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Best of Robert Ingersoll: Selections from His Writings and Speeches

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Nobody knows Ingersoll's name today, and that's a shame. America has pushed him down into the footnotes of its history books. If it remembers him at all, it is as an atheist crackpot, a son of Tom Paine.

"I would rather be right than be president." Henry Clay said it, but if he hadn't, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll would have. It was certainly more true of Ingersoll than of Clay. He had the qualities people sought, then and now, in a leader. He had a keen, powerful mind; he was a matchless orator in an age which understood, and adored, oratory. He had led a regiment bravely in battle in the Civil War. He was honest, moral, dignified and in love with his wife and daughters. But when people encouraged him to run for president, or governor, he told them it was impossible, that he could only win votes if he would renounce his agnosticism, which he would never do. He would renounce high office rather than be false to his conception of truth. Between power and integrity there was, for him, no choice. And this disqualified him for office.

Mark Twain idolized him. Oscar Wilde, when he came to the United States, was curious to see this man Ingersoll whose lectures were so much more in demand than his own. He attended several Ingersoll performances, and pronounced him "the most intelligent man in America." It has been written that Frederick Douglass said that, "of all the great men of his personal acquaintance, there had been only two in whose presence he could be without feeling that he was regarded as inferior to them -- Abraham Lincoln and Robert Ingersoll."

People turned out by the thousands to hear him speak -- 50,000 one night in Chicago, in the days before microphones and sound systems. Ingersoll criss-crossed an America still deeply pious, heaping scorn on the brutality of religion. By the time he died in 1899, he had probably been heard by more human beings than any other person who lived in the 19th century. Although Ingersoll launched a broad-front free-thinker's assault on religious credulity, people seemed to focus on his words against the stupider aspects of Christianity, the ones that good, intelligent people had, by the late 1800s, outgrown. His sarcasm shreded the lingering bigotry in the national religion.

He held the odd status of beloved agnostic in a Christian land, in part, because this public man was so clearly living an honest, useful and loving life. His house was filled with spiritual and intellectual light, and he used a wonderful mind and a matchless personal power in the service of the good of all humanity. He frankly advocated equality for women when few men did, and he damned child abuse masquerading as parental authority. "Gentlemen," he said in one circumstance, "it isn't to have you think that I would call Christ 'an illegitimate child' which hurts me: it is that you should think that I would think any the less of Christ if I knew it was so."

His friend Walt Whitman probably captured the common view of Ingersoll when he called him, "a fiery blast for new virtues, which are only old virtues done over for honest use again." The odd thing is, Ingersoll would have been shut out of public discourse in America today. The fundamentalist movement began a few years after Ingersoll died, and the level of public and private spirituality in this country sank steadily and rapidly, unto the current level, where leading "men of faith" include Bob Jones and Jimmy Swaggart, "a cellarage only to be gazed at across the barriers of libel law."

Ingersoll's words and his life give proof to the suspicion many Americans may have, but few dare utter, that people without religion can live full, generous public lives, can have a better sense of right and wrong, than those bound up in creeds. I look forward to the day when I can cast a vote for a man as worthy as Ingersoll to be president of the United States, whether he believes in God or not. I doubt I will live to do it.

The title I have chosen is a quotation from Ingersoll that lost him a teaching job in Illinois because the seminary students to whom he said it in answer to a question they asked reported it to the school's principal. His speeches and writings are full of barbs like this that can have an audience in stitches, and it is no wonder that he was paid as much as $5,000 (in the ninetheenth century) to speak to thousands of delighted people.

After his aborted teaching career he married a fine and affluent woman who shared his views. They moved to New York and Ingersoll devoted the rest of his life to writing and to public speaking.

It is not easy to dislike this man, even if one disagrees with him, because his best is hilarious and always on the mark. America's Great Agnostic expressed himself with clarity and always with the compassion that some of his Christian critics lacked. Witness the debates between him and the Reverend Talmadge, which have appeared in print.

Ingersoll loved children, and only when he criticized religious teachings designed to terrify children into trembling piety did he become indignant and acerbic. Otherwise, he spoke of religion with rollicking humor.

