Chapter I: Part 1

GOOD SENSE WITHOUT GOD:

OR

FREETHOUGHTS OPPOSED TO SUPERNATURAL IDEAS

By Baron D'holbach

"Freethinker's Library" Series

London: W. Stewart & Co.

A Translation Of Baron D'holbach's "Le Bon Sens"

Transcriber's note: this e-text is based on an undated English translation of "Le Bon Sens" published c. 1900. The name of the translator was not stated.

"_Atheism_ leaves men to Sense, to Philosophy, to Laws, to
Reputation, all which may be guides to moral Virtue, tho'
Religion were not: but Superstition dismounts all these, and
erects an absolute Monarchy in the Minds of Men. Therefore,
Atheism did never perturb States; but Superstition hath been
the confusion of many. The causes of Superstition are
pleasing and sensual rights, and Ceremonies; Excess of
Pharisaical and outside holiness, Reverence to Traditions
and the stratagems of Prelates for their own Ambition and
Lucre."--_Lord Bacon._

CONTENTS

1. APOLOGUE

2. What is Theology?

3. What is Theology?

4. Man is not born with any ideas of Religion

5. It is not necessary to believe in a God

6. Religion is founded on credulity

7. All religion is an absurdity

8. The idea of God is impossible

9. On the Origin of Superstition

10. On the Origin of all Religion

11. Religious fears expose men to become a prey to imposters

12. Religion seduces ignorance by the aid of the marvellous

13. Religion seduces ignorance by the aid of the marvellous

14. No Religion, if not ages of Stupidity and Barbarism

15. All Religion was produced by the desire of domination

16. What serves as a basis to Religion is most uncertain

17. It is impossible to be convinced of the existence of a God

18. It is impossible to be convinced of the existence of a God

19. The existence of God is not proved

20. It explains nothing to say, that God is a spirit

21. Spirituality is an absurdity

22. Whatever exists is derived from Matter

23. What is the metaphysical God of modern Theology?

24. Less unreasonable to adore the Sun, than adore a spiritual Deity

25. A spiritual Deity is incapable of volition and action

26. What is God?

27. Some remarkable Contradictions in Theology

28. To adore God, is to adore a fiction

29. Atheism is authorised by the infinity of God

30. Believing not safer than not believing in God

31. Belief in God is a habit acquired in infancy

32. Belief in God is a prejudice ov successive generations

33. On the Origin of Prejudices

34. On the effects of Prejudices

35. Theology must be instilled before the age of reason

36. The wonders of nature do not prove the existence of God

37. Nature may be explained by natural causes

38. Nature may be explained by natural causes

39. The world has never been created: Matter moves of itself

40. The world has never been created: Matter moves of itself

41. Motion is essential to Matter: no Spiritual Mover

42. The existence of Man does not prove the existence of God

43. Neither Man nor the Universe are the effects of chance

44. Order of the Universe does not prove the existence of a God

45. Order of the Universe does not prove the existence of a God

46. Absurd to adore a divine intelligence

47. Qualities given God contrary to the Essence attributed to him

48. Qualities given God contrary to the Essence attributed to him

49. Absurd to say that the human race is the object of the Universe

50. God is not made for Man, nor Man for God

51. Untrue that the object of the Universe was to render Man happy

52. What is called Providence is a word without meaning

53. This pretended Providence is the enemy of Man

54. The world is not governed by an intelligent being

55. God cannot be considered immutable

56. Good and evil are the necessary effects of natural causes

57. The consolations of Theology and paradise are imaginary

58. Another romantic reverie

59. Vain that Theology attempts to clear its God from human defects

60. Impossible to believe God is of infinite goodness and power

61. Impossible to believe God is of infinite goodness and power

62. Theology's God a monster of absurdity and injustice

63. All Religion inspires contemptible fears

64. Religion, the same as the most somber and servile Superstition

65. The love of God is impossible

66. An eternally tormenting God is a most detestable being

67. Theology is a tissue of palpable contradictions

68. The pretended works of God do not prove Divine Perfections

69. The perfection of God and the pretended creation of angels

70. Theology preaches Omnipotence of its God, yet makes impotent

71. Per all religious systems, God is capricious and foolish

72. It is absurd to say that Evil does not proceed from God

73. The foreknowledge of God proves his cruelty

74. Absurdity of the stories concerning Original Sin, and Satan

75. The Devil, like Religion, was invented to enrich the priests

76. God has no right to punish man

77. It is absurd to say, that the conduct of God a mystery

78. Ought we look for consolation, from the author of our misery?

79. God who punishes the faults which he might have prevented

80. What is called Free Will is an absurdity

81. But we must not conclude that Society has no right to punish

82. Refutation of the arguments in favour of Free Will

83. Refutation of the arguments in favour of Free Will

84. God, if there were a God, would not be free

85. According to Theology, man is not free a single instant

86. There is no evil, and no sin, but must be attributed to God

87. The prayers prove dissatisfaction of the divine will

88. Absurd to imagine repair of misfortune in another world

89. Theology justifies the evil permitted by its God

90. Jehovah, exterminations prove an unjust and barbarous God

91. Is God a generous, equitable, and tender father?

92. Man's life, deposes against goodness of a pretended God

93. We owe no gratitude to what is called _Providence_

94. It is folly to suppose that Man is the favourite of God

95. A comparison between Man and brutes

96. There are no animals so detestable as Tyrants

97. A refutation of the excellence of Man

98. An oriental Tale

99. It is madness to see nothing but the goodness of God

100. What is the Soul?

101. The existence of a _Soul_ is an absurd supposition

