel an nicht gewählten positiven verpflichtungen Liberty for all means immigrants too Libertad para todos significa inmigrantes también La liberté pour tous signifie aussi l’immigration Liberdade para todos os meios também imigrantes Freiheit für alle bedeutet auch einwanderer Limited government Gobierno limitado Gouvernement limité Governo limitado Begrenzte regierung Limited government — A moral issue? Gobierno limitado: ¿Un problema moral? Un gouvernement limité — Une question morale? Governo limitado — Uma questão moral? Begrenzte Regierung — Eine moralische frage? Login Login Login Login Login Man, family, and state Hombre, familia y estado Homme, famille et état Homem, família e estado Mann, familie und staat Maps Maps Maps Maps Maps Market Mercado Marché Mercado Markt Market anarchism versus market statism Anarquismo de mercado versus estatismo de mercado L’anarchisme de marché contre l’étatisme de marché Anarquismo de mercado versus estatismo de mercado Marktanarchismus versus marktstatismus Market prices — Purpose versus arbitrariness Precios de mercado — Propósito versus arbitrariedad Prix du marché — But contre arbitraire Preços de mercado — Finalidade versus arbitrariedade Marktpreise — Zweck versus willkür Markets and freedom Mercados y libertad Marchés et liberté Mercados e liberdade Märkte und freiheit Marx as utopian Marx como utópico Marx comme utopiste Marx como utópico Marx als utopist Messages Messages Messages Messages Messages Meth and other drug war facts Metanfetamina y otros hechos de la guerra contra las drogas Meth et autres faits sur la guerre contre la drogue Metanfetamina e outros fatos da guerra às drogas Meth und andere fakten zum drogenkrieg Minarchism Minarquismo Minarchisme Minarquismo Minarchismus Minarchism versus anarchism Minarquismo versus anarquismo Minarchisme contre anarchisme Minarquismo versus anarquismo Minarchismus gegen anarchismus Minarchism: Ethically self-contradictory Minarquismo: Éticamente autocontradictorio Minarchisme: Éthiquement contradictoire Minarquismo: Éticamente auto-contraditório Minarchismus: Ethisch widersprüchlich Money Dinero Argent Dinheiro Geld Multimedia Multimedia Multimédia Multimídia Multimedia Music Music Music Music Music Natural law La Ley natural Loi naturelle Lei natural Naturgesetz Neither tax nor punishment Ni impuestos ni castigos Ni impôt ni punition Nem imposto nem punição Weder steuern noch strafen New Zealand’s path to prosperity began with rejecting democratic socialism El camino de Nueva Zelanda hacia la prosperidad comenzó con el rechazo del socialismo democrático La voie de la prospérité de la Nouvelle-Zélande a commencé par le rejet du socialisme démocratique O caminho da Nova Zelândia para a prosperidade começou com a rejeição do socialismo democrático Neuseelands weg zum wohlstand begann mit der ablehnung des demokratischen sozialismus News News News News News No rulers Sin gobernantes Pas de dirigeants Sem réguas Keine herrscher No treason: The constitution of no authority Sin traición: La constitución de ninguna autoridad Pas de trahison: La constitution d’aucune autorité Sem traição: A constituição de nenhuma autoridade Kein verrat: Die verfassung ohne autorität Notes Notes Notes Notes Notes Notifications Notifications Notifications Notifications Notifications Objective morality Moralidad objetiva Moralité objective Moralidade objetiva Objektive moral Objects are morally neutral Los objetos son moralmente neutros Les objets sont moralement neutres Objetos são moralmente neutros Objekte sind moralisch neutral On human nature Sobre la naturaleza humana Sur la nature humaine Sobre a natureza humana Über die menschliche natur On overcoming scarcity Sobre la superación de la escasez Surmonter la pénurie Superando a escassez Über die überwindung der knappheit On slavery in a free market Sobre la esclavitud en un mercado libre Sur l’esclavage dans un marché libre Sobre a escravidão em um mercado livre Über die sklaverei in einem freien markt On the meaning of voting Sobre el significado de votar Sur le sens du vote Sobre o significado da votação Über die bedeutung der abstimmung On the need for a final arbiter Sobre la necesidad de un árbitro final Sur la nécessité d'un arbitre final Sobre a necessidade de um árbitro final Über die notwendigkeit eines endgültigen schiedsrichters On the rule of law Sobre el estado de derecho Sur l’état de droit Sobre o estado de direito Rechtsstaatlichkeit On voting En la votación Sur le vote Na votação Bei der abstimmung Only cowards vote Solo los cobardes votan Seuls les lâches votent Somente