Martian Visitor XIII

A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY by Arthur Levett, Page 106
Chapter XIII The Martian Examines Into The Value Of Religion “ With us,” said the Martian, “ religion as you have explained it to me does not exist; but if; as you say, it has made your world better, I would like to know in what respect; for we always seek means of bettering the conditions of the inhabitants of our planet. Will you indicate the manner in which your religion has advanced the condition of your earthly brothers? ” “ We are speaking of Christianity only,” said the Modernist, “ for of course we do not mean to say that all religions have enured to the benefit of mankind.” “ That will be understood,” said the Martian. “ If, as you say, Christianity is the best of all religions, it would be the one I prefer to accept as a model. I would therefore like to hear of the benefits conferred by Christianity.” “ As to that we will have no difficulty,” said the Priest. “ Christianity has always been the cause of progress. It has extended its influence throughout the entire world, bringing civilization to every part of the globe.” “ Are you so sure of that? ” asked the Martian. “ I have found, in examining into your histories, that prior to the establishment of Christianity there had been numerous civilizations; that the arts, the sciences, and philosophy flourished in the country called Greece centuries before your era, and many centuries before that in China, India, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Babylon, and Crete. Page 107 I find that about the time your religion was founded, civilization flourished in the extensive empire called Rome, and that in Alexandria in Egypt there was an enormous library with over five hundred thousand volumes, containing a record of the wisdom of the world. I have found that after the adoption of Christianity as a religion by the Roman Emperor Constantine civilization began to disappear and you had a period of about a thousand years during which practically all science, the pursuit of knowledge and truth, was abandoned. Do you ascribe the resumption of scientific research to Christianity? ” “ It was at the beginning of the dark ages, as we call them,” said the Modernist, “ that paganism, as represented by the library at Alexandria, was destroyed by Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, under the Christian Emperor Theodosius, when the collected literature of Greece, Rome, India, Egypt, and perhaps other ancient civilizations, was destroyed.” “ Those were pagan books,” said the Fundamentalist, “ and they were contrary to the teachings of the Bible and therefore dangerous.” “ I understand that that was the reason for their destruction,” said the Martian. “ I have found,” he went on, “ that the learning of the people known as the Moors in Spain, contained in a great library of over four hundred thousand books, was burned in the public square by order of the Christian monarchs; that the Moors’ scientific instruments were broken to pieces because, as one of your historians puts it, they were ‘ almost universally viewed with mingled dread and suspicion as infernal apparatus for the prosecution of magic and the invocation of demons.’ ” Page 108 “ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ the Moors were not Christians, and their literature was of the same sort as that of the Alexandrian Greeks.” “ I am beginning to comprehend,” said the Martian; “ but perhaps I can appreciate the situation better as to the benefits conferred by Christianity if we consider the present state of your civilization and trace its growth.” “ That would be well,” said the Fundamentalist, “ for you will find that the Church has always been on the side of God and truth.” “ Suppose we consider then some of the many blessings you now enjoy,” said the Martian. “ You have investigated, discovered, and mastered many of the laws of Nature which were unknown to your ancient peoples, and by such mastery your scientists have brought to you comforts and conveniences undreamed of by your ancestors. Did Christianity lend its aid to these scientists? ” “ The Church always led the march of civilization,” said the Priest, “ and spread it throughout the world.” “ Let us see,” said the Martian. “ To-day, through the aid of your knowledge of medicine and sanitation, not only have many epidemics and plagues practically disappeared, but the average span of life of your fellowmen is considerably longer than it formerly was. Was this due to Christianity? ” “ I will say that it was not,” said the Rabbi, who spoke with considerable bitterness. “ My people have always had a leaning towards the practice of medicine and surgery, but the Christian Church would not even permit us to dissect the human corpse until the reign of the freethinker, Frederick II, in the thirteenth century. It was claimed by the Church that disease was due to the presence of devils in the sick, and that the only cure was by prayer and the exorcising of the devils. Page 109 Origen, one of the early Fathers of the Church, said: ‘ It is demons which produce famine, unfruitfulness, corruptions, and other pestilences;’ and St. Augustine said: ‘ All diseases of Christians are to be ascribed to these demons; chiefly do they torment fresh baptized Christians, yea, even the guiltless newborn infants.’ ” “ Your remarks agree with what I have learned from the records in your libraries,” said the Martian. “ But I find that when the laws of Nature were studied and the real causes of disease of the human body became understood sanitation, right living, and rational treatment did away with these plagues, pestilences, and many diseases, which were no longer looked upon as due to devils and demons, but as due to causes which could be controlled through your knowledge of the laws of Nature.” “ But,” asked the Modernist, “ will you not give credit for that to Christianity? You have seen our hospitals abounding everywhere. Surely Christianity has done much good in this respect.” “ The Christian Church, I find,” answered the Martian, “ for many centuries opposed medical and sanitary research as being contrary to the teachings of your saviour god, who taught belief in demons, witches, and the like. I find it recorded that as late as 1591 Eufame Macalyane, a lady of rank, was burned at the stake by the Christians of Scotland for having sought a drug to lessen the pain when her two sons were born, it being said that she tried to avoid your god’s primeval curse on women. I further find that owing to the position of your Christian Church, which held that the insane were possessed of devils, such unfortunates were loaded with chains, flogged, and forced to swallow filth and vile concoctions in order to drive the devils out of them. Page 110 I cannot see that Christianity helped mankind in medicine, especially when I contrast this treatment with the science of medicine as practised by those whom you designate as pagans and who lived prior to your Christian era.” “ But it was the Christian monks who kept alive the light of science during the dark ages,” said the Priest, “ for they were practically the only ones that knew how to write.” “ I think your histories ascribe that honour to the Jews,” said the Martian, “ who, being driven from Spain when the Moors were expelled, disseminated throughout Europe the knowledge derived from the Moors (pagans as you call them), and that your monks were more engaged in writing the lives of fictitious saints than in conducting scientific investigations. Indeed, if some of your historians are not mistaken, many priceless ancient manuscripts were obliterated in order that your monks might use the parchments upon which they were written.” “ Do you not overlook the numerous colleges and universities that have been founded by men of the Church,” asked the Priest; “ many of them endowed by the Church, and encouraged in their search for light and truth? ” “ No,” answered the Martian, “ I do not. It is true your Churches to-day encourage learning to some extent, but the vast majority of them still oppose the teaching of evolution, the groundwork to-day of practically every science. In the past they all opposed the teaching of geography, which sought to learn something of the earth and its inhabitants. Your Catholic Church burned at the stake Cecco d’Ascoli, a noted astronomer, for teaching that there were people living on the opposite side of the earth. One of the arguments advanced against him was that of your Church Father St. Augustine. Page 111 He insisted that man could not be allowed by the Almighty to live at the antipodes, because if they did they could not see Christ at his second coming descending through the air.” “ But Christianity has always endeavoured to work for the improvement of mankind,” insisted the Modernist. “ The early and mediceval Church of course made mistakes due to the general ignorance of the times, and there were at times evil men in control. But the Church was not Christianity, for Christianity, and especially modern Christianity, has always striven and is now constantly striving for the betterment of the human race.” The Martian answered: “ I cannot see how you can dissociate the Church and Christianity, for the power of the Church was derived from your Bible, the basis of Christianity. In its activities the Church claimed, and I understand claims to this day, that it followed and is following the will of your god. With this as its claimed source of authority, it opposed the teachings of astronomy and persecuted your scientists as heretics, their teachings being held to be contrary to your Bible. It burned at the stake Bruno, Servetus, and many others, for teaching that the earth revolved around the sun, and other scientific truths. It strangled and then burned at the stake its own Christian preacher Tyndale, whose offence consisted only in translating your Bible into the English language. “ It opposed, as being contrary to the teaching of your Bible, the sciences of geology and philology - even political economy; it opposed the teaching of chemistry and physics as being black magic and contrary to your Bible - the sciences which have so much contributed to the happiness of your people. Page 112 It opposed the teachings of hygiene, believing that the evils resulting from insanitary conditions were due to the wrath or malice of unseen evil spirits, and were to be avoided only by the use of charms, fetishes, and prayers.” “ But it freed the slaves and emancipated women,” protested the Modernist. “ On the contrary,” answered the Martian, “ it favoured slavery under the Biblical injunction that slaves should obey their masters, and it opposed the emancipation of women under the Biblical injunction that woman must be subject to her husband. “ In short, if your records are true, your Christian religion, whether Catholic or Protestant, attempted, by means of the most horrible tortures and always in the name of your god, to thwart every movement that we on Mars have encouraged as being for the improvement of the race.” ¹ He paused. “ Your arguments are those of the atheists and the materialists,” said the Fundamentalist, “ who speak only of