102. It is evident that Man dies _in toto_

103. Incontestible arguments against the Spirituality of the Soul

104. On the absurdity of the supernatural causes

105. It is false that Materialism degrades

106. It is false that Materialism degrades

107. Idea of future life only useful to priest's trade

108. It is false that the idea of a future life is consoling

109. All religious principles are derived from the imagination

110. Religion a system to reconciles contradictions by mysteries

111. Absurdity of all Mysteries, invented for the interests of Priests

112, Absurdity of all Mysteries, invented for the interests of Priests

113. Absurdity of all Mysteries, invented for the interests of Priests

114. An universal God ought to have revealed an universal Religion

115. Religion is unnecessary, as it is unintelligible

116. All Religions are rendered ridiculous by the multitude of creeds

117. Opinion of a famous Theologian

118. The God of the Deists is not less contradictory

119. Aged belief in a Deity does not prove the existence of God

120. All Gods are savage: all Religions are monuments of ignorance

121. All religious usages bear marks of stupidity and barbarism

122. The more a religion is ancient and general, the more suspect

123. Scepticism in religious matters from very superficial study

124. Revelations examined

125. Where is the proof that God ever shewed himself or spoke to Men

126. There is nothing that proves miracles to have been ever performed

127. Strange that God spoke differently to different sects

128. Obscurity and suspicious origin of oracles

129. Absurdity of all miracles

130. Refutation of the reasoning of Pascal on miracles

131. Every new revelation is necessarily false

132. Blood of martyrs testifies _against_ the truth of miracles

133. Fanaticism of martyrs, and the interested zeal of missionaries

134. Theology makes its God an enemy to Reason and Common Sense

135. Faith irreconcilable with Reason; and Reason preferable to Faith

136. To what absurd and ridiculous sophisms the religious are reduced

137. Ought a man to believe, on the assurance of another man

138. Faith can take root only in feeble, ignorant, or slothful minds

139. That one Religion has greater pretensions to truth an absurdity

140. Religion is unnecessary to Morality

141. Religion the weakest barrier that can be opposed to the passions

142. Honour is a more salutary and powerful bond than Religion

143. Religion does not restrain the passions of kings

144. Origin of "the divine right of kings"

145. Religion is fatal to political ameliorations

146. Christianity preaching implicit obedience to despotism

147. One object of religious principles: eternize the tyranny of kings

148. Fatal it is to persuade kings they are responsible to God alone

149. A devout king is the scourge of his kingdom

150. Tyranny finds Religion a weak obstacle to the despair of the people

151. Religion favours the wickedness of princes

152. What is an enlightened Sovereign?

153. Of the prevailing passions and crimes of the priesthood

154. The quackery of priests

155. Religion has corrupted Morality, and produced innumerable evils

156. Every Religion is intolerant

157. The evils of a state Religion

158. Religion legitimates and authorizes crime

159. The argument, that evils attributed to Religion are faults of men

160. Religion is incompatible with Morality

161. The Morality of the Gospel is impracticable

162. A society of Saints would be impossible

163. Human nature is not depraved

164. Concerning the effects of Jesus Christ's mission

165. The remission of sins was invented for the interest of priests

166. Who fear God?

167. Hell is an absurd invention

168. The bad foundation of religious morals

169. Christian Charity, as preached and practised by Theologians!!!

170. Confession, priestcraft's gold mine

171. Supposition of the existence of a God unnecessary to Morality

172. Supernatural Morality are fatal to the public welfare

173. The union of Church and State is a calamity

174. National Religions are ruinous

175. Religion paralyses Morality

176. Fatal consequences of Devotion

177. The idea of a future life is not consoling to man

178. An Atheist is fully as conscientious as a religious man

179. An Atheistical king far preferable to a religious king

180. Philosophy produces Morality

181. Religious opinions have little influence upon conduct

182. Reason leads man to Atheism

183. Fear alone makes Theists

184. Can we, and ought we, to love God?

185. God and Religion are proved to be absurdities

186. The existence of God, has not yet been demonstrated

187. Priests are more actuated by self-interest, than unbelievers

188. Presumption, and badness, more in priests, than in Atheists

189. Prejudices last but for a time

190. What if priests the apostles of reason

191. If Philosophy were substituted for Religion!

192. Recantation of an unbeliever at the point of death proves nothing

193. It is not true that Atheism breaks the bonds of society

194. Refutation of the opinion, that Religion necessary for the vulgar

195. Logical systems are not adapted to the capacity of the vulgar

196. On the futility and danger of Theology

197. On the evils produced by implicit faith

198. On the evils produced by implicit faith

199. All Religions were established by impostors, in days of ignorance

200. All Religions borrow from one another ridiculous ceremonies

201. Theology has always diverted philosophy from its right path

202. Theology explains nothing

203. Theology has always fettered Morality, and retarded progress

204. Theology has always fettered Morality, and retarded progress

205. Religion is an extravagance and a calamity

206. Religion prevents us from seeing the true causes of misfortunes

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

The chief design in reprinting this translation, is to preserve "_the strongest atheistical work_" for present and future generations of English Freethinkers.

The real author was, unquestionably, Paul Thyry; Baron D'Holbach, and not John Meslier, to whom this work has been wrongly attributed, under the title of "Le Bon Sens" (Common Sense).