covardes votam Nur feiglinge stimmen ab Open borders or no borders? ¿Fronteras abiertas o sin fronteras? Frontières ouvertes ou pas de frontières? Fronteiras abertas ou sem fronteiras? Offene grenzen oder keine grenzen? Ownership of the product by capitalists Propiedad del producto por los capitalistas Propriété du produit par les capitalistes Propriedade do produto pelos capitalistas Eigentum des produkts durch kapitalisten Pages Pages Pages Pages Pages Parents can trust kids to teach themselves Los padres pueden confiar en que los niños se enseñarán por sí mismos Les parents peuvent faire confiance aux enfants pour qu’ils apprennent eux-mêmes Os pais podem confiar que os filhos aprenderão a si mesmos Eltern können darauf vertrauen, dass kinder sich selbst unterrichten Phone Phone Phone Phone Phone Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Pixelater Pixelater Pixelater Pixelater Pixelater Plain talk about spanking Hablar claro de azotes Parler clairement de la fessée Discussão simples sobre palmada Einfach über spanking reden Podcasts Podcasts Podcasts Podcasts Podcasts Politics is the opiate of the masses La política es el opio de las masas La politique est l’opium des masses A política é o ópio das massas Politik ist das opiat der massen Positive “rights” “Derechos” positivos Des “droits” positifs “Direitos” positivos Positive “rechte” Power Poder Puissance Poder Leistung Pragmatic utilitarianism: A road to tyranny Utilitarismo pragmático: Un camino hacia la tiranía Utilitarisme pragmatique: Un chemin vers la tyrannie Utilitarismo pragmático: Um caminho para a tirania Pragmatischer utilitarismus: Ein weg zur tyrannei Principles, freedom, and you Principios, libertad y tu Principes, liberté et vous Princípios, liberdade e você Prinzipien, freiheit und du Private charity versus “public welfare” Caridad privada versus “bienestar público” Charité privée contre “bien-être public” Caridade privada versus “bem-estar público” Private Wohltätigkeit versus “Gemeinwohl” Private defence Defensa privada Défense privée Defesa privada Private verteidigung Private law Derecho privado Loi privée Lei privada Privatrecht Private property or possession: A synthesis Propiedad o posesión privada: Una síntesis Propriété ou possession privée: Une synthèse Propriedade ou posse privada: Uma síntese Privateigentum oder besitz: Eine synthese Productivity Productividad Productivité Produtividade Produktivität Publisher Publisher Publisher Publisher Publisher Punishment versus restitution: A formulation Castigo versus restitución: Una formulación Punition contre restitution: Une formulation Punição versus restituição: Uma formulação Bestrafung versus wiedergutmachung: Eine formulierung Pursuing justice in a free society Persiguiendo la justicia en una sociedad libre Poursuivre la justice dans une société libre Buscar a justiça em uma sociedade livre Streben nach gerechtigkeit in einer freien gesellschaft Religion Religión Religion Religião Religion Religion Religión Religion Religião Religion Reminders Reminders Reminders Reminders Reminders Resist injustice Resistir la injusticia Résister à l'injustice Resistir à injustiça Widerstehen sie der ungerechtigkeit Resist untruth Resistir la mentira Résister au mensonge Resista à mentira Widerstehen sie der unwahrheit The state: A review El estado: Una revisión L’état: Un bilan O estado: Uma revisão Der staat: Eine überprüfung Review: Universally Preferable Behaviour Revisión: Comportamiento Universalmente Preferible Révision: Comportement Universellement Préférable Revisão: Comportamento Universalmente Preferível Rückblick: Allgemein Bevorzugtes Verhalten Ricky Gervais on offence Ricky Gervais en ataque Ricky Gervais en attaque Ricky Gervais no ataque Ricky Gervais in der offensive Right, wrong, and the difference Bien, mal y la diferencia Bien, mal et la différence Certo, errado e a diferença Richtig, falsch und der unterschied Rights Derechos Droits Direitos Rechte Roads to serfdom Caminos a la servidumbre Les routes du servage Estradas para a servidão Wege zur leibeigenschaft Schools are outdated, it is time for reform Las escuelas están desactualizadas, es hora de una reforma Les écoles sont dépassées, il est temps de se réformer As escolas estão desatualizadas, é hora de reforma Schulen sind veraltet, es ist zeit für reformen Secular deities and the problem of humanism Deidades seculares y el problema del humanismo Divinités laïques et problème de l’humanisme Deidades seculares e o problema do humanismo Weltliche gottheiten und das problem des humanismus Self-ownership Propiedad propia