all in those who were least subject to theological influences,
and soon spread through the educated laity, and last of all, took
possession of the clergy. So shall it be with all religions.

A belief that was held for 1500 years, in the comparatively
insignificant period of 100 years, sinks into oblivion; for the last
judicial execution occurred in Switzerland in 1782; and the last law on
the subject, the Irish Statute, was repealed in 1821. It is not,
therefore, too much of a stretch of the imagination to conceive what the
inhabitants of this planet will think of all religion 300 years from
now. We have the sterling example of the Witchcraft Delusion before us.
Yes, despite the otherwise brilliant men of today who still maintain the
Bible Delusion, and the "Hedgers," that group of religious apologists
who form those various sects, such as the Unitarians, the Humanists,
etc. They are but the middle ground; they are but the intermediate
between the delusionists and those that maintain the philosophy that
eventually must triumph, the philosophy of atheism. When we think back
to that group of capable men headed by Bodin, Gerson, and Joseph
Glanvil, who turned their ability and learning to the defense of the
Witchcraft Delusion, we find the answer to that ever-present response
which the confused of this age give when confronted with the
incompatabilities in their religion, namely, "Oh, well, more brilliant
men than I believe in this delusion."

Bodin, Gerson, and Glanvil could not bolster up a dying belief; and the
Bodins, Gersons, and Glanvils of today cannot long bolster up the dying
belief in all religions ... no matter what their ability or capacities
may be. The handwriting is on the wall; the past teaches us what the
future may be, but there is still much work to be done.

CHAPTER XIII

RELIGION AND MORALITY

_The current religion is indirectly adverse to morals, because it is
adverse to the freedom of the intellect. But it is also directly
adverse to morals by inventing spurious and bastard virtues._

WINWOOD READE, "Martyrdom of Man."

It had been formerly asserted by theologians that our moral laws were
given to man by a supernatural intuitive process. However, Professor E.
A. Westermarck's "Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas," and
similar researches, give a comprehensive survey of the moral ideas and
practices of all the backward fragments of the human race and
conclusively p