o also reap a harvest at Christmas and Easter.
If gifts were given to show the generosity of the giver and for the benefit of all, little objection could be made, but the procedure is one of selfish promotion, with much show and sham.
Other commercial interests use religion as an aid to their advertising, and still others subsidize the churches so they can keep the people in ignorance and subjection.
Willard Price, an expert on the Japanese, tells how they controlled the formerly conquered Chinese with the physical drug of opium and the mental drug of Buddhism.
Down through the centuries, many selfish interests have organized to promote religion and to suppress opposition to it.
But all of these people are blind to the benefits of progress. Even those priests and preachers who fear to lose their lucrative positions and hence militantly fight for the propagation of their doctrines, would profit by the prosperity and the increase in intelligence which would prevail if religion were exposed and eliminated. The commercial interests which promote religion incidentally to selling their goods would likewise be more prosperous and safer if reason ruled the nations instead of religion.
God and the Atheists
God, according to the Christians, has created men who are atheists, who do not believe what the priests and preachers tell them; he has created sinners who do not know or do not understand his many conflicting commands.
Then God condemns all these persons to eternal hell fire, torture, and suffering. He is not satisfied with killing them, but wants to see them suffer for eternity. What an example of cruelty and hatred for a people to have set before them! What a fine way to encourage tolerance and a better world!
The Evidence for the Existence
of God is Worse Than Flimsy
Any so-called evidence of God is only hearsay. We must believe someone else's statement that there is a God. He cannot be seen nor heard. We have stories in the Bible saying some of the old prophets saw him. But the same Bible says, "No man hath seen God." So the Bible itself contradicts those who had boasted of seeing God. One mail order book seller advertises that he has talked with God. But until an individual has some definite knowledge of God, he should be doubtful of the claims of the prophets past or present. Most preachers and priests base their knowledge of God on what they have read in the Bible.
Others say every tree and stone and the earth itself is evidence of God. Look at the stars. Each one of the billions of them is a sun. Around some of the suns there are probably planets like our earth, so on to infinity. The Bible, written by ignorant, primitive Jews, claims that man was made in the image of God. Can any sensible person conceive of a God who controls the infinite universe looking like an ancient Jew, or any other man?
Hearsay, so-called circumstantial evidence (it isn't even that), faith, these we are called upon to consider as proof of God's existence. We cannot have him deliver a speech to us as the leaders of nations do over the radio. Nor can we see his picture as we do of a president or a king. He does not appear to us in the heavens, nor does he write inscriptions nor letters to us. If anyone was to tell us that some man with great influence had given us certain rules and regulations we would want to see him or his authority, or hear him. By using the same common sense we use regarding sea serpents and ghosts, we would come to the conclusion that God does not exist. Try to prove the existence of a ghost in a law court and you will be considered a fool.
The truth is that priests and preachers want us to believe what they tell us, and they do not want us to inquire into the truth of their stories, because they fear investigation will disclose them to be fakers. They want us to believe what they tell us so they will be able to have power over us, to control us, and to collect tithes, dues and contributions from us. All of their mysticism, ritual and "monkey shines" are for the purpose of keeping their influence over the minds of their igno