the earthly body and forget the spiritual. What matter a few years of earthly suffering if thereby a man’s soul is purified and perfected, fitting him for an eternity of happiness with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? ” The Martian continued: “ This blind faith of yours, which neither seeks nor desires truth, compels you to believe contrary to your reason and to existing facts, and naturally fosters ignorance and intolerance, which are the parents of crime and vice. ¹ The reader who seeks corroboration of the Martian’s preceding statements should consult White’s History of the Warfare of Science with Theology. White divides his two volumes into chapters dealing with Evolution, Geography, Astronomy, Geology, Anthropology, Ethnology, Meteorology, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Hygiene, Philology, and Political Economy. In every chapter he demonstrates by copious references that science has had to struggle long and painfully against the reactionary Christian Church. Page 113 Because of this faith, with its opposing views, your religion has caused untold misery and suffering too distressing to describe. The old pagan religions were in the main tolerant and were not proselytizing; they permitted men to worship as they pleased, and to pursue truth and engage in scientific research. The various sects of your religion, on the contrary, have in almost every case deemed it incumbent upon them to convert others to their beliefs, and to use physical torture to effect such conversion under the guise of saving their souls. I read that in a single night one of your sects murdered ten thousand of another sect merely because of a disagreement as to the teachings of your supposed saviour. I find that hundreds of thousands of your people were burnt at the stake or tortured in the most horrible manner, in the name of Christianity, because they disagreed with the belief of the particular sect in power, and that innumerable wars were fought solely on religious grounds. Amongst the religious band known as Puritans, women were stripped to the waist, tied to a cart, and flogged through the streets because of honest differences in religious matters.” “ There was no excuse for the forming of those different sects,” remarked the Priest. “ All of them grew out of an unwarranted attack on the Church founded by our Saviour, and of a wicked revolt by men who listened to the voice of evil and broke away from God and the Church. They, and they alone, are responsible for the creation of the various sects, for they could not agree amongst themselves. There are no sects in the Holy Roman Catholic Church.” “ Nor would you have had sects if you had no religion,” replied the Martian, and without sects you would have avoided countless disputes. Page 114 Without disputes you would have lived as brothers instead of as enemies; not only would countless lives have been spared and untold misery avoided, but there would have been a steady, uninterrupted advance in knowledge of the arts and sciences had the light of wisdom not been smothered under the blanket of religious zeal. Your histories show that Christianity, far from advancing civilization, has wofully retarded it.” “ We have admitted,” said the Modernist, “ that there have been in the past unworthy and misguided men in the Church; but those times have passed, and to-day the Church upholds science, it encourages the arts, and it lends its support to the sick and to the unfortunate.” “ Your Church to-day,” answered the Martian, “ has been compelled to follow the lead of science because truth has lived and advanced in spite of the efforts of the Church to crush it. Your religion has been against science and freedom of thought because your Bible, on which you base your religion, is against science and freedom of thought. To-day you encourage science and freedom of thought only to the extent that you have lost faith and broken away from your Bible and your Christian religion. I have found this demonstrated by the fact that in proportion as your people are religious so are they ignorant and intolerant of knowledge.” “ Oh, you are mistaken as to that,” said the Priest, “ for we still have our religion and we encourage education and freedom of thought.” “ I probably do not understand your terms,” said the Martian. “ You still have your creeds and your sects, and they still teach intolerance and enforce mental slavery. To-day you forbid in parts of your land the teaching of biology, of astronomy, of geology, and of many other sciences, because they disagree with your Biblical account of the creation of the universe which we Martians know to be untrue. Page 115 You have only a short time ago harassed to his death a scientist who produced new fruits, new flowers, new foods for you, because he dared to say he did not believe in your god of the Bible. One of your largest manufacturing plants up to recently refused to employ men of a certain creed. Why?” “ Because,” said the Fundamentalist, there is only one true religion and any teaching contrary to the Bible is dangerous and a menace, since it tends to destroy faith.” “ Your pardon,” said the Martian. “ I am continually forgetting how richly you prize this faith of yours which can upset the laws of Nature, accept as true two opposing assertions, and dissolve existing facts; that faith which closes your mind to reason and truth; that causes you to cling to error, and which leads to stagnation instead of to progress.” “ You would then have us abandon all religion? ” asked the Priest. “ A world without religion would be terrible. We would have