The Logical Atheist

If the Christian religion be true, the proofs ought not only to be universally exhibited, but they ought also to be universally convincing; and this results essentially from the nature of that evidence which is employed to substantiate the system. It is not strange that man should often doubt, where human testimony is the only ground of conviction, but when the proof rises higher and claims a divine origin, one would suppose that the mind must necessarily yield to the force of such divine testimony, otherwise the means made use of by divine power for the accomplishment of the end, are inadequate and deficient; but as no such imbecility can justly be attributed to a being possessing infinite wisdom, it is to be presumed, that the exhibition of evidence in the present case ought to be complete and satisfactory, universal and every where convincing. If human projects miscarry, this failure is to be ascribed to the imperfection of human nature; and the believer ought to perceive that he do...

In the case of the Christian religion, man is subjected to damnation, either because he is ignorant of the system, or because his mind cannot discern the quantum of evidence necessary to establish its divine origin; but in the system of nature, although there is a real difference in regard to the possession of talents, yet the man weak in intellect cannot, in justice, be subjected to punishment on this account. No Christian will contend that great mental energy will entitle a man to salvation, or, on the other hand, that a feeble understanding will, in the mind of the Deity, be considered as a justifiable cause of damnation. No; if God be just, he will require only the due and proper exercise of those diversified talents which he had variously bestowed upon his creatures. If one be weak and another strong, one foolish and another discerning, the justice of God demands a mode of treatment exactly adjusted to these different powers and faculties. The Christian religion, therefore, in ord...

Man is essentially interested in the discovery of truth, and the diversified application of its principles to all the concerns of human life; he is equally interested in the practice of a pure natural virtue; truth, however, will make but little progress, where religious bigotry has seized upon the mental faculties, and suppressed the elevated conception of the understanding; nor will practical virtue share a better fate, where its beneficent effects are opposed by similar causes; the hope, therefore, of constituting a useful character, compounded of the love of truth, and the practice of genuine morality, will become evanescent, unless man can be persuaded that he is interested in a speedy return to nature, from which, in all his inquiries, he has so long deviated. The plan of revealed religion, in which man for so many ages has reposed the confidence of his mind, should be re-examined under the impressions inducing an invincible attachment to the development of solemn truth, and the ...

It is unreasonable and unjust in the advocates of any system to announce divinity of origin where the internal evidence derived from the scheme itself is sufficient to demonstrate imperfection. A supernatural code of theological principles should be incapable of being charged with any of those defects which are unavoidably connected with all human productions; contradictions, inconsistencies, and immorality, can never be found in the mandates of a being infinitely perfect; infinite perfection precludes the possibility of such effect, and wherever the defect is discovered, the evidence growing out of such defect is abundant against the admission of divine origin. Keeping these principles constantly in view, as marks by which to direct our inquiries, we shall be able to ascertain what degree of respect we ought to bestow upon a system of theology, which has heretofore demanded the unqualified credence of every living creature to whom it has been presented; we shall be able to ascertain w...

Before we speak, therefore, of an infinite sin, or an infinite evil, we should consider the capacity of those beings to whom this evil is attributed; if the acting agents are infinite in their nature and character, the effects of their operations may be so too, but if they are finite, their actions can lay no claim to an infinite effect. Sin is the consequence of the infraction of moral law; if this infraction be made by an infinite being, the criminality would be like the being who made it, that is of an infinite quality; but if the infraction be made by an imperfect being, the criminality is finite, and limited in its essential nature. It follows, of course, as man is a finite and imperfect agent; if he cannot do an infinite act, he is incapable of an infinite evil, and does not deserve an infinite punishment; consequently, the idea of eternal death is unjust and unreasonable. --Elihu Palmer (1764-1806),  Principles of Nature; or, A Development of  the Moral Causes of Happin...

Man thus wishing to gratify his resentment against his neighbour, of an opposite religious opinion, has never failed to engage his God in is own quarrels; and if in the course of events, if any misfortune befel his enemy, the doctrine of special providence was then verified in his mind, and he triumphantly asserted that the Almighty had made bare the arm of his justice, and brought ruin and destruction upon the objects of his wrath. This doctrine, so humiliating to the character of man, and so disgraceful to the intelligent preserver of nature, has been fundamental in every religious system of supernatural origin. It took its rise in the weakness and malevolence of human nature, and its destructive consequences will have no end, till reason shall enlighten and renovate the world. --Elihu Palmer (1764-1806), Principles of Nature; or, A Development of  the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery Among the Human Species

This terrible representation of the divinity, as destitute of truth as it was pernicious in its consequences, was, at length, diversified and decompounded, and afterwards recombined for purposes of systematic terror; the partial distribution of favours, and the dreadful torture of the human race under the name of divine vengeance. The professors of different religious opinions having armed their God in their own cause, became the merciless distributors of those dreadful punishments and calamities which they expected would result from the character of that barbarous divinity, which their imaginations had described. The malice of the individual, the savage cruelty of man, was transferred to this imaginary God, and he appeared in turn the object of terror to every living mortal. --Elihu Palmer (1764-1806),  Principles of Nature; or, A Development of  the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery Among the Human Species