In 1770, Baron D'Holbach published his masterpiece, "Systeme de la Nature," which for a long time passed as the posthumous work of M. de Mirabaud. That text-book of "Atheistical Philosophy" caused a great sensation, and two years later, 1772, the Baron published this excellent abridgment of it, freed from arbitrary ideas; and by its clearness of expression, facility, and precision of style, rendered it most suitable for the average student.

"Le Bon Sens" was privately printed in Amsterdam, and the author's name was kept a profound secret; hence, Baron D'Holbach escaped persecution.

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE

When we examine the opinions of men, we find that nothing is more uncommon, than common sense; or, in other words, they lack judgment to discover plain truths, or to reject absurdities, and palpable contradictions. We have an example of this in Theology, a system revered in all countries by a great number of men; an object regarded by them as most important, and indispensable to happiness. An examination of the principles upon which this pretended system is founded, forces us to acknowledge, that these principles are only suppositions, imagined by ignorance, propagated by enthusiasm or knavery, adopted by timid credulity, preserved by custom which never reasons, and revered solely because not understood.

In a word, whoever uses common sense upon religious opinions, and will bestow on this inquiry the attention that is commonly given to most subjects, will easily perceive that Religion is a mere castle in the air. Theology is ignorance of natural causes; a tissue of fallacies and contradictions. In every country, it presents romances void of probability, the hero of which is composed of impossible qualities. His name, exciting fear in all minds, is only a vague word, to which, men affix ideas or qualities, which are either contradicted by facts, or inconsistent.

Notions of this being, or rather, _the word_ by which he is designated, would be a matter of indifference, if it did not cause innumerable ravages in the world. But men, prepossessed with the opinion that this phantom is a reality of the greatest interest, instead of concluding wisely from its incomprehensibility, that they are not bound to regard it, infer on the contrary, that they must contemplate it, without ceasing, and never lose sight of it. Their invincible ignorance, upon this subject, irritates their curiosity; instead of putting them upon guard against their imagination, this ignorance renders them decisive, dogmatic, imperious, and even exasperates them against all, who oppose doubts to the reveries which they have begotten.

What perplexity arises, when it is required to solve an insolvable problem; unceasing meditation upon an object, impossible to understand, but in which however he thinks himself much concerned, cannot but excite man, and produce a fever in his brain. Let interest, vanity, and ambition, co-operate ever so little with this unfortunate turn of mind, and society must necessarily be disturbed. This is the reason that so many nations have often been the scene of extravagances of senseless visionaries, who, believing their empty speculations to be eternal truths, and publishing them as such, have kindled the zeal of princes and their subjects, and made them take up arms for opinions, represented to them as essential to the glory of the Deity. In all parts of our globe, fanatics have cut each other's throats, publicly burnt each other, committed without a scruple and even as a duty, the greatest crimes, and shed torrents of blood. For what? To strengthen, support, or propagate the impertinent conjectures of some enthusiasts, or to give validity to the cheats of impostors, in the name of a being, who exists only in their imagination, and who has made himself known only by the ravages, disputes, and follies, he has caused.

Savage and furious nations, perpetually at war, adore, under divers names, some God, conformable to their ideas, that is to say, cruel, carnivorous, selfish, blood-thirsty. We find, in all the religions, "a God of armies," a "jealous God," an "avenging God," a "destroying God," a "God," who is pleased with carnage, and whom his worshippers consider it a duty to serve. Lambs, bulls, children, men, and women, are sacrificed to him. Zealous servants of this barbarous God think themselves obliged even to offer up themselves as a sacrifice to him. Madmen may everywhere be seen, who, after meditating upon their terrible God, imagine that to please him they must inflict on themselves, the most exquisite torments. The gloomy ideas formed of the deity, far from consoling them, have every where disquieted their minds, and prejudiced follies destructive to happiness.

How could the human mind progress, while tormented with frightful phantoms, and guided by men, interested in perpetuating its ignorance and fears? Man has been forced to vegetate in his primitive stupidity: he has been taught stories about invisible powers upon whom his happiness was supposed to depend. Occupied solely by his fears, and by unintelligible reveries, he has always been at the mercy of priests, who have reserved to themselves the right of thinking for him, and of directing his actions.

Thus, man has remained a slave without courage, fearing to reason, and unable to extricate himself from the labyrinth, in which he has been wandering. He believes himself forced under the yoke of his gods, known to him only by the fabulous accounts given by his ministers, who, after binding each unhappy mortal in the chains of prejudice, remain his masters, or else abandon him defenceless to the absolute power of tyrants, no less terrible than the gods, of whom they are the representatives.

Oppressed by the double yoke of spiritual and temporal power, it has been impossible for the people to be happy. Religion became sacred, and men have had no other Morality, than what their legislators and priests brought from the unknown regions of heaven. The human mind, confused by theological opinions, ceased to know its own powers, mistrusted experience, feared truth and disdained reason, in order to follow authority. Man has been a mere machine in the hands of tyrants and priests. Always treated as a slave, man has contracted the vices of slavery.