no civilization, no morals, no ideals, no love, no honour.” “ Permit me to remind you that the many ancient nations had no religion if, as you say, Christianity is the only true religion. Yet your records disclose that they were far advanced in the arts and in many of the sciences. In their philosophy they showed a purity of sentiment and high moral standard. In fact, if we may judge from such of their writings as escaped your attempt to destroy them, they have never been surpassed by any of your later philosophers, even your saviour himself. Your very laws protecting women and children are modelled upon those of Hammurabi, promulgated twenty-one hundred years before the birth of your saviour, and recently brought to light by your excavations of ancient cities.” Page 116 “ But,” interposed the Modernist, if we reject the belief in a providential God who guides us in our destinies, what is the meaning of life? Can you find any purpose in the world? We are adrift without rudder or compass.” “ Meaning? Purpose? ” echoed the Martian. “ Why should there be a meaning? why should there be a purpose? On what do you base your evident assumption that there must be a meaning to life or a purpose in the world? In the final analysis, is not your assumption based entirely upon man’s egoism and selfishness? Throughout your religious view there is the evident belief that everything created is for man’s especial benefit. When you seek a meaning or purpose for the existence of those far more numerous creations which are inimical to man’s happiness, and which, as your god’s creatures, have an equal right to live, you flounder and fail hopelessly. “ Disregard man’s egoism for a moment; can you then find a necessity for insisting upon a meaning or purpose in creation? You are immediately at a loss, and you are at a loss because, aside from that egoism, there is no need for reason or purpose. “ But let us consider the question as it applies to man. Is there no meaning or purpose in a heart that thrills over a beautiful landscape; that draws inspiration from silent contemplation of the glories of a wondrous night; that throbs with appreciation over a noble deed of self-sacrifice, of love, or of charity? Must man cast aside all this as worthless because to him it is but transitory? Page 117 “ Must he despair because his years are numbered and not eternal? Is it nothing to go forward with courage, in the firm conviction that in man himself there exists the power to advance, to rise, to accomplish, and to make life happier for his fellow-creatures and for those that are to follow? Meaning? Purpose? The altruist finds the answer in this life; the egoist never finds it.” “ You have no belief in a future life? No hope of the salvation of your soul? No faith whatever to uphold you? ” asked the Fundamentalist. The Martian smiled. “ Faith? Oh, yes, indeed we have faith. Not a faith that demands belief in an impossible god who would change the order of the universe in order to grant a foolish prayer; not a faith that demands belief in an idle, futile 1ife existing apart from the physical attributes that determine one’s individuality; not a faith that demands belief that man can progress only through outside aid; to be obtained by humble grovelling, servility, and unctuous flattery. No, we have no such faith. “ But we do have faith in man himself. On Mars, no superstitious belief, such as your Christianity, has destroyed man’s faith in man; no fear of an arrogant, revengeful God, nor of a malicious, ensnaring Devil, has crushed man’s confidence in himself. On man we pin our faith - a faith that can and does move mountains. It is a faith that finds a ‘God’ - if you please - in man himself.” “ And have you no religion at all on Mars ? ” asked the Priest. “ Nothing to guide you in your conduct, no one to remit your sins, no God to depend upon to comfort you in your sorrows and tribulations? “ We have no monstrously cruel god to fear; no tyrannical god to worship, propitiate, or flatter in the hope of securing salvation for our own selfish personalities. Page 118 We have no churches, no sects, and no religious creeds to sow dissension and create strife. “ We have no belief in a future life, with its accompanying debasing precept that the sole incentive for the practice of virtue is the hope of reward in a heaven, or the fear of everlasting misery in a bottomless hell. On Mars our guiding principle is to do good for good’s own sake, and our golden rule is to help others to peace and happiness without thought of self.” “ But love is the ideal of Christianity,” protested the Modernist. “ The declared ideal, yes,” replied the Martian, “ but never realized because your degrading superstitious beliefs and fears and your religious dissensions have strangled love in its infancy. On Mars, having been always free from these superstitions and disputes, we have been able to develop to a high degree the power of love - that irresistible power, the germ of which is co-existent with life itself. We have made love the motive of life. Ideals and aspirations have reached realms unknown to your god-fearing, war-ridden, tear-stained Earth. With us the paths of truth and honour are man’s natural way. “ We pass our lives in serene happiness, knowing that we are one with all that is. We live in peace, untrammelled by fears; content, when our task is done, to be dissolved in the great universal crucible; glad when we may truthfully say that our world is better for our having lived.” Previous Chapter: Chapter XII The Martian Examines Into Faith Home: Chapter I The Martian Visits The Earth

