John E Remsberg, was born in Fremont, Ohio, Jan. 7, 1848, a son
of George J. and Sarah A. (Willey) Remsburg. He enlisted in the
Union army at the age of sixteen; married Miss Nora M. Eiler of
Atchison, Kan., Oct. 9, 1870; was a teacher for 15 years, then
a writer and lecturer in support of free thought, his lectures
being translated into German, French, Bohemian, Dutch, Swedish,
Norwegian. Bengali and Singalese.
He
was superintendent of public instruction in Atchison county, Kan.,
for four years; is a life member of the American Secular Union,
of which he was president for three years; a member of the Kansas
State Horticultural Society; author of a "Life of Thomas
Paine," 1880; "The Image Breaker," 1882; False
Claims," 1883; "Bible Morals," 1884; "Sabbath
Breakers," 1885; "The Fathers of Our Republic,"
1886; "Was Lincoln a Christian," 1893; "Was Washington
a Christian," 1899; "The Bible," 1903; "Six
Historic Americans," 1906; "The Christ," 1909.
Quotations
"While
Jesus was at Jerusalem there came a voice from heaven. For what
purpose was the voice sent? For the sake of those who stood by.
"Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of
me, but for your sakes" (John xii, 30). Of what benefit was
the voice when those who heard it were unable to distinguish it
from thunder? "The people therefore, that stood by and heard
it, said that it thundered" (29)."
"The
Christ is a myth. The Holy Ghost Priestcraft overshadowed the
harlot Superstition; this Christ was born; and the Joseph of humanity,
beguiled by the Gabriel of credulity, was induced to support the
family. But the soldiers of Reason have crucified the illegitimate
impostor, he is dead; and the ignorant disciples and hysterical
women who still linger about the cross should take his body down
and bury it."
"The
supernatural Christ of the New Testament, the god of orthodox
Christianity, is dead. But priestcraft lives and conjures up the
ghost of this dead god to frighten and enslave the masses of mankind.
The name of Christ has caused more persecutions, wars, and miseries
than any other name has caused. The darkest wrongs are still inspired
by it. The wails of anguish that went up from Kishenev, Odessa,
and Bialystok still vibrate in our ears."
"There
is one element in Christianity which was not borrowed from Paganism
-- religious intolerance. Referring to Buddhism, Confucianism,
and Taouism, a writer on China says: "Between the followers
of the three national religions there is not only a total absence
of persecution and bitter feeling, but a very great indifference
as to which of them a man may belong.... Among the politer classes,
when strangers meet, the question is asked: 'To what sublime religion
do you belong,' and each one pronounces a eulogium, not on his
own religion, but on that professed by the others, and concludes
with the oft-repeated formula 'Religions are many; reason is one;
we are all brothers.'"
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