Propriété de soi Propriedade própria Eigenverantwortung Settings Settings Settings Settings Settings Sheets Sheets Sheets Sheets Sheets Shell Cáscara Coquille Concha Schale Six lessons on the history and economics of taxation Seis lecciones sobre la historia y la economía de los impuestos Six leçons sur l’histoire et l’économie de la fiscalité Seis lições sobre história e economia da tributação Sechs lektionen zur geschichte und ökonomie der besteuerung Slavery contracts and inalienable rights: A formulation Contratos de esclavitud y derechos inalienables: Una formulación Contrats d’esclavage et droits inaliénables: Une formulation Contratos de escravidão e direitos inalienáveis: Uma formulação Sklaverei-verträge und unveräußerliche rechte: Eine formulierung Slides Slides Slides Slides Slides Smokescreen Smokescreen Smokescreen Smokescreen Smokescreen Social Social Social Social Social Social justice philosophy is a blank cheque for government power La filosofía de la justicia social es un cheque en blanco para el poder del gobierno La philosophie de justice sociale est un chèque en blanc pour le pouvoir gouvernemental A filosofia da justiça social é um cheque em branco para o poder do governo Die philosophie der sozialen gerechtigkeit ist ein blankoscheck für die macht der regierung Socialism of the right Socialismo de la derecha Socialisme de droite Socialismo de direita Sozialismus der rechten Society in jail Sociedad en la carcel Société en prison Sociedade na cadeia Gesellschaft im gefängnis Society without a state Sociedad sin estado Société sans état Sociedade sem estado Gesellschaft ohne staat Some mistakes of Moses Algunos errores de Moisés Quelques erreurs de Moïse Alguns erros de Moisés Einige fehler von Moses Sound Editor Sound Editor Sound Editor Sound Editor Sound Editor Stability and the free market Estabilidad y libre mercado Stabilité et marché libre Estabilidade e o mercado livre Stabilität und der freie markt Stateless dictatorships: How a free society prevents the re-emergence of a government Dictaduras sin estado: Cómo una sociedad libre evita el resurgimiento de un gobierno Dictatures apatrides: Comment une société libre empêche la réémergence d’un gouvernement Ditaduras apátridas: Como uma sociedade livre impede o ressurgimento de um governo Staatenlose diktaturen: Wie eine freie gesellschaft das wiederauftauchen einer regierung verhindert Stateless not lawless: Voluntaryism and arbitration Apátridas no sin ley: Voluntariado y arbitraje Apatrides pas sans loi: Volontariat et arbitrage Apátrida, não ilegal: Voluntariado e arbitragem Staatenlos nicht gesetzlos: Freiwilligkeit und schiedsgerichtsbarkeit Statist reasoning: Non-freedom for non-voters Razonamiento estadístico: No libertad para los no votantes Raisonnement étatique: Non-liberté pour les non-votants Raciocínio estatista: Não-liberdade para não-eleitores Statistische argumentation: Nichtfreiheit für nichtwähler Statist reasoning: Not me, but everybody else Razonamiento estadístico: No yo, sino todos los demás Raisonnement étatiste: Pas moi, mais tout le monde Raciocínio estatista: Não eu, mas todo mundo Statistische argumentation: Nicht ich, sondern alle anderen Stay positive Mantente positivo Reste positif Se mantenha positivo Bleib positiv Store Store Store Store Store Strong atheism Fuerte ateísmo Athéisme fort Ateísmo forte Starker atheismus Switch Switch Switch Switch Switch Symptoms of government meddling in health care Síntomas de intromisión del gobierno en la atención médica Symptômes d’ingérence du gouvernement dans les soins de santé Sintomas de intromissão do governo nos cuidados de saúde Symptome einer einmischung der regierung in die gesundheitsversorgung Tangled as political allegory Enredado como alegoría política Emmêlé comme allégorie politique Emaranhado como alegoria política Wirren als politische allegorie Tax is theft! Imposto é roubo! La taxe, c’est du vol! Imposto é roubo! Steuer ist diebstahl! Taxation Impuestos Imposition Imposto Besteuerung Taxation is robbery Los impuestos son robos La fiscalité est un vol Tributação é roubo Besteuerung ist raub Taxation is the lifeblood of the state Los impuestos son el elemento vital del estado La fiscalité est la pierre angulaire de l’état A tributação é a força vital do estado Steuern sind das lebenselixier des staates Taxation: Call it what it is Impuestos: llámalo como es Fiscalité: Appelez ça comme c’est Tributação: Chame do que é Besteuerung: Nennen sie es wie es ist Terminal Terminal Terminal Terminal Terminal Terrorists at the gate Terroristas en la puerta