Such are the true causes of the corruption of morals. Ignorance and servitude are calculated to make men wicked and unhappy. Knowledge, Reason, and Liberty, can alone reform and make men happier. But every thing conspires to blind them, and to confirm their errors. Priests cheat them, tyrants corrupt and enslave them. Tyranny ever was, and ever will be, the true cause of man's depravity, and also of his calamities. Almost always fascinated by religious fiction, poor mortals turn not their eyes to the natural and obvious causes of their misery; but attribute their vices to the imperfection of their natures, and their unhappiness to the anger of the gods. They offer to heaven vows, sacrifices, and presents, to obtain the end of sufferings, which in reality, are attributable only to the negligence, ignorance, and perversity of their guides, to the folly of their customs, and above all, to the general want of knowledge. Let men's minds be filled with true ideas; let their reason be cultivated; and there will be no need of opposing to the passions, such a feeble barrier, as the fear of gods. Men will be good, when they are well instructed; and when they are despised for evil, or justly rewarded for good, which they do to their fellow citizens.

In vain should we attempt to cure men of their vices, unless we begin by curing them of their prejudices. It is only by showing them the truth, that they will perceive their true interests, and the real motives that ought to incline them to do good. Instructors have long enough fixed men's eyes upon heaven; let them now turn them upon earth. An incomprehensible theology, ridiculous fables, impenetrable mysteries, puerile ceremonies, are to be no longer endured. Let the human mind apply itself to what is natural, to intelligible objects, truth, and useful knowledge.

Does it not suffice to annihilate religious prejudice, to shew, that what is inconceivable to man, cannot be good for him? Does it require any thing, but plain common sense, to perceive, that a being, incompatible with the most evident notions--that a cause continually opposed to the effects which we attribute to it--that a being, of whom we can say nothing, without falling into contradiction--that a being, who, far from explaining the enigmas of the universe, only makes them more inexplicable--that a being, whom for so many ages men have vainly addressed to obtain their happiness, and the end of sufferings--does it require, I say, any thing but plain, common sense, to perceive--that the idea of such a being is an idea without model, and that he himself is merely a phantom of the imagination? Is any thing necessary but common sense to perceive, at least, that it is folly and madness for men to hate and damn one another about unintelligible opinions concerning a being of this kind? In short, does not every thing prove, that Morality and Virtue are totally incompatible with the notions of a God, whom his ministers and interpreters have described, in every country, as the most capricious, unjust, and cruel of tyrants, whose pretended will, however, must serve as law and rule the inhabitants of the earth?

To discover the true principles of Morality, men have no need of theology, of revelation, or of gods: They have need only of common sense. They have only to commune with themselves, to reflect upon their own nature, to consider the objects of society, and of the individuals, who compose it; and they will easily perceive, that virtue is advantageous, and vice disadvantageous to themselves. Let us persuade men to be just, beneficent, moderate, sociable; not because such conduct is demanded by the gods, but, because it is pleasant to men. Let us advise them to abstain from vice and crime; not because they will be punished in another world, but because they will suffer for it in this.--_These are,_ says Montesquieu, _means to prevent crimes--these are punishments; these reform manners--these are good examples._

The way of truth is straight; that of imposture is crooked and dark. Truth, ever necessary to man, must necessarily be felt by all upright minds; the lessons of reason are to be followed by all honest men. Men are unhappy, only because they are ignorant; they are ignorant, only because every thing conspires to prevent their being enlightened; they are wicked only because their reason is not sufficiently developed.

By what fatality then, have the first founders of all sects given to their gods ferocious characters, at which nature revolts? Can we imagine a conduct more abominable, than that which Moses tells us his God showed towards the Egyptians, where that assassin proceeds boldly to declare, in the name and by the order of _his God_, that Egypt shall be afflicted with the greatest calamities, that can happen to man? Of all the different ideas, which they give us of a supreme being, of a God, creator and preserver of mankind, there are none more horrible, than those of the impostors, who represented themselves as inspired by a divine spirit, and "Thus saith the Lord."

Why, O theologians! do you presume to inquire into the impenetrable mysteries of a being, whom you consider inconceivable to the human mind? You are the blasphemers, when you imagine that a being, perfect according to you, could be guilty of such cruelty towards creatures whom he has made out of nothing. Confess, your ignorance of a creating God; and cease meddling with mysteries, which are repugnant to _Common Sense_.

DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS GIVEN IN THE FRENCH EDITION

Section

1. APOLOGUE

2, 3. What is Theology?

4. Man is not born with any ideas of Religion

5. It is not necessary to believe in a God

6. Religion is founded on credulity

7. All religion is an absurdity

8. The idea of God is impossible

9. On the Origin of Superstition

10. On the Origin of all Religion

11. Religious fears expose men to become a prey to imposters

12, 13. Religion seduces ignorance by the aid of the marvellous

14. There would never have been any Religion, if there had not been
ages of Stupidity and Barbarism

15. All Religion was produced by the desire of domination

16. What serves as a basis to Religion is most uncertain

17, 18. It is impossible to be convinced of the existence of a God

19. The existence of God is not proved

20. It explains nothing to say, that God is a spirit

21. Spirituality is an absurdity

22. Whatever exists is derived from Matter

23. What is the metaphysical God of modern Theology?

24. It would be less unreasonable to adore the Sun, than to adore
a spiritual Deity

25. A spiritual Deity is incapable of volition and action

26. What is God?

27. Some remarkable Contradictions in Theology

28. To adore God, is to adore a fiction

29. Atheism is authorised by the infinity of God, and the impossibility
of knowing the Divine essence

30. Believing in God is neither safer nor less criminal than not
believing in him

31. Belief in God is a habit acquired in infancy

32. Belief in God is a prejudice established by successive generations

33. On the Origin of Prejudices

34. On the effects of Prejudices

35. The Religious principles of modern Theology could not be believed
if they were not instilled into the mind before the age of reason

