hough I am hostile to the Church.
Many ministers and many Christian laymen I have known are admirable men.
Some I know personally are as able and as good as any men I have met;
but I speak of the Churches, not of individuals.

I have known Catholic priests and sisters who were worthy and charming,
and there are many such; but I do not like the Catholic Church. I
have known Tories and Liberals who were real good fellows, and clever
fellows, and there are many such; but I do not like the Liberal and Tory
parties. I have known clergymen of the Church of England who were real
live men, and real English gentlemen, and there are many such; but I do
not like the Church.

I was not always an Agnostic, or a Rationalist, or an "Infidel," or
whatever Christians may choose to call me.

I was not perverted by an Infidel book. I had not read one when I
wavered first in my allegiance to the orthodoxies. I was set doubting by
a religious book written to prove the "Verity of Christ's Resurrection
from the Dead." But as a child I was thoughtful, and asked myself
questions, as many children do, which the Churches would find it hard to
answer to-day.

I have not ceased to believe what I was taught as a child because I have
grown wicked. I have ceased to believe it because, after twenty years'
hard thinking, I _cannot_ believe it.

I cannot believe, then, that the Christian religion is true.

I cannot believe that the Bible is the word of God. For the word of God
would be above criticism and beyond disproof, and the Bible is not above
criticism nor beyond disproof.

I cannot believe that any religion has been revealed to Man by God.
Because a revealed religion would be perfect, but no known religion
is perfect; and because history and science show us that the known
religions have not been revealed, but have been evolved from other
religions. There is no important feature of the Christian religion
which can be called original. All the rites, mysteries, and doctrines of
Christianity have been borrowed from older faiths.

I cannot believe that Jehovah, the God of the Bible, is the Creator of
the known universe. The Bible God, Jehovah, is a man-made God, evolved
from the idol of an obscure and savage tribe. The Bible shows us this
quite plainly.

I cannot believe that the Bible and the Testament are historically true.
I regard most of the events they record as fables, and most of their
characters as myths.

I cannot believe in the