WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

by Robert G. Ingersoll*

originally published in

The Arena, Boston

December 1897

(I originally posted this in December 2008, but it is worth reading each year. Enjoy!)

If I had the power to produce exactly what I want for next Christmas, I would have all the kings and emperors resign and allow the people to govern themselves.

I would have all the nobility crop their titles and give their lands back to the people. I would have the Pope throw away his tiara, take off his sacred vestments, and admit that he is not acting for God -- is not infallible -- but is just an ordinary Italian.** I would have all the cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests and clergymen admit that they know nothing about theology, nothing about hell or heaven, nothing about the destiny of the human race, nothing about devils or ghosts, gods or angels. I would have them tell all their "flocks" to think for themselves, to be manly men and womanly women, and to do all in their power to increase the sum of human happiness.

I would have all the professors in colleges, all the teachers in schools of every kind, including those in Sunday schools, agree that they would teach only what they know, that they would not palm off guesses as demonstrated truths.

I would like to see all the politicians changed to statesmen, -- to men who long to make their country great and free, -- to men who care more for public good than private gain -- men who long to be of use.

I would like to see all the editors of papers and magazines agree to print the truth and nothing but the truth, to avoid all slander and misrepresentation, and to let the private affairs of the people alone.

I would like to see drunkenness and prohibition both abolished.

I would like to see corporal punishment done away with in every home, in every school, in every asylum, reformatory, and prison. Cruelty hardens and degrades, kindness reforms and ennobles.

I would like to see the millionaires unite and form a trust for the public good.

I would like to see a fair division of profits between capital and labor, so that the toiler could save enough to mingle a little June with the December of his life.

I would like to see an international court established in which to settle disputes between nations, so that armies could be disbanded and the great navies allowed to rust and rot in perfect peace.

I would like to see the whole world free -- free from injustice -- free from superstition.

This will do for next Christmas. The following Christmas, I may want more.

*Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899) was an abolitionist, lawyer, Civil War veteran, political leader and orator, noted for his defense of agnosticism, freethought, and humanism. He spoke on a vast number of subjects including Shakespeare, Reconstruction, religion, slavery, and woman's suffrage. During a time when oratory was public entertainment, he recited his speeches, sometimes more than three hours long, from memory. Despite being referred to as "The Great Infidel," he attracted huge numbers of people willing to pay $1 or more ---a large sum at that time ---to his lectures.

More on Robert Ingersoll

**In 1897 when this was written, the pope was Italian, as had been nearly all previous popes.

PAULA KIRBY - former Christian

Paula Kirby, a resident of Scotland, is a former Christian, a writer, consultant, and project manager, specializing in freethinking and secular organizations. Her columns appear in the Washington Post. They are well-written and thought provoking.

Click on this link for her archived articles: Paula Kirby Archive

ATHEIST BLOG ROLL

MY THOUGHTS ARE FREE

has been added to

The Atheist Blogroll

You can see the blogroll in my sidebar above my own long list of Freethought Resources. The Atheist Blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

WHAT IS A FREETHINKER?

According to Susan Jacoby in her 2004 book (pp 4-5): FREETHINKERS, a History of American Secularism the term freethought "...first appeared in the late 1600s and flowered into a genuine social and philosophical movement during the next two centuries..."

The author continues: "American freethought derived much of its power from an inclusiveness that encompassed many forms of rationalist belief... Freethought can... be understood as a phenomenon running the gamut from the truly antireligious... to those who adhered to a private, unconventional faith revering some form of God or Providence but at odds with orthodox religious authority. American freethinkers have included deists, who, like many of the founding fathers, believed in a 'watchmaker God' who set the universe in motion but subsequently took no active role in the affairs of men; agnostics; and unabashed atheists. What the many types of freethinkers shared, regardless of their views on the existence or nonexistence of a divinity, was a rationalist approach to fundamental questions of earthly existence ---a conviction that the affairs of human beings should be governed not by faith in the supernatural but by a reliance on reason and evidence adduced from the natural world. It was this conviction, rooted in Enlightenment philosophy, that carried the day when the former revolutionaries gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to write the Constitution."

TEN-WORD MOVIE REVIEW - Religulous

Film: Religulous

Skeptic Bill Maher asks amusing, thought-provoking questions about religion.

(From a writing prompt suggested on One Minute Writer to write a movie review in ten words or fewer. There are always many responses from religious people, so occasionally I submit responses from a freethought point of view.)