36. The wonders of nature do not prove the existence of God

37, 38. Nature may be explained by natural causes

39, 40. The world has never been created: Matter moves of itself

41. Additional proofs that motion is essential to Matter, and that
consequently it is unnecessary to imagine a Spiritual Mover

42. The existence of Man does not prove the existence of God

43. Nevertheless, neither Man nor the Universe are the effects of chance

44, 45. The order of the Universe does not prove the existence of a God

46. A Spirit cannot be intelligent it is absurd to adore a divine
intelligence

47, 48. All the qualities, which Theology gives to its God are contrary
to the Essence which is attributed to him

49. It is absurd to say that the human race is the object and end
of the formation of the Universe

50. God is not made for Man, nor Man for God

51. It is not true that the object of the formation of the Universe
was to render Man happy

52. What is called Providence is a word without meaning

53. This pretended Providence is the enemy of Man

54. The world is not governed by an intelligent being

55. God cannot be considered immutable

56. Good and evil are the necessary effects of natural causes.
What is a God that cannot change any thing?

57. The consolations of Theology and the hope of paradise and of
a future life, are imaginary

58. Another romantic reverie

59. It is in vain that Theology attempts to clear its God from human
defects: either this God is not free, or else he is more wicked
than good

60, 61. It is impossible to believe that there exists a God of
infinite goodness and power

62. Theology makes its God a monster of absurdity, injustice,
malice, and atrocity

63. All Religion inspires contemptible fears

64. There is no difference between Religion, and the most somber
and servile Superstition

65. To judge from the ideas which Theology gives of the Deity, the
love of God is impossible

66. An eternally tormenting God is a most detestable being

67. Theology is a tissue of palpable contradictions

68. The pretended works of God do not prove Divine Perfections

69. The perfection of God is not rendered more evident by the
pretended creation of angels

70. Theology preaches the Omnipotence of its God, yet constantly
makes him appear impotent

71. According to all religious systems, God would be the most
capricious and most foolish of beings

72. It is absurd to say that Evil does not proceed from God

73. The foreknowledge attributed to God would give men a right
to complain of his cruelty

74. Absurdity of the theological stories concerning Original Sin,
and concerning Satan

75. The Devil, like Religion, was invented to enrich the priests

76. If God has been unable to render human nature incapable of sin,
he has no right to punish man

77. It is absurd to say, that the conduct of God ought to be a mystery
for man

78. Ought the unfortunate look for consolation, to the sole author
of their misery

79. A God, who punishes the faults which he might have prevented,
is a mad tyrant, who joins injustice to folly

80. What is called Free Will is an absurdity

81. But we must not conclude that Society has no right to punish

82, 83. Refutation of the arguments in favour of Free Will

84. God himself, if there were a God, would not be free: hence the
inutility of all Religion

85. According to the principles of Theology, man is not free a
single instant

86. There is no evil, no disorder, and no sin, but must be attributed
to God: consequently God has no right either to punish or recompence

87. The prayers offered to God sufficiently prove dissatisfaction of
the divine will

88. It is the height of absurdity to imagine, that the injuries and
misfortunes, endured in this world, will be repaired in another world

89. Theology justifies the evil and the wickedness, permitted by its God,
only by attributing to him the principle, that "Might makes Right,"
which is the violation of all Right

90. The absurd doctrine of Redemption, and the frequent exterminations
attributed to Jehovah, impress one with the idea of an unjust and
barbarous God

91. Can a being, who has called us into existence merely to make us
miserable, be a generous, equitable, and tender father?

92. Man's life, and all that occurs, deposes against the liberty of Man,
and against the justice and goodness of a pretended God

93. It is not true, that we owe any gratitude to what is called
_Providence_

94. It is folly to suppose that Man is the king of nature, the favourite
of God, and unique object of his labours

95. A comparison between Man and brutes

96. There are no animals so detestable as Tyrants

97. A refutation of the excellence of Man

98. An oriental Tale

99. It is madness to see nothing but the goodness of God, or to think
that this universe is only made for Man

100. What is the Soul?

101. The existence of a _Soul_ is an absurd supposition; and the existence
of an _immortal_ Soul still more absurd

102. It is evident that Man dies _in toto_

103. Incontestible arguments against the Spirituality of the Soul

104. On the absurdity of the supernatural causes, to which Theologians
are constantly having recourse

105, 106. It is false that Materialism degrades

107. The idea of a future life is only useful to those, who trade on
public credulity

108. It is false that the idea of a future life is consoling

109. All religious principles are derived from the imagination.
God is a chimera; and the qualities, attributed to him,
reciprocally destroy one another

110. Religion is but a system imagined in order to reconcile
contradictions by the aid of mysteries

111, 112, 113. Absurdity and inutility of all Mysteries, which were only
invented for the interests of Priests

114. An universal God ought to have revealed an universal Religion

115. What proves, that Religion is unnecessary, is, that it is
unintelligible

116. All Religions are rendered ridiculous by the multitude of creeds,
all opposite to one another, and all equally foolish

117. Opinion of a famous Theologian

118. The God of the Deists is not less contradictory, nor less chimerical
than the God of the Christians

119. It by no means proves the existence of God to say, that, in every
age, all nations have acknowledged some Deity or other

120. All Gods are of a savage origin: all Religions are monuments of
the ignorance, superstition, and ferocity of former times: modern
Religions are but ancient follies, re-edited with additions and
corrections