A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY by Arthur Levett, Page 106

Chapter XIII
The Martian Examines Into
The Value Of Religion
“ With us,” said the Martian, “ religion as you have explained it to me does not exist; but if; as you say, it has made your world better, I would like to know in what respect; for we always seek means of bettering the conditions of the inhabitants of our planet. Will you indicate the manner in which your religion has advanced the condition of your earthly brothers? ”
“ We are speaking of Christianity only,” said the Modernist, “ for of course we do not mean to say that all religions have enured to the benefit of mankind.”
“ That will be understood,” said the Martian. “ If, as you say, Christianity is the best of all religions, it would be the one I prefer to accept as a model. I would therefore like to hear of the benefits conferred by Christianity.”
“ As to that we will have no difficulty,” said the Priest. “ Christianity has always been the cause of progress. It has extended its influence throughout the entire world, bringing civilization to every part of the globe.”
“ Are you so sure of that? ” asked the Martian. “ I have found, in examining into your histories, that prior to the establishment of Christianity there had been numerous civilizations; that the arts, the sciences, and philosophy flourished in the country called Greece centuries before your era, and many centuries before that in China, India, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Babylon, and Crete.

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I find that about the time your religion was founded, civilization flourished in the extensive empire called Rome, and that in Alexandria in Egypt there was an enormous library with over five hundred thousand volumes, containing a record of the wisdom of the world. I have found that after the adoption of Christianity as a religion by the Roman Emperor Constantine civilization began to disappear and you had a period of about a thousand years during which practically all science, the pursuit of knowledge and truth, was abandoned. Do you ascribe the resumption of scientific research to Christianity? ”
“ It was at the beginning of the dark ages, as we call them,” said the Modernist, “ that paganism, as represented by the library at Alexandria, was destroyed by Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, under the Christian Emperor Theodosius, when the collected literature of Greece, Rome, India, Egypt, and perhaps other ancient civilizations, was destroyed.”
“ Those were pagan books,” said the Fundamentalist, “ and they were contrary to the teachings of the Bible and therefore dangerous.”
“ I understand that that was the reason for their destruction,” said the Martian. “ I have found,” he went on, “ that the learning of the people known as the Moors in Spain, contained in a great library of over four hundred thousand books, was burned in the public square by order of the Christian monarchs; that the Moors’ scientific instruments were broken to pieces because, as one of your historians puts it, they were ‘ almost universally viewed with mingled dread and suspicion as infernal apparatus for the prosecution of magic and the invocation of demons.’ ”

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“ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ the Moors were not Christians, and their literature was of the same sort as that of the Alexandrian Greeks.”
“ I am beginning to comprehend,” said the Martian; “ but perhaps I can appreciate the situation better as to the benefits conferred by Christianity if we consider the present state of your civilization and trace its growth.”
“ That would be well,” said the Fundamentalist, “ for you will find that the Church has always been on the side of God and truth.”
“ Suppose we consider then some of the many blessings you now enjoy,” said the Martian. “ You have investigated, discovered, and mastered many of the laws of Nature which were unknown to your ancient peoples, and by such mastery your scientists have brought to you comforts and conveniences undreamed of by your ancestors. Did Christianity lend its aid to these scientists? ”
“ The Church always led the march of civilization,” said the Priest, “ and spread it throughout the world.”
“ Let us see,” said the Martian. “ To-day, through the aid of your knowledge of medicine and sanitation, not only have many epidemics and plagues practically disappeared, but the average span of life of your fellowmen is considerably longer than it formerly was. Was this due to Christianity? ”
“ I will say that it was not,” said the Rabbi, who spoke with considerable bitterness. “ My people have always had a leaning towards the practice of medicine and surgery, but the Christian Church would not even permit us to dissect the human corpse until the reign of the freethinker, Frederick II, in the thirteenth century. It was claimed by the Church that disease was due to the presence of devils in the sick, and that the only cure was by prayer and the exorcising of the devils.

