Part 2

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We justify almost any sort of life by the Holy Bible, but we cannot pull the blinds over the eyes of conscience.

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The Women's Christian Temperance Union cannot influence towards reformation effectively; the women of this religious order are trying to defeat liquor and cigarette traffic, yet loth to realize under their profession of Christianity, they are sinners greater than either the unfortunate cigarette fiend or the drunkard, because they all admit the horror of killing, at the same time relishing a mess of carrion, thereby virtually encouraging the killer to kill more.

The tiger pounces upon the giraffe and rides it to death, all the while tearing the flesh from the bleeding animal; the puma pounces upon the mountain goat; the hyena tears the entrails from its living prey and the cat pounces upon the beautiful song bird and takes its innocent life--where is your merciful, loving, personal God?

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The religionist who lives on hallucination or believes that faith alone "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," and will not reason, is living in the dark ages still.

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If one desires going into absolute truth concerning the killing of helpless animals, he may justly condemn the wearing of leather shoes, gloves, etc., all of which are worn contrary to Nature's Law.

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The self-styled religious element send missionaries to foreign lands to spread the gospel of love when they, themselves, as well as those they send, are insufficiently human to recognize the brutality of slaughter.

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Take man to the slaughter house to view the butchery, and then if he contends God created helpless, dumb brutes for the slaughter pen, he is positively heartless. If he shudders to witness the hideous butchery, that proves conclusively that God is not omnipresent.

If man wishes to disregard spirituality and remain an agnostic, infidel or an atheist, that is his privilege and he may continue eating carrion and encouraging slaughter, from the lower animal plane, but when he steps over the threshold into religion and affiliates with the churches and talks of man's pre-eminence above the beast he must of necessity be in sympathy with his dumb fellow creatures and abstain from flesh-eating to discourage all things not in harmony with God. (Higher self).

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Does it not hurt the innocent lamb when you cut its little throat? Does it not hurt the little calf when you take its tender life? Does it not hurt the cow when you wield the axe with tremendous force against its forehead? Does it not hurt the sheep when in the agonies of death? Does it not hurt when the goat pitifully gurgles the sound "Oh Lord," as its life-blood is passing the butcher's knife? If pain does attend this horrible inhumanity of man, what right then has he to establish for himself a God in Heaven when in reality he hath no more feeling in his miserable carcass than hath the cannibal of the uncivilized isles.

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All things may be possible to God, but the idea of placing the breath of life into our fellow-beings to be snuffed out by a superior intellectual animal is the absurdest of all absurdities.

Dancing, theater-going, rag-time music, and all other pleasures to kill the monotony of daily routine, are under the ban of the churches. We carry ourselves aloof from these awful (?) sins and walk in the attitude of solemnity to impress Almighty God with our piety. We preach against liquor and tobacco while we ourselves are addicted to the use of tea and coffee (stimulants). We condemn everything we ourselves do not care for and we jealously admonish others to be just like us. Now if dancing, theater-going, rag-time music, etc., and the immoralities of life are sins of venial proportion, of what colossal magnitude must be the sin of taking life we cannot restore and how immeasurably hellish are the churches that uphold the killing in the name of a merciful God!

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The dumb animals were created by Nature same as man (except that we are a little above the animal in intellect), and have a divine right to live out their respective allotted time same as man (minister, church-goer or layman.)

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The Buddhist who regards all animal life sacred is on the right path to spirituality, while the carnivorous Jew, Catholic and Protestant are drifting in the rut of dark age fantasy and fanaticism.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q. Are you not a little bit radical on the subject of Humanitarianism?

A. To you I may be "a little bit radical" because I oppose all religions (yours inclusive) which make mankind selfish and unfeeling.

Q. If the Bible teaches me to slay and eat have I not a right to eat flesh?

A. Yes, a legal right and your Bible right, but not a moral right.

Q. Do not some people believe it is right to slay and eat lower animals?

A. Yes, from their palate, but all honorable conscientious men see a wrong in taking life.

Q. Has not environment throughout one's life something to do with our eating of flesh?

A. Yes, but come out of it and be in line with a grander, nobler and consistent life. Lay aside your palate and let your conscience rule.

Q. Is not the devil in your philosophy?

A. It seems so to you because it is an exposé of churchianity, proving beyond question the nothingness of the flesh eating religionist's piety.

