d chapter of Isaiah who in his
compassion for the sheep who had gone astray, having turned everyone to
his own way, laid on the Man of Sorrows the iniquity of us all."
(_Walter Lippmann: "A Preface to Morals."_)

It is one kind of god that is being set up in argument, and it is really
another god that is being depended upon and believed. The philosophical
conception of a deity that may be in control of phenomena is an
impersonal physical law, and has nothing to do with the conception of a
personal deity to whom people pray for active intervention in their
troubles. Religious belief is a monstrous apparition; the philosophy of
atheism is a solid structure laboriously founded on solid rock.

The philosophy of atheism had temporarily failed in previous ages, since
the knowledge of those ages did not furnish facts enough upon which to
build. At the present, although our knowledge is far from complete and
the surface has only been scratched, yet sufficient facts have been
unearthed to reveal that there is no supernatural and the greatest hope
of advancement lies in the philosophy of atheism. A philosophy that
builds upon a foundation of purely secular thought, that leaves the
idea of God completely discarded as a useless and false relic of bygone
days, is the essence of atheism. "Atheism is more than the speculative
philosophy of a few, that it is in sober truth the logical outcome of
mental growth. So far as any phase of human life can be called
inevitable, atheism may lay claim to being inescapable. All mental
growth can be seen leading to it, just as we can see one stage of social
development giving a logical starting point for another stage, and which
could have been foretold had our knowledge of all the forces in
operation been precise enough. Atheism is, so to speak, implicit in the
growth of knowledge, its complete expression is the consummation of a
process that began with the first questionings of religion. And the
completion of the process means the death of supernaturalisms in all
forms. Circumstances may obstruct its universal acceptance as a reasoned
mental attitude, but that merely delays, it does not destroy the
certainty of its final triumph." (_C. Cohen._)

The philosophy of atheism leads man to a critical, analytical, and
logical examination of his environment, and it is this that has lead to
all of our advances. Religion creates a stunted standard of reasoning.
The pathetic cry of St. Augustine, "But if