Terroristes à la porte Terroristas no portão Terroristen am tor Test Prueba Test Teste Prüfung The age of the suitcase nuke La edad de la maleta nuclear L’âge de la valise nuke A idade das armas nucleares da mala Das Alter der koffernuke The anarchism and minarchism blur El anarquismo y el minarquismo se difuminan L’anarchisme et le minarchisme se brouillent O anarquismo e o minarquismo se confundem Der anarchismus und der minarchismus verschwimmen The argument from morality El argumento de la moral L’argument de la morale O argumento da moralidade Das argument der moral The case for free immigration, the case against borders El caso de la inmigración libre, el caso contra las fronteras Les arguments en faveur d’une immigration libre, les arguments contre les frontières O caso da imigração livre, o caso contra as fronteiras Der fall für freie einwanderung, der fall gegen grenzen The crackdown on ‘price gouging’ helps no one, except politicians and the media La represión de la ‘subida de precios’ no ayuda a nadie, excepto a los políticos y los medios de comunicación La répression des ‘prix abusifs’ n’aide personne, sauf les politiciens et les médias A repressão à ‘manipulação de preços’ não ajuda ninguém, exceto políticos e a mídia Das vorgehen gegen ‘Preissenkungen’ hilft niemandem auber politikern und medien The decline and fall of private law in Iceland El declive y la caída del derecho privado en Islandia Le déclin et la chute du droit privé en Islande O declínio e queda do direito privado na Islândia Der niedergang und fall des privatrechts in Island The decline of morality in the west La decadencia de la moral en occidente Le déclin de la moralité à l’ouest O declínio da moralidade no oeste Der niedergang der moral im westen The economic tendency of free thought La tendencia económica del pensamiento libre La tendance économique de la libre pensée A tendência econômica do pensamento livre Die wirtschaftliche tendenz des freien denkens The end of the end-means dichotomy El fin de la dicotomía de los medios del fin La fin de la dichotomie de fin signifie O fim da dicotomia final significa Das ende des endes bedeutet dichotomie The environment’s true friends are libertarians Los verdaderos amigos del medio ambiente son libertarios Les vrais amis de l’environnement sont des libertaires Os verdadeiros amigos do meio ambiente são os libertários Die wahren freunde der umwelt sind libertäre The ethics of voluntaryism La ética del voluntariado L’éthique du volontariat A ética do voluntariado Die ethik des freiwilligendienstes The failure of American public education El fracaso de la educación pública estadounidense L’échec de l’éducation publique Américaine O fracasso da educação pública Americana Das scheitern der Amerikanischen öffentlichen bildung The Fed’s grasping invisible hand La mano invisible de la Reserva Federal La main invisible de la Fed A mão invisível do Fed Die Fed greift nach unsichtbarer hand The fundamentals of voluntaryism Los fundamentos del voluntariado Les fondamentaux du volontariat Os fundamentos do voluntariado Die grundlagen des freiwilligendienstes The gold standard El estándar de oro L’étalon-or O padrão ouro Der goldstandard The great infidels Los grandes infieles Les grands infidèles Os grandes infiéis Die groben ungläubigen The hidden cost of taxation El costo oculto de los impuestos Le coût caché de la fiscalité O custo oculto da tributação Die versteckten steuerkosten The immorality of the state La inmoralidad del estado L’immoralité de l’état A imoralidade do estado Die unmoral des staates The law La ley La loi A lei Das gesetz The libertarian immigration conundrum El enigma de la inmigración libertaria L’énigme de l’immigration libertaire O dilema da imigração libertária Das libertäre einwanderungsproblem The magical trillion dollar coin La moneda mágica de billones de dólares La pièce magique de mille milliards de dollars A moeda mágica de trilhões de dólares Die magische billionen-dollar-münze The meaning of Nagasaki El significado de Nagasaki La signification de Nagasaki O significado de Nagasaki Die bedeutung von Nagasaki The myth of the rule of law El mito del estado de derecho Le mythe de l'état de droit O mito do estado de direito Der mythos der rechtsstaatlichkeit The myth of the social contract El mito del contrato social Le mythe du contrat social O mito do contrato social Der mythos vom gesellschaftsvertrag The myth that Americans were poorly educated before mass government schooling El mito de que los estadounidenses tenían una educación deficiente antes de la escolarización