Q. Suppose man lives in a country where he cannot find vegetarian food?

A. Then he might be justified in eating flesh to preserve his life.

Q. If there is no personal God, who created this world?

A. It is a scientific proposition, and so acknowledged by all thinking men.

Q. Do church people get angry at your philosophy?

A. Yes, sometimes, as when their conscience is seared by a hot iron.

Q. Have not vegetables life?

A. Not life which suffers an evident pain nor do they flee when you threaten to pluck them. Such a question is invariably asked by a carnivorous wiseacre.

Q. Why are all Vegetarians lank, lean and skinny?

A. Because you like the taste of meat and intend to continue eating it.

Q. I know animals have fear and pain, but supposing God did place them on earth for man to slay and eat, what then?

A. "God" is no better then than your "devil."

Q. What were animals created for?

A. What were YOU created for?

Q. What is your conception of God?

A. Nature. Higher self--Conscience.

Q. Do you not kill insects when you drink water; and do you not cripple and trample harmless bugs to death with every step you take?

A. Yes, but involuntarily and not with pre-meditation and not selfishly to satisfy an inhuman desire or appetite.

Q. Would you "swat" a fly or kill a flea or a snake?

A. If a pest or venomous reptile disturbed my peace and quiet I would be justified in protecting myself.

Q. Is not the survival of the fittest a natural law; consequently being superior I may slay and eat?

A. That's your idea because the "fittest" is yourself--in your own estimation and power; but there's no godliness in such a contention. It is your selfish conclusion that might is right at the expense of sentient life.

Q. Do I not work hard and do I not know that I need meat to sustain me in my manual labor? Do I not know what my system needs.

A. Your system does not require food which must come from a murdered animal! When you contend that you must subsist on flesh, you know not whereof you speak. You are talking to uphold your inhuman appetite.

Q. Where would medical research be were it not for vivisection (torture) and killing animals for experiment in the interest of science?

A. I do not know, but I do know scientific men have not a moral right to torture and kill harmless, helpless animals. Experimenting in surgery, etc., should be done on humans who believe in the advancement of medical science at the expense of life.

Q. Do you object to the infidel eating flesh food?

A. I do not object to anyone eating flesh food--eat whatever you like, but I do point out the wrong of taking life and I emphatically say the religious institution upholding slaughter is a farce and a pharisaical monument to a man-made deity.

Q. Do you actually consider flesh eating the most abominable of sins?

A. Yes, absolutely the most abominable.

Q. What do you think of religious emotionalism and ecstasy?

A. If from the mouth of a carnivorous worshipper it is sham and pretense--a mockery.

Q. Is not your feeling toward animals mawkish sentimentality?

A. There is no such thing as mawkish sentimentality in decrying inhumanity.

Q. Do not the lower animals prey upon one another, and do not the big fish eat the little fish?

A. You profess to be above the inferior animals and you profess to have a soul; you also have a Golden Rule supposed to have been handed down by a kind and merciful Creator.

Q. What shall we do with all the animals if we do not kill them?

A. Is that why you eat flesh?

Q. Do you really think carnivorous churchites are not of God?

A. I don't _think_ it, I _know_ it _absolutely_, because I know it is wrong to kill and I know they know it and I know they search the Scriptures for "proof" to satisfy palate while Conscience rebels.

Q. What do you think of a religionist who says, "I am living under a new dispensation since Christ came and went, and I now eat anything the Lord sets before me?"

A. If he means he can eat at the expense of sentient life he is not a Godly man; he is not living in harmony with the Golden Rule; he is not living according to the promptings of a higher self, consequently the God spirit is dormant.

The church carnivora's favorite Bible quotations to justify his inhumanity are invariably quoted from a petrified conscience and the region of the palate. Here are several of the passages:

"There is nothing from without a man, entering into him can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man."

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"For one believeth that he may eat all things; another, who is weak, eateth herbs. But to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him it is unclean."

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"Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them, which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer."

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"In a trance I saw a vision; a certain vessel descend as it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth and beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air; and a voice said unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and eat."

IN AND BETWEEN THE LINES

The Bible says: Be not among eaters of flesh.

The Bible says: It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the hymns of fools.

The Bible says: If an animal dieth of itself do not eat it but give it to thy neighbor and let him eat thereof.

The