| Book Review: Freethought by Three Men
This book is a republication of three works from Truth Seeker Books. The first is Open Letter to Jesus Christ, by D. M. Bennett, the founder and first editor of Truth Seeker. Written in 1875 and running 22 pages, it is one of the two articles which provoked his arrest in 1877 by none other than Anthony Comstock. There is a brief, "respectful" introduction, and a similar closing, with a long list of questions in between. A good many questions hit the mark, and believers should pester their pastors with them.A few of the questions go astray. Here is a sample, with what might have been Jesus' answers:Bennett: (In your babyhood) was there any "Mrs. Winslow" in those days to prepare "Soothing Syrup" for the babies?Jesus: No.Bennett: Did you wear petticoats when you were little, and can you remember your first pair of pants?Jesus: Haven't you seen any Cecil B. DeMille movies? Oh, I forget. This is 1875. We all wore robes back then.Bennett: Is it true as narrated in the New Testament styled "Apocryphal" that when you were a small child and traveling with your mother, she placed you on the back of a mule that, by enchantment, had been changed from a young man, and that you transformed him back to a young man again? Jesus: As you said, it's apocryphal.Bennett: Have you ever doubted whether your first miracle, changing water into wine, at the wedding in Cana, was well advised, especially as the guests were already drunk?Jesus: They weren't too drunk to recognize the good stuff when they tasted it. (John 2:10).Bennett: Have you ever thought that the miracle alluded to was setting a bad example to young people and an encouragement to wine-bibbers?Jesus: Of course not. My posthumous disciple Paul put it well when he said (I Timothy 5:23) "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities."Bennett: Did it ever occur to you that it was not strictly moral, and not according to the commandments, to go into other people's corn fields on the Sabbath and pluck corn, without permission?Jesus: No. Remember that I said (Mark 2:27): "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." And My gospel has never been very strong on property rights.Bennett: Was it a mark of amiability and peacefulness on your part to whip, and beat, and scourge the money-changers and those who sold merchandise in the temple?Jesus: No. There are circumstances in which amiability and peacefulness are vices, not virtues.Bennett: Would you not have a lively time now, were you to scourge with cords all who are engaged in that business?Jesus: No. There is no money-changing going on now in any place that I call My Father's house.And so on. Much fun. The second is Why I Left the Ministry and Became an Atheist, by G. Vincent Runyon. Written in 1959, it is 41 pages long. The former Rev. Runyon was a Methodist minister for 12 years. He was taught early to be a seeker of truth, but was raised in a pleasant, warm religious atmosphere. He was a "modernist" preacher, not a fundamentalist. The break came during a sabbatical, and a key influence was Dr. Lowell H. Coate of the Humanist Society of Friends. Association with frank atheists led Rev. Runyon to "hit the books". He got exposed to John Dietrich and other Humanist writers, and thereby worked himself out of religion and into atheism. Then he realized that he had worked himself out of a job. Times were difficult (mid-1930's) and he could have got his old job back, but a stubborn intellectual integrity beat out his desire for three square meals a day. He eventually found work as a nursing attendant in a large hospital, and was still in that position when he wrote his book.It is a pity that the joy of his born-again atheism is mixed with a bitterness toward conventional religion. A lot of what he says is easy for freethinkers to agree with: the Bible, when accepted as final authority, causes great harm because of its violence and mixed messages; church institutions are more interested in maintaining their power than in doing the best for humanity; ministers are often hypocrites and, even when honest, are in effect quacks; Marx was right when he said, "Religion is the opium of the people"; and so on. However, the streak of bitterness and militancy makes his message somewhat less heartwarming. He speaks of the Unitarian church as a way-station from religious belief to freethought, but he seems himself to have jumped from belief in "God-the-judge" to atheism. His sudden self-induced loss of economic security may have led him to undervalue his "wasted" two decades as student and minister. It is an interesting and sobering story. The third book is James Hervey Johnson's Superior Men, written in 1949 and running 123 pages. It has 48 short chapters, and is an attack on religion, pure and simple. Although it attacks religion as a whole, it is primarily an attack on Christianity and Bible- based religions. While it is largely opinion, it contains some supporting facts, especially in the area of Bible-bashing. It is intended to be an overview, rather than a comprehensive scholarly work.The material can be sorted into seven categories, and I list these with the number of chapters devoted to each. There is a rough clustering by categories, but not a strict ordering. Natural causes of religious faith 7 Religion is bad 10 The Bible is bad 11 Religious institutions are bad 6 Rebuttals to attempts to prove God 7 Criticisms of Jesus Christ 4 In praise of reason 3 For the inquirer who is new to freethought, this book may serve as a good introduction. Do not expect either whimsy, wit, or an exhaustive treatment of complex issues. James Hervey Johnson was not one to "suffer fools gladly." (II Cor. 11:19) This is a straightforward declaration of reason, atheism, freethought. Many will find it right up their alley.
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