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Origen, one of the early Fathers of the Church, said: ‘ It is demons which produce famine, unfruitfulness, corruptions, and other pestilences;’ and St. Augustine said: ‘ All diseases of Christians are to be ascribed to these demons; chiefly do they torment fresh baptized Christians, yea, even the guiltless newborn infants.’ ”
“ Your remarks agree with what I have learned from the records in your libraries,” said the Martian. “ But I find that when the laws of Nature were studied and the real causes of disease of the human body became understood sanitation, right living, and rational treatment did away with these plagues, pestilences, and many diseases, which were no longer looked upon as due to devils and demons, but as due to causes which could be controlled through your knowledge of the laws of Nature.”
“ But,” asked the Modernist, “ will you not give credit for that to Christianity? You have seen our hospitals abounding everywhere. Surely Christianity has done much good in this respect.”
“ The Christian Church, I find,” answered the Martian, “ for many centuries opposed medical and sanitary research as being contrary to the teachings of your saviour god, who taught belief in demons, witches, and the like. I find it recorded that as late as 1591 Eufame Macalyane, a lady of rank, was burned at the stake by the Christians of Scotland for having sought a drug to lessen the pain when her two sons were born, it being said that she tried to avoid your god’s primeval curse on women. I further find that owing to the position of your Christian Church, which held that the insane were possessed of devils, such unfortunates were loaded with chains, flogged, and forced to swallow filth and vile concoctions in order to drive the devils out of them.

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I cannot see that Christianity helped mankind in medicine, especially when I contrast this treatment with the science of medicine as practised by those whom you designate as pagans and who lived prior to your Christian era.”
“ But it was the Christian monks who kept alive the light of science during the dark ages,” said the Priest, “ for they were practically the only ones that knew how to write.”
“ I think your histories ascribe that honour to the Jews,” said the Martian, “ who, being driven from Spain when the Moors were expelled, disseminated throughout Europe the knowledge derived from the Moors (pagans as you call them), and that your monks were more engaged in writing the lives of fictitious saints than in conducting scientific investigations. Indeed, if some of your historians are not mistaken, many priceless ancient manuscripts were obliterated in order that your monks might use the parchments upon which they were written.”
“ Do you not overlook the numerous colleges and universities that have been founded by men of the Church,” asked the Priest; “ many of them endowed by the Church, and encouraged in their search for light and truth? ”
“ No,” answered the Martian, “ I do not. It is true your Churches to-day encourage learning to some extent, but the vast majority of them still oppose the teaching of evolution, the groundwork to-day of practically every science. In the past they all opposed the teaching of geography, which sought to learn something of the earth and its inhabitants. Your Catholic Church burned at the stake Cecco d’Ascoli, a noted astronomer, for teaching that there were people living on the opposite side of the earth. One of the arguments advanced against him was that of your Church Father St. Augustine.

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He insisted that man could not be allowed by the Almighty to live at the antipodes, because if they did they could not see Christ at his second coming descending through the air.”
“ But Christianity has always endeavoured to work for the improvement of mankind,” insisted the Modernist. “ The early and mediceval Church of course made mistakes due to the general ignorance of the times, and there were at times evil men in control. But the Church was not Christianity, for Christianity, and especially modern Christianity, has always striven and is now constantly striving for the betterment of the human race.”
The Martian answered: “ I cannot see how you can dissociate the Church and Christianity, for the power of the Church was derived from your Bible, the basis of Christianity. In its activities the Church claimed, and I understand claims to this day, that it followed and is following the will of your god. With this as its claimed source of authority, it opposed the teachings of astronomy and persecuted your scientists as heretics, their teachings being held to be contrary to your Bible. It burned at the stake Bruno, Servetus, and many others, for teaching that the earth revolved around the sun, and other scientific truths. It strangled and then burned at the stake its own Christian preacher Tyndale, whose offence consisted only in translating your Bible into the English language.
“ It opposed, as being contrary to the teaching of your Bible, the sciences of geology and philology - even political economy; it opposed the teaching of chemistry and physics as being black magic and contrary to your Bible - the sciences which have so much contributed to the happiness of your people.

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It opposed the teachings of hygiene, believing that the evils resulting from insanitary conditions were due to the wrath or malice of unseen evil spirits, and were to be avoided only by the use of charms, fetishes, and prayers.”
“ But it freed the slaves and emancipated women,” protested the Modernist.
“ On the contrary,” answered the Martian, “ it favoured slavery under the Biblical injunction that slaves should obey their masters, and it opposed the emancipation of women under the Biblical injunction that woman must be subject to her husband.
“ In short, if your records are true, your Christian religion, whether Catholic or Protestant, attempted, by means of the most horrible tortures and always in the name of your god, to thwart every movement that we on Mars have encouraged as being for the improvement of the race.” ¹
He paused.
“ Your arguments are those of the atheists and the materialists,” said the Fundamentalist, “ who speak only of the earthly body and forget the spiritual. What matter a few years of earthly suffering if thereby a man’s soul is purified and perfected, fitting him for an eternity of happiness with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? ”
The Martian continued: “ This blind faith of yours, which neither seeks nor desires truth, compels you to believe contrary to your reason and to existing facts, and naturally fosters ignorance and intolerance, which are the parents of crime and vice.