121. All religious usages bear marks of stupidity and barbarism

122. The more a religious opinion is ancient and general, the more it
ought to be suspected

123. Mere scepticism in religious matters, can only be the effect of
a very superficial examination

124. Revelations examined

125. Where is the proof that God ever shewed himself to Men, or ever
spoke to them?

126. There is nothing that proves miracles to have been ever performed

127. If God has spoken, is it not strange that he should have spoken
so differently to the different religious sects?

128. Obscurity and suspicious origin of oracles

129. Absurdity of all miracles

130. Refutation of the reasoning of Pascal concerning the manner in which
we must judge of miracles

131. Every new revelation is necessarily false

132. The blood of martyrs testifies _against_ the truth of miracles, and
_against_ the divine origin attributed to Christianity

133. The fanaticism of martyrs, and the interested zeal of missionaries,
by no means prove the truth of Religion

134. Theology makes its God an enemy to Reason and Common Sense

135. Faith is irreconcilable with Reason; and Reason is preferable
to Faith

136. To what absurd and ridiculous sophisms every one is reduced, who
would substitute Faith for Reason!

137. Ought a man to believe, on the assurance of another man, what is
of the greatest importance to himself

138. Faith can take root only in feeble, ignorant, or slothful minds

139. To teach, that any one Religion has greater pretensions to truth
than another, is an absurdity, and cause of tumult

140. Religion is unnecessary to Morality

141. Religion is the weakest barrier that can be opposed to the passions

142. Honour is a more salutary and powerful bond than Religion

143. Religion does not restrain the passions of kings

144. Origin of "the divine right of kings," the most absurd, ridiculous,
and odious, of usurpations

145. Religion is fatal to political ameliorations: it makes despots
licentious and wicked, and their subjects abject and miserable

146. Christianity has propagated itself by preaching implicit obedience
to despotism

147. One object of religious principles is to eternize the tyranny
of kings

148. How fatal it is to persuade kings that they are responsible for
their actions to God alone

149. A devout king is the scourge of his kingdom

150. Tyranny sometimes finds the aegis of Religion a weak obstacle
to the despair of the people

151. Religion favours the wickedness of princes by delivering them
from fear and remorse

152. What is an enlightened Sovereign?

153. Of the prevailing passions and crimes of the priesthood

154. The quackery of priests

155. Religion has corrupted Morality, and produced innumerable evils

156. Every Religion is intolerant

157. The evils of a state Religion

158. Religion legitimates and authorizes crime

159. Refutation of the argument, that the evils attributed to Religion
are but the bad effects of human passions

160. Religion is incompatible with Morality

161. The Morality of the Gospel is impracticable

162. A society of Saints would be impossible

163. Human nature is not depraved

164. Concerning the effects of Jesus Christ's mission

165. The dogma of the remission of sins was invented for the interest
of priests

166. Who fear God?

167. Hell is an absurd invention

168. The bad foundation of religious morals

169. Christian Charity, as preached and practised by Theologians!!!

170. Confession, priestcraft's gold mine, and the destruction of the
true principles of Morality

171. The supposition of the existence of a God is by no means necessary
to Morality

172. Religion and its supernatural Morality are fatal to the
public welfare

173. The union of Church and State is a calamity

174. National Religions are ruinous

175. Religion paralyses Morality

176. Fatal consequences of Devotion

177. The idea of a future life is not consoling to man

178. An Atheist is fully as conscientious as a religious man, and has
better motives for doing good

179. An Atheistical king would be far preferable to a religious king

180. Philosophy produces Morality

181. Religious opinions have little influence upon conduct

182. Reason leads man to Atheism

183. Fear alone makes Theists

184. Can we, and ought we, to love God?

185. God and Religion are proved to be absurdities by the different
ideas formed of them

186. The existence of God, which is the basis of Religion, has not yet
been demonstrated

187. Priests are more actuated by self-interest, than unbelievers

188. Pride, presumption, and badness, are more often found in priests,
than in Atheists

189. Prejudices last but for a time: no power is durable which is not
founded upon truth

190. What an honourable power ministers of the Gods would obtain,
if they became the apostles of reason and the defenders of liberty!

191. What a glorious and happy revolution it would be for the world,
if Philosophy were substituted for Religion!

192. The recantation of an unbeliever at the point of death proves
nothing against the reasonableness of unbelief

193. It is not true that Atheism breaks the bonds of society

194. Refutation of the often repeated opinion, that Religion is necessary
for the vulgar

195. Logical and argumentative systems are not adapted to the capacity
of the vulgar

196. On the futility and danger of Theology

197, 198. On the evils produced by implicit faith

199. History teaches us, that all Religions were established by
impostors, in days of ignorance

200. All Religions, ancient or modern, have borrowed from one
another ridiculous ceremonies

201. Theology has always diverted philosophy from its right path

202. Theology explains nothing

203, 204. Theology has always fettered Morality, and retarded progress

205. It cannot be too often repeated and proved, that Religion is an
extravagance and a calamity

206. Religion prevents us from seeing the true causes of misfortunes

GOOD SENSE WITHOUT GOD

APOLOGUE

1.

There is a vast empire, governed by a monarch, whose strange conduct is to confound the minds of his subjects. He wishes to be known, loved, respected, obeyed; but never shows himself to his subjects, and everything conspires to render uncertain the ideas formed of his character.