pública masiva Le mythe selon lequel les Américains étaient mal éduqués avant l’école publique de masse O mito de que os americanos eram mal educados antes da escolarização pública em massa Der mythos, dass die Amerikaner vor dem schulbesuch der massenregierung schlecht ausgebildet waren The myth that the polar bear population is declining El mito de que la población de osos polares está disminuyendo Le mythe selon lequel la population d’ours polaires est en déclin O mito de que a população de ursos polares está diminuindo Der mythos, dass die eisbärenpopulation zurückgeht The nature and origin of money La naturaleza y el origen del dinero La nature et l’origine de l’argent A natureza e origem do dinheiro Die art und herkunft des geldes The nature of law La naturaleza de la ley La nature du droit A natureza da lei Die natur des gesetzes The origin of government authority El origen de la autoridad gubernamental L’origine de l’autorité gouvernementale A origem da autoridade governamental Der ursprung der regierungsbehörde The philosophy of atheism La filosofía del ateísmo La philosophie de l’athéisme A filosofia do ateísmo Die philosophie des atheismus The pluralism of liberty El pluralismo de la libertad Le pluralisme de la liberté O pluralismo da liberdade Der pluralismus der freiheit The power in money El poder en el dinero Le pouvoir en argent O poder do dinheiro Die macht im geld The prince El príncipe Le prince O príncipe Der prinz The private justice alternative La alternativa de la justicia privada L’alternative de justice privée A alternativa da justiça privada Die alternative zur privaten justiz The problem of environmental protection El problema de la protección del medio ambiente Le problème de la protection de l’environnement O problema da proteção ambiental Das problem des umweltschutzes The production of security La producción de seguridad La production de sécurité A produção de segurança Die produktion von sicherheit The real curriculum of “public” education El currículum real de la educación “pública” Le véritable curriculum de l’éducation “publique” O currículo real da educação “pública” Der eigentliche lehrplan der “öffentlichen” bildung The rule of law without the state El estado de derecho sin el estado L’état de droit sans l’état O estado de direito sem o estado Rechtsstaatlichkeit ohne staat The sacred green cow La sagrada vaca verde La vache verte sacrée A vaca verde sagrada Die heilige grüne kuh The second question La segunda pregunta La deuxième question A segunda questão Die zweite frage The state El estado L’état O estado Der staat The state cannot protect the environment — markets can El estado no puede proteger el medio ambiente — los mercados pueden L’État ne peut pas protéger l’environnement — les marchés peuvent O estado não pode proteger o meio ambiente — os mercados podem Der staat kann die umwelt nicht schützen — märkte können The state: Human parasite El estado: Parásito humano L’état: Parasite humain O estado: Parasita humano Der staat: Menschlicher parasit The stateless society La sociedad sin estado La société apatride A sociedade apátrida Die staatenlose gesellschaft The stateless society strikes back La sociedad apátrida contraataca La société apatride riposte A sociedade apátrida ataca Die staatenlose gesellschaft schlägt zurück The state’s education monopoly increases prices and destroys choice El monopolio educativo del estado aumenta los precios y destruye las opciones Le monopole de l’état sur l’éducation fait augmenter les prix et détruit le choix O monopólio da educação do estado aumenta os preços e destrói a escolha Das staatliche bildungsmonopol erhöht die preise und zerstört die wahlmöglichkeiten The statist mindset of anarchists La mentalidad estatista de los anarquistas La mentalité étatiste des anarchistes A mentalidade estatista dos anarquistas Die statistische denkweise der anarchisten The stone mover El motor de piedra Le déménageur de pierre O movedor de pedra Der steinmacher The Supreme Court case that gave the federal government nearly unlimited power El caso de la Corte Suprema que otorgó al gobierno federal un poder casi ilimitado L’affaire de la Cour suprême qui a donné au gouvernement fédéral un pouvoir presque illimité O caso da Suprema Corte que deu ao governo federal poderes quase ilimitados Der Fall des Obersten Gerichtshofs, der der bundesregierung nahezu unbegrenzte macht verlieh The theology of statism La teología del estatismo La théologie de l’étatisme A teologia do estatismo Die theologie des statismus The tragedy of political government La