you will see the difference between
liberalism and orthodoxy.

_Question_. This is Washington's birthday. What do you think of
General Washington?

_Answer_. I suppose that Washington was what was called religious.
He was not very strict in his conduct. He tried to have church
and state united in Virginia and was defeated by Jefferson. It
should make no difference with us whether Washington was religious
or not. Jefferson was by far the greater man. In intellect there
was no comparison between Washington and Franklin. I do not prove
the correctness of my ideas by names of dead people. I depend upon
reason instead of gravestones. One fact is worth a cemetery full
of distinguished corpses. We ask not for the belief of somebody,
but for evidence, for facts. The church is a beggar at the door
of respectability. The moment a man becomes famous, the church
asks him for a certificate that the Bible is true. It passes its
hat before generals and presidents, and kings while they are alive.
It says nothing about thinkers and real philosophers while they
live, except to slander them, but the moment they are dead it seeks
among their words for a crumb of comfort.

_Question_. Will Liberalism ever organize in America?

_Answer_. I hope not. Organization means creed, and creed means
petrifaction and tyranny. I believe in individuality. I will not
join any society except an anti-society society.

_Question_. Do you consider the religion of Bhagavat Purana of
the East as good as the Christian?

_Answer_. It is far more poetic. It has greater variety and shows
vastly more thought. Like the Hebrew, it is poisoned with
superstition, but it has more beauty. Nothing can be more barren
than the theology of the Jews and Christians. One lonely God, a
heaven filled with thoughtless angels, a hell with unfortunate
souls. Nothing can be more desolate. The Greek mythology is
infinitely better.

_Question_. Do you think that the marriage institution is held in
less respect by Infidels than by Christians?

_Answer_. No; there was never a time when marriage was more believed
in than now. Never were wives treated better and loved more; never
were children happier than now. It is the ambition of the average
American to have a good and happy home. The fireside was never
more popular than now.

_Question_. What do you think of Beecher?

_Answer_. He is a great man, but the habit of his mind and the
bent o