The people, subjected to his power, have, of the character and laws of their invisible sovereign, such ideas only, as his ministers give them. They, however, confess, that they have no idea of their master; that his ways are impenetrable; his views and nature totally incomprehensible. These ministers, likewise, disagree upon the commands which they pretend have been issued by the sovereign, whose servants they call themselves. They defame one another, and mutually treat each other as impostors and false teachers. The decrees and ordinances, they take upon themselves to promulgate, are obscure; they are enigmas, little calculated to be understood, or even divined, by the subjects, for whose instruction they were intended. The laws of the concealed monarch require interpreters; but the interpreters are always disputing upon the true manner of understanding them. Besides, they are not consistent with themselves; all they relate of their concealed prince is only a string of contradictions. They utter concerning him not a single word that does not immediately confute itself. They call him supremely good; yet many complain of his decrees. They suppose him infinitely wise; and under his administration everything appears to contradict reason. They extol his justice; and the best of his subjects are generally the least favoured. They assert, he sees everything; yet his presence avails nothing. He is, say they, the friend of order; yet throughout his dominions, all is in confusion and disorder. He makes all for himself; and the events seldom answer his designs. He foresees everything; but cannot prevent anything. He impatiently suffers offence, yet gives everyone the power of offending him. Men admire the wisdom and perfection of his works; yet his works, full of imperfection, are of short duration. He is continually doing and undoing; repairing what he has made; but is never pleased with his work. In all his undertakings, he proposes only his own glory; yet is never glorified. His only end is the happiness of his subjects; and his subjects, for the most part want necessaries. Those, whom he seems to favour are generally least satisfied with their fate; almost all appear in perpetual revolt against a master, whose greatness they never cease to admire, whose wisdom to extol, whose goodness to adore, whose justice to fear, and whose laws to reverence, though never obeyed!

This EMPIRE is the WORLD; this MONARCH GOD; his MINISTERS are the PRIESTS; his SUBJECTS MANKIND.

2.

There is a science that has for its object only things incomprehensible. Contrary to all other sciences, it treats only of what cannot fall under our senses. Hobbes calls it the _kingdom of darkness_. It is a country, where every thing is governed by laws, contrary to those which mankind are permitted to know in the world they inhabit. In this marvellous region, light is only darkness; evidence is doubtful or false; impossibilities are credible: reason is a deceitful guide; and good sense becomes madness. This _science_ is called _theology_, and this theology is a continual insult to the reason of man.

3.

By the magical power of "ifs," "buts," "perhaps's," "what do we know," etc., heaped together, a shapeless and unconnected system is formed, perplexing mankind, by obliterating from their minds, the most clear ideas and rendering uncertain truths most evident. By reason of this systematic confusion, nature is an enigma; the visible world has disappeared, to give place to regions invisible; reason is compelled to yield to imagination, who leads to the country of her self-invented chimeras.

4.

The principles of every religion are founded upon the idea of a GOD. Now, it is impossible to have true ideas of a being, who acts upon none of our senses. All our ideas are representations of sensible objects. What then can represent to us the idea of God, which is evidently an idea without an object? Is not such an idea as impossible, as an effect without a cause? Can an idea without an archetype be anything, but a chimera? There are, however, divines, who assure us that the idea of God is innate; or that we have this idea in our mother's womb. Every principle is the result of reason; all reason is the effect of experience; experience is acquired only by the exercise of our senses: therefore, religious principles are not founded upon reason, and are not innate.

5.

Every system of religion can be founded only upon the nature of God and man; and upon the relations, which subsist between them. But to judge of the reality of those relations, we must have some idea of the divine nature. Now, the world exclaims, the divine nature is incomprehensible to man; yet ceases not to assign attributes to this incomprehensible God, and to assure us, that it is our indispensable duty to find out that God, whom it is impossible to comprehend.

The most important concern of man is what he can least comprehend. If God is incomprehensible to man, it would seem reasonable never to think of him; but religion maintains, man cannot with impunity cease a moment to think (or rather dream) of his God.

6.

We are told, that divine qualities are not of a nature to be comprehended by finite minds. The natural consequence must be, that divine qualities are not made to occupy finite minds. But religion tells us, that the poor finite mind of man ought never to lose sight of an inconceivable being, whose qualities he can never comprehend. Thus, we see, religion is the art of turning the attention of mankind upon subjects they can never comprehend.

7.

Religion unites man with God, or forms a communication between them; yet do they not say, God is infinite? If God be infinite, no finite being can have communication or relation with him. Where there is no relation, there can be no union, communication, or duties. If there be no duties between man and his God, there is no religion for man. Thus, in saying God is infinite, you annihilate religion for man, who is a finite being. The idea of infinity is to us an idea without model, without archetype, without object.

8.

If God be an infinite being, there cannot be, either in the present or future world, any relative proportion between man and his God. Thus, the idea of God can never enter the human mind. In supposition of a life, in which man would be much more enlightened, than in this, the idea of the infinity of God would ever remain the same distance from his finite mind. Thus the idea of God will be no more clear in the future, than in the present life. Thus, intelligences, superior to man, can have no more complete ideas of God, than man, who has not the least conception of him in his present life.

9.

How has it been possible to persuade reasonable beings, that the thing, most impossible to comprehend, was most essential to them? It is because they have been greatly terrified; because, when they fear, they cease to reason; because, they have been taught to mistrust their own understanding; because, when the brain is troubled, they believe every thing, and examine nothing.

10.

Ignorance and fear are the two hinges of all religion. The uncertainty in which man finds himself in relation to his God, is precisely the motive that attaches him to his religion. Man is fearful in the dark--in moral, as well as physical darkness. His fear becomes habitual, and habit makes it natural; he would think that he wanted something, if he had nothing to fear.