tragedia del gobierno político La tragédie du gouvernement politique A tragédia do governo político Die tragödie der politischen regierung The trouble with bureaucracy El problema con la burocracia Le problème avec la bureaucratie O problema com a burocracia Das problem mit der bürokratie The true history of ethics La verdadera historia de la ética La vraie histoire de l’éthique A verdadeira história da ética Die wahre geschichte der ethik The truth about anarchism La verdad sobre el anarquismo La vérité sur l’anarchisme A verdade sobre o anarquismo Die wahrheit über den anarchismus The unconstitutionality of the Constitution La inconstitucionalidad de la Constitución L’inconstitutionnalité de la Constitution A inconstitucionalidade da Constituição Die verfassungswidrigkeit der Verfassung The unprotected class La clase desprotegida La classe non protégée A classe desprotegida Die ungeschützte klasse The value of money El valor del dinero La valeur de l’argent O valor do dinheiro Der wert des geldes The voluntaryist spirit El espiritu voluntario L’esprit bénévole O espírito voluntário Der freiwillige geist The war prayer La oración de guerra La prière de guerre A oração de guerra Das kriegsgebet The why of homeschool El porqué de la educación en el hogar Le pourquoi de l’école-maison O porquê do homeschool Das warum der homeschool The world’s biggest oxymoron El oxímoron más grande del mundo Le plus grand oxymore du monde O maior oxímoro do mundo Das größte oxymoron der welt There’s no government like no government No hay gobierno como ningún gobierno Il n’y a pas de gouvernement comme aucun gouvernement Não há governo como nenhum governo Es gibt keine regierung wie keine regierung These cages are only for beasts Estas jaulas son solo para bestias Ces cages sont réservées aux bêtes Essas gaiolas são apenas para animais Diese käfige sind nur für bestien This is a government war Esta es una guerra del gobierno Ceci est une guerre gouvernementale Esta é uma guerra do governo Dies ist ein regierungskrieg This is why government should not be involved in health care Es por eso que el gobierno no debe involucrarse en la atención médica C’est pourquoi le gouvernement ne devrait pas être impliqué dans les soins de santé É por isso que o governo não deve se envolver na saúde Aus diesem grund sollte die regierung nicht in die gesundheitsversorgung einbezogen werden Thomas Sowell on politicians Thomas Sowell sobre los políticos Thomas Sowell sur les politiciens Thomas Sowell sobre políticos Thomas Sowell über politiker Thoughts on punishment Pensamientos sobre el castigo Réflexions sur la punition Pensamentos sobre punição Gedanken zur bestrafung Time to divorce marriage and government Hora de divorciarse del matrimonio y el gobierno Il est temps de divorcer du mariage et du gouvernement Hora de se divorciar do casamento e do governo Zeit, sich von ehe und regierung scheiden zu lassen Travel and labour should be peaceful Los viajes y el trabajo deberían ser pacíficos Les voyages et le travail doivent être pacifiques Viagens e trabalho devem ser pacíficos Reisen und arbeit sollten friedlich sein Truth or illusion Verdad o ilusión Vérité ou illusion Verdade ou ilusão Wahrheit oder illusion Understanding religion as child abuse Entendiendo la religión como abuso infantil Comprendre la religion comme un abus envers les enfants Entendendo a religião como abuso infantil Religion als kindesmissbrauch verstehen Utilities Utilidades Utilitaires Utilidades Dienstprogramme Vectoriser Vectoriser Vectoriser Vectoriser Vectoriser Vices are not crimes Los vicios no son crímenes Les vices ne sont pas des crimes Vícios não são crimes Laster sind keine verbrechen Videos Videos Videos Videos Videos Voice Memos Voice Memos Voice Memos Voice Memos Voice Memos Voluntary arrangements are essential to social trust and independence Los arreglos voluntarios son esenciales para la confianza social y la independencia Les arrangements volontaires sont essentiels à la confiance sociale et à l’indépendance Arranjos voluntários são essenciais para a confiança e independência social Freiwillige vereinbarungen sind für soziales vertrauen und unabhängigkeit von wesentlicher bedeutung Vote Nobody Votar Nadie Votez Personne Votar em Ninguém Stimmen sie Niemanden ab War Guerra Guerre Guerra Krieg War is a racket — made by government La guerra es una raqueta — hecha por el gobierno La guerre est une raquette — faite par le gouvernement A guerra é uma raquete — feita pelo governo Krieg ist ein schläger — von der regierung gemacht Weather Weather Weather Weather Weather