¹ The reader who seeks corroboration of the Martian’s preceding statements should consult White’s History of the Warfare of Science with Theology.
White divides his two volumes into chapters dealing with Evolution, Geography, Astronomy, Geology, Anthropology, Ethnology, Meteorology, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Hygiene, Philology, and Political Economy. In every chapter he demonstrates by copious references that science has had to struggle long and painfully against the reactionary Christian Church.

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Because of this faith, with its opposing views, your religion has caused untold misery and suffering too distressing to describe. The old pagan religions were in the main tolerant and were not proselytizing; they permitted men to worship as they pleased, and to pursue truth and engage in scientific research. The various sects of your religion, on the contrary, have in almost every case deemed it incumbent upon them to convert others to their beliefs, and to use physical torture to effect such conversion under the guise of saving their souls. I read that in a single night one of your sects murdered ten thousand of another sect merely because of a disagreement as to the teachings of your supposed saviour. I find that hundreds of thousands of your people were burnt at the stake or tortured in the most horrible manner, in the name of Christianity, because they disagreed with the belief of the particular sect in power, and that innumerable wars were fought solely on religious grounds. Amongst the religious band known as Puritans, women were stripped to the waist, tied to a cart, and flogged through the streets because of honest differences in religious matters.”
“ There was no excuse for the forming of those different sects,” remarked the Priest. “ All of them grew out of an unwarranted attack on the Church founded by our Saviour, and of a wicked revolt by men who listened to the voice of evil and broke away from God and the Church. They, and they alone, are responsible for the creation of the various sects, for they could not agree amongst themselves. There are no sects in the Holy Roman Catholic Church.”
“ Nor would you have had sects if you had no religion,” replied the Martian, and without sects you would have avoided countless disputes.

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Without disputes you would have lived as brothers instead of as enemies; not only would countless lives have been spared and untold misery avoided, but there would have been a steady, uninterrupted advance in knowledge of the arts and sciences had the light of wisdom not been smothered under the blanket of religious zeal. Your histories show that Christianity, far from advancing civilization, has wofully retarded it.”
“ We have admitted,” said the Modernist, “ that there have been in the past unworthy and misguided men in the Church; but those times have passed, and to-day the Church upholds science, it encourages the arts, and it lends its support to the sick and to the unfortunate.”
“ Your Church to-day,” answered the Martian, “ has been compelled to follow the lead of science because truth has lived and advanced in spite of the efforts of the Church to crush it. Your religion has been against science and freedom of thought because your Bible, on which you base your religion, is against science and freedom of thought. To-day you encourage science and freedom of thought only to the extent that you have lost faith and broken away from your Bible and your Christian religion. I have found this demonstrated by the fact that in proportion as your people are religious so are they ignorant and intolerant of knowledge.”
“ Oh, you are mistaken as to that,” said the Priest, “ for we still have our religion and we encourage education and freedom of thought.”
“ I probably do not understand your terms,” said the Martian. “ You still have your creeds and your sects, and they still teach intolerance and enforce mental slavery. To-day you forbid in parts of your land the teaching of biology, of astronomy, of geology, and of many other sciences, because they disagree with your Biblical account of the creation of the universe which we Martians know to be untrue.

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You have only a short time ago harassed to his death a scientist who produced new fruits, new flowers, new foods for you, because he dared to say he did not believe in your god of the Bible. One of your largest manufacturing plants up to recently refused to employ men of a certain creed. Why?”
“ Because,” said the Fundamentalist, there is only one true religion and any teaching contrary to the Bible is dangerous and a menace, since it tends to destroy faith.”
“ Your pardon,” said the Martian. “ I am continually forgetting how richly you prize this faith of yours which can upset the laws of Nature, accept as true two opposing assertions, and dissolve existing facts; that faith which closes your mind to reason and truth; that causes you to cling to error, and which leads to stagnation instead of to progress.”
“ You would then have us abandon all religion? ” asked the Priest. “ A world without religion would be terrible. We would have no civilization, no morals, no ideals, no love, no honour.”
“ Permit me to remind you that the many ancient nations had no religion if, as you say, Christianity is the only true religion. Yet your records disclose that they were far advanced in the arts and in many of the sciences. In their philosophy they showed a purity of sentiment and high moral standard. In fact, if we may judge from such of their writings as escaped your attempt to destroy them, they have never been surpassed by any of your later philosophers, even your saviour himself. Your very laws protecting women and children are modelled upon those of Hammurabi, promulgated twenty-one hundred years before the birth of your saviour, and recently brought to light by your excavations of ancient cities.”