11.

He, who from infancy has habituated himself to tremble when he hears pronounced certain words, requires those words and needs to tremble. He is therefore more disposed to listen to one, who entertains him in his fears, than to one, who dissuades him from them. The superstitious man wishes to fear; his imagination demands it; one might say, that he fears nothing so much, as to have nothing to fear.

Men are imaginary invalids, whose weakness empirics are interested to encourage, in order to have sale for their drugs. They listen rather to the physician, who prescribes a variety of remedies, than to him, who recommends good regimen, and leaves nature to herself.

12.

If religion were more clear, it would have less charms for the ignorant, who are pleased only with obscurity, terrors, fables, prodigies, and things incredible. Romances, silly stories, and the tales of ghosts and wizards, are more pleasing to vulgar minds than true histories.

13.

In point of religion, men are only great children. The more a religion is absurd and filled with wonders, the greater ascendancy it acquires over them. The devout man thinks himself obliged to place no bounds to his credulity; the more things are inconceivable, they appear to him divine; the more they are incredible, the greater merit, he imagines, there is in believing them.

14.

The origin of religious opinions is generally dated from the time, when savage nations were yet in infancy. It was to gross, ignorant, and stupid people, that the founders of religion have in all ages addressed themselves, when they wished to give them their Gods, their mode of worship, their mythology, their marvellous and frightful fables. These chimeras, adopted without examination by parents, are transmitted, with more or less alteration, to their children, who seldom reason any more than their parents.

15.

The object of the first legislators was to govern the people; and the easiest method to effect it was to terrify their minds, and to prevent the exercise of reason. They led them through winding bye-paths, lest they might perceive the designs of their guides; they forced them to fix their eyes in the air, for fear they should look at their feet; they amused them on the way with idle stories; in a word, they treated them as nurses do children, who sing lullabies, to put them to sleep, and scold, to make them quiet.

16.

The existence of a God is the basis of all religion. Few appear to doubt his existence; yet this fundamental article utterly embarrasses every mind that reasons. The first question of every catechism has been, and ever will be, the most difficult to resolve. (In the year 1701, the holy fathers of the oratory of Vendome maintained in a thesis, this proposition--that, according to St. Thomas, the existence of God is not, and cannot be, a subject of faith.)

17.

Can we imagine ourselves sincerely convinced of the existence of a being, whose nature we know not; who is inaccessible to all our senses; whose attributes, we are assured, are incomprehensible to us? To persuade me that a being exists or can exist, I must be first told what that being is. To induce me to believe the existence or the possibility of such a being, it is necessary to tell me things concerning him that are not contradictory, and do not destroy one another. In short, to fully convince me of the existence of that being, it is necessary to tell me things that I can understand.

18.

A thing is impossible, when it includes two ideas that mutually destroy one another, and which can neither be conceived nor united in thought. Conviction can be founded only upon the constant testimony of our senses, which alone give birth to our ideas, and enable us to judge of their agreement or disagreement. That, which exists necessarily, is that, whose non-existence implies a contradiction. These principles, universally acknowledged, become erroneous, when applied to the existence of a God. Whatever has been hitherto said upon the subject, is either unintelligible, or perfect contradiction, and must therefore appear absurd to every rational man.

19.

All human knowledge is more or less clear. By what strange fatality have we never been able to elucidate the science of God? The most civilized nations, and among them the most profound thinkers, are in this respect no more enlightened than the most savage tribes and ignorant peasants; and, examining the subject closely, we shall find, that, by the speculations and subtle refinements of men, the divine science has been only more and more obscured. Every religion has hitherto been founded only upon what is called, in logic, _begging the question_; it takes things for granted, and then proves, by suppositions, instead of principles.

20.

Metaphysics teach us, that God is a _pure spirit_. But, is modern theology superior to that of the savages? The savages acknowledge a _great spirit_, for the master of the world. The savages, like all ignorant people, attribute to _spirits_ all the effects, of which their experience cannot discover the true causes. Ask a savage, what works your watch? He will answer, _it is a spirit_. Ask the divines, what moves the universe? They answer, _it is a spirit_.

21.

The savage, when he speaks of a spirit, affixes, at least, some idea to the word; he means thereby an agent, like the air, the breeze, the breath, that invisibly produces discernible effects. By subtilizing every thing, the modern theologian becomes as unintelligible to himself as to others. Ask him, what he understands by a spirit? He will answer you, that it is an unknown substance, perfectly simple, that has no extension, that has nothing common with matter. Indeed, is there any one, who can form the least idea of such a substance? What then is a spirit, to speak in the language of modern theology, but the absence of an idea? The idea of _spirituality_ is an idea without model.

22.

Is it not more natural and intelligible to draw universal existence from the matter, whose existence is demonstrated by all the senses, and whose effects we experience, which we see act, move, communicate motion, and incessantly generate, than to attribute the formation of things to an unknown power, to a spiritual being, who cannot derive from his nature what he has not himself, and who, by his spiritual essence, can create neither matter nor motion? Nothing is more evident, than that the idea they endeavour to give us, of the action of mind upon matter, represents no object. It is an idea without model.

23.

The material _Jupiter_ of the ancients could move, compose, destroy, and create beings, similar to himself; but the God of modern theology is sterile. He can neither occupy any place in space, nor move matter, nor form a visible world, nor create men or gods. The metaphysical God is fit only to produce confusion, reveries, follies, and disputes.

24.