Perhaps the best way to appreciate him is to read an entire, short text, such as "Some mistakes of Moses." Single quotations may not do him justice.

He died in 1899, but his ashes were kept in New York because they were not allowed interment in Arlington National Cemetery until 1932. I have visited his grave, and the stone does not bear a cross, as most do--a breath of clean air in a country now sinking into the dark ignorance of the religious right.

We need more of Robert Ingersoll. Read his works and roar with laughter along with him.

Roger Greeley brings Ingersoll to life! He's laid out and categorized by subject some of the best quotations and speeches of the Great Robert Ingersoll. I recently went to hear Greeley speak at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg and discovered that Greeley has a keen understanding of Ingersoll and it shows in his book. I believe the insight and compassion of Ingersoll expressed over a century ago, applies more today than ever. Everyone should have the chance to enjoy this collection that Roger Greeley has put together, and escape the world of fear and bigotry that religion attempts to pass off as love.

I have to admit that much of the fundamentalist, "born-again" Christian dogma leaves me cold. I wince when I hear about the fire and brimstone of a god who would sentence one of his children to infinite punishment for a finite transgression. So did Robert G. Ingersoll.

In fact, Ingersoll spent the better part of his life urging the rejection of a god who hurls thunderbolts and and seeks bloody sacrifices as atonements for man's "depravity." In this book you will find challenging essays that will prompt you to think about your religious/spiritual assumptions. Some folks said that Ingersoll was an atheist or at least an agnostic, but I'm not sure that is true. I believe that he definitely rejected the religious superstitions of a jealous/angry/vengeful god.

But I also believe that a man can't write as did Ingersoll if he is not touched by something beyond himself; something that whispers through the organized mass of rage that sometimes passes itself off as Christianity. One of my most favorite sayings of Ingersoll is "Around the cross of immortality, fundamentalist Christianity has coiled a serpent called hell."

If you are not afraid to think and be exposed to new ideas, then you will find yourself pondering this book long after you have finished reading it. If I could sum up Ingersoll's main thrust down through the years it would be, "fear not." Perhaps there are no more important words than those.

Mark Twain expressed it best when he wrote the following lines to his wife in 1879:

"I've just come to my room, Livy darling, I guess this was the memorable night of my life. By George, I never was so stirred since I was born. I heard [a speech] by that splendid old soul, Col. Bob Ingersoll,--oh, it was just the supremest combination of English words that was ever put together since the world began."

Mark Twain embodied the hearts and minds of many American's with these words, for indeed, Robert Ingersoll was very well known and was a mangificent orator and politician. People travelled for miles to hear his speeches, where attendance was standing room only. Quite often, Col. Ingersoll's speeches ran for three hours or more (which he committed to memory and recited without use of notes), yet people would stay for the entire presentation, totally enthralled and hanging on his words. The time was the late 1800's and it was the pinnacle of the Golden Age of Freethought in America.

Now, it isn't surprising, really, why the name Robert Ingersoll has slipped quietly into the history books with most people today having never heard of his name. Robert Ingersoll was an agnostic and quite often spoke on the subjects of religion and God. His views were considered offensive and heretic by many, but to many others his words rang with clear reason and logic and commanded the attention of all who heard his words. Quite often, the press would ridicule him and paint him in an unfavorable light, often citing the religious ire and condemnation of those who could not answer the questions he presented, but wished his voice to be silenced nonetheless. But Robert Ingersoll was also a rationalist, a free thinker, and he advocated and preached the doctrine of reason, logic and science. He implored that all men should think for themselves and not fall victim to the mindless banter of tradition or religious dogma. Clearly, he was offensive to some, but to many he was the voice of reason and clear thought.