What are first principles? ¿Qué son los primeros principios? Quels sont les premiers principes? Quais são os primeiros princípios? Was sind erste prinzipien? What are the major debates between anarchists? What are the recurring arguments? ¿Cuáles son los principales debates entre anarquistas? ¿Cuáles son los argumentos recurrentes? Quels sont les débats majeurs entre anarchistes? Quels sont les arguments récurrents? Quais são os principais debates entre anarquistas? Quais são os argumentos recorrentes? Was sind die hauptdebatten zwischen anarchisten? Was sind die wiederkehrenden argumente? What are the myths of socialism? ¿Cuáles son los mitos del socialismo? Quels sont les mythes du socialisme? Quais são os mitos do socialismo? Was sind die mythen des sozialismus? What are the myths of statism? ¿Cuáles son los mitos del estatismo? Quels sont les mythes de l’étatisme? Quais são os mitos do estatismo? Was sind die mythen des statismus? What big government is all about De que se trata el gran gobierno Qu’est-ce que le grand gouvernement? O que é grande governo Worum geht es in der groben regierung? What criticisms have been made of anarchism? ¿Qué críticas se han hecho al anarquismo? Quelles critiques ont été faites à l’anarchisme? Que críticas foram feitas ao anarquismo? Welche kritik wurde am anarchismus geäußert? What determines the value of money? Qué determina el valor del dinero? Qu’est-ce qui détermine la valeur de l’argent? O que determina o valor do dinheiro? Was bestimmt den wert des geldes? What does libertarian mean? ¿Qué significa libertario? Que signifie libertaire? O que significa libertário? Was bedeutet libertär? What has government done to our money ¿Qué ha hecho el gobierno a nuestro dinero? Qu’est-ce que le gouvernement a fait à notre argent O que o governo fez com o nosso dinheiro Was hat die regierung mit unserem geld gemacht? What if charity replaced taxation? Y si la caridad reemplazara los impuestos? Et si la charité remplaçait la fiscalité? E se a caridade substituísse a tributação? Was wäre, wenn die wohltätigkeit die besteuerung ersetzen würde? What is anarchism? What beliefs do anarchists share? ¿Qué es el anarquismo? ¿Qué creencias comparten los anarquistas? Qu’est-ce que l’anarchisme? Quelles croyances les anarchistes partagent-ils? O que é anarquismo? Quais crenças os anarquistas compartilham? Was ist anarchismus? Welche überzeugungen teilen anarchisten? What is anarchism? [01/14] ¿Qué es el anarquismo? [01/14] Qu’est-ce que l’anarchisme? [01/14] O que é anarquismo? [01/14] Was ist anarchismus? [01/14] What is anarchism? [02/14] ¿Qué es el anarquismo? [02/14] Qu’est-ce que l’anarchisme? [02/14] O que é anarquismo? [02/14] Was ist anarchismus? [02/14] What is anarchism? [03/14] ¿Qué es el anarquismo? [03/14] Qu’est-ce que l’anarchisme? [03/14] O que é anarquismo? [03/14] Was ist anarchismus? [03/14] What is anarchism? [04/14] ¿Qué es el anarquismo? [04/14] Qu’est-ce que l’anarchisme? [04/14] O que é anarquismo? [04/14] Was ist anarchismus? [04/14] What is anarchism? [05/14] ¿Qué es el anarquismo? [05/14] Qu’est-ce que l’anarchisme? [05/14] O que é anarquismo? [05/14] Was ist anarchismus? [05/14] What is anarchism? [06/14] ¿Qué es el anarquismo? [06/14] Qu’est-ce que l’anarchisme? [06/14] O que é anarquismo? [06/14] Was ist anarchismus? [06/14] What is anarchism? [07/14] ¿Qué es el anarquismo? [07/14] Qu’est-ce que l’anarchisme? [07/14] O que é anarquismo? [07/14] Was ist anarchismus? [07/14] What is anarcho–capitalism? What is anarcho–communism? What is authoritarian capitalism? What is authoritarian socialism? What is authority? ¿Qué es la autoridad? Qu’est-ce que l’autorité? O que é autoridade? Was ist autorität? What is centrism? ¿Qué es el centrismo? Qu’est-ce que le centrisme? O que é centrismo? Was ist zentrismus? What is communism? What is conservatism? What is corporatism? What is democratic socialism? What is exploitation? ¿Qué es la explotación? Qu’est-ce que l’exploitation? O que é exploração? Was ist ausbeutung? What is fascism? What is Georgism? What is international socialism? What is liberalism? What is libertarian capitalism? What is libertarian socialism? What is Marxism? What is minarchism? What is mutualism? What is national socialism? What is neo–conservatism? What is neo–liberalism? What is progressivism? What is property? ¿Qué es la propiedad? Qu’est-ce que la propriété? O que é propriedade? Was ist eigentum? What is social democracy? What is socialism? What is syndicalism? What is the free market? ¿Qué es el mercado libre? Qu'est-ce que le marché libre? O que é o