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“ But,” interposed the Modernist, if we reject the belief in a providential God who guides us in our destinies, what is the meaning of life? Can you find any purpose in the world? We are adrift without rudder or compass.”
“ Meaning? Purpose? ” echoed the Martian. “ Why should there be a meaning? why should there be a purpose? On what do you base your evident assumption that there must be a meaning to life or a purpose in the world? In the final analysis, is not your assumption based entirely upon man’s egoism and selfishness? Throughout your religious view there is the evident belief that everything created is for man’s especial benefit. When you seek a meaning or purpose for the existence of those far more numerous creations which are inimical to man’s happiness, and which, as your god’s creatures, have an equal right to live, you flounder and fail hopelessly.
“ Disregard man’s egoism for a moment; can you then find a necessity for insisting upon a meaning or purpose in creation? You are immediately at a loss, and you are at a loss because, aside from that egoism, there is no need for reason or purpose.
“ But let us consider the question as it applies to man. Is there no meaning or purpose in a heart that thrills over a beautiful landscape; that draws inspiration from silent contemplation of the glories of a wondrous night; that throbs with appreciation over a noble deed of self-sacrifice, of love, or of charity? Must man cast aside all this as worthless because to him it is but transitory?

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“ Must he despair because his years are numbered and not eternal? Is it nothing to go forward with courage, in the firm conviction that in man himself there exists the power to advance, to rise, to accomplish, and to make life happier for his fellow-creatures and for those that are to follow? Meaning? Purpose? The altruist finds the answer in this life; the egoist never finds it.”
“ You have no belief in a future life? No hope of the salvation of your soul? No faith whatever to uphold you? ” asked the Fundamentalist.
The Martian smiled. “ Faith? Oh, yes, indeed we have faith. Not a faith that demands belief in an impossible god who would change the order of the universe in order to grant a foolish prayer; not a faith that demands belief in an idle, futile 1ife existing apart from the physical attributes that determine one’s individuality; not a faith that demands belief that man can progress only through outside aid; to be obtained by humble grovelling, servility, and unctuous flattery. No, we have no such faith.
“ But we do have faith in man himself. On Mars, no superstitious belief, such as your Christianity, has destroyed man’s faith in man; no fear of an arrogant, revengeful God, nor of a malicious, ensnaring Devil, has crushed man’s confidence in himself. On man we pin our faith - a faith that can and does move mountains. It is a faith that finds a ‘God’ - if you please - in man himself.”
“ And have you no religion at all on Mars ? ” asked the Priest. “ Nothing to guide you in your conduct, no one to remit your sins, no God to depend upon to comfort you in your sorrows and tribulations?
“ We have no monstrously cruel god to fear; no tyrannical god to worship, propitiate, or flatter in the hope of securing salvation for our own selfish personalities.

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We have no churches, no sects, and no religious creeds to sow dissension and create strife.
“ We have no belief in a future life, with its accompanying debasing precept that the sole incentive for the practice of virtue is the hope of reward in a heaven, or the fear of everlasting misery in a bottomless hell. On Mars our guiding principle is to do good for good’s own sake, and our golden rule is to help others to peace and happiness without thought of self.”
“ But love is the ideal of Christianity,” protested the Modernist.
“ The declared ideal, yes,” replied the Martian, “ but never realized because your degrading superstitious beliefs and fears and your religious dissensions have strangled love in its infancy. On Mars, having been always free from these superstitions and disputes, we have been able to develop to a high degree the power of love - that irresistible power, the germ of which is co-existent with life itself. We have made love the motive of life. Ideals and aspirations have reached realms unknown to your god-fearing, war-ridden, tear-stained Earth. With us the paths of truth and honour are man’s natural way.
“ We pass our lives in serene happiness, knowing that we are one with all that is. We live in peace, untrammelled by fears; content, when our task is done, to be dissolved in the great universal crucible; glad when we may truthfully say that our world is better for our having lived.”

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