Ingersoll was a visionary and was ahead of his time on many subjects. He was an abolitionist who was opposed to all forms of human slavery and who was a very ardent supporter of women's rights and the right for women to vote. And although he held no belief in the supernatural or in God, he was very moral and upstanding and would serve as a fine example today to the politicians who make a mockery of our Constitution and our civil liberties. Ingersoll was a republican and the Attorney General of Illinois and his popularity was so high and his name so well known, he was repeatedly asked to run for Governor of Illinois. Unfortunately, there was one problem. Even though the Constitution states that no man shall be required to profess a belief in any religion to be eligible to hold positions within the government, the church and the influence of religious dogma in this country had grown to a point that any man who would dare say that he was agnostic or atheist would never receive the support of any political party to run for high office. He was asked to publicly recant his beliefs so that he could run for office, to which he adamantly refused by stating:

"Good-by, gentlemen! I am not asking to be Governor of Illinois ... I have in my composition that which I have declared to the world as my views upon religion. My position I would not, under any circumstances, not even for my life, seem to renounce. I would rather refuse to be President of the United States than to do so. My religious belief is my own. It belongs to me, not to the State of Illinois. I would not smother one sentiment of my heart to be the Emperor of the round world."

Many of Ingersoll's views and opinions will be seen as harsh by those who hold dear to a religious faith. But that is not reason enough to silence the words and thoughts of this man. He presents many interesting arguments and reasons worthy of discussion and ponderation. It is sad that just because a man who holds a view outside the norm of the mainstream that he should be forgotten and silenced as an infidel or a heretic. Sadly, even to this very day, any man who openly professes to have no religion or no belief in God is still ostracized and cannot hope to serve in any high political office in the land of the free. Ingersoll quite often pointed out that unless a man uses his mind to think for himself, he will always be a slave to those who tell him what to think and what to believe.

This book provides an interesting insight to our history about a man and an era in history that was born not out of superstition, but out of reason and logic and the desire to think. Certainly, this book will not be for everyone, but whether you agree with Ingersoll's opinions or not is irrelevant. The fact remains that this is a page out of our American history books that should be dusted off and looked at again. Ingersoll made some amazing predictions that came true and still offers today some thoughts and ideals that are worthy of discussion that are relevant to our current world and society. This book is but merely a collection of speeches from Ingersoll and will serve as a good introduction to the body of his work.

This book mostly consists of quotes in alphabetical order. Missing are source notes and, amazingingly, any index whatsoever. Almost no speeches are provided in their entirety. If you're looking for some pithy zingers on a topic, this book is yours. If you would like to get an understanding of Ingersoll, or read speeches from one of America's greatest wordsmiths, you'll unfortunately have to look somewhere else.

If American children were required to read Robert Ingersoll, the world would be a safer place to be. His warmth and commonsense shine through everything he has ever written. His speeches are clear and insightful, and particularly relevant with much of America caught in the climate of fear stemming from the religious fervour that has engulfed them.

His writings show that a moral life has no connection with a religious belief. I confess I would give any book relating to Ingersoll's writings 5 stars as I have never found a speech of his that wasn't witty, good natured and exhibited great intelligence. His technique of always attacking the belief not the believer demonstrates his generous spirit.

Ingersoll wrote of a Republican party that still remembered the meaning of republic, before it became the haven of the religious right. A man who could have been President easily, but chose personal integrity over political ambition. The great agnostic was never an atheist, he may have lived the best Christian life of the 19th Century. This book makes you want to weep when we think of all the great men that are overlooked because their truth was unpopular, while we glorify the Andrew Jackson and omit his Indian Removal Act from high school history books.

Creeley has skillfully captured both Ingersoll's blazing integrity and his wonderful insights. There are memorable quotes on nearly every page (On Immortality: "It is better to ignorantly hope than to dishonestly affirm."). An excellent reminder that we are all better served by having an open, honest, civil debate about life's most ultimate questions.

Ingersoll is right up there with Paine and Voltaire. His thoughts and ideas transcend the centuries, and are relevant to this day (and perhaps beyond). He evinced a deep and honest insight into the human condition, and was especially humorous in re: his jibes at religion - "Belief without evidence is not religion; faith without facts is not religion" or "Men give millions of dollars to carry the gospel to other lands, and leave their own neighbors without bread." He was an abolitionist, a crusader for women's rights, and a Freethinker with few peers. He is a must-read for those who espouse freedom.