mercado livre? Was ist der freie markt? What is the proper way to study man? ¿Cuál es la forma correcta de estudiar al hombre? Quelle est la bonne façon d’étudier l’homme? Qual é a maneira correta de estudar o homem? Was ist der richtige weg, um den menschen zu studieren? What justifications are there for anarcho-capitalism? ¿Qué justificaciones hay para el anarcocapitalismo? Quelles justifications y a-t-il pour l’anarcho-capitalisme? Quais são as justificativas para o anarco-capitalismo? Welche rechtfertigungen gibt es für den anarcho-kapitalismus? What major subdivisions may be made among anarchists? ¿Qué subdivisiones importantes se pueden realizar entre los anarquistas? Quelles subdivisions majeures peuvent être faites parmi les anarchistes? Quais subdivisões principais podem ser feitas entre os anarquistas? Welche hauptunterteilungen können unter anarchisten vorgenommen werden? What moral justifications have been offered for anarchism? ¿Qué justificaciones morales se han ofrecido al anarquismo? Quelles justifications morales ont été proposées pour l’anarchisme? Que justificativas morais foram oferecidas para o anarquismo? Welche moralischen rechtfertigungen wurden für den anarchismus angeboten? What other anarchist viewpoint are there? ¿Qué otro punto de vista anarquista hay? Quel autre point de vue anarchiste existe-t-il? Que outro ponto de vista anarquista existe? Welchen anderen anarchistischen standpunkt gibt es? What seventeenth century England’s state church had in common with today’s school systems Lo que la iglesia estatal de Inglaterra del siglo XVII tenía en común con los sistemas escolares actuales Ce que l’Église d’État britannique du XVIIe siècle avait en commun avec les systèmes scolaires actuels O que a igreja estatal da Inglaterra do século XVII tinha em comum com os sistemas escolares de hoje Was die englische staatskirche im 17 jahrhundert mit den heutigen schulsystemen gemeinsam hatte When is government a legitimate authority? ¿Cuándo es el gobierno una autoridad legítima? Quand le gouvernement est-il une autorité légitime? Quando o governo é uma autoridade legítima? Wann ist die regierung eine legitime autorität? Who are the major anarchist thinkers? ¿Quiénes son los principales pensadores anarquistas? Qui sont les principaux penseurs anarchistes? Quem são os principais pensadores anarquistas? Wer sind die wichtigsten anarchistischen denker? Who’s really being naive? ¿Quién es realmente ingenuo? Qui est vraiment naïf? Quem está realmente sendo ingênuo? Wer ist wirklich naiv? Who’s the Scrooge? Libertarians and compassion ¿Quién es el Scrooge? Libertarios y compasión Qui est le Scrooge? Libertariens et compassion Quem é o Scrooge? Libertários e compaixão Wer ist der Scrooge? Libertäre und mitgefühl Why should one consider anarchism in the first place? ¿Por qué debería uno considerar el anarquismo en primer lugar? Pourquoi devrait-on envisager l’anarchisme en premier lieu? Por que alguém deveria considerar o anarquismo em primeiro lugar? Warum sollte man überhaupt über anarchismus nachdenken? Why should one consider anarcho-capitalism? ¿Por qué debería uno considerar el anarcocapitalismo? Pourquoi envisager l’anarcho-capitalisme? Por que se deve considerar o anarco-capitalismo? Warum sollte man den anarchokapitalismus in betracht ziehen? Why socialism causes pollution Por qué el socialismo causa contaminación Pourquoi le socialisme cause la pollution Por que o socialismo causa poluição Warum sozialismus umweltverschmutzung verursacht Why this spek? ¿Por qué este spek? Pourquoi ce spek? Por que esse spek? Warum diese spek? Why war? Por qué la guerra? Pourquoi la guerre? Por que guerra? Warum krieg? Without firing a single shot Sin disparar un solo tiro Sans tirer un seul coup Sem disparar um único tiro Ohne einen einzigen schuss abzugeben You don’t own me No me tienes Tu ne m'appartiens pas Você não é meu dono Du besitzt mich nicht You don’t own other people No eres dueño de otras personas Vous ne possédez pas d’autres personnes Você não possui outras pessoas Sie besitzen keine anderen personen “Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilised society” — or are they? “Los impuestos son el precio que pagamos por vivir en una sociedad civilizada” — o no? ”Les impôts sont le prix à payer pour vivre dans une société civilisée“ — ou le sont-ils? “Os impostos são o preço que pagamos para viver em uma sociedade civilizada” — ou não? ”Steuern sind der preis, den wir zahlen, um in einer zivilisierten gesellschaft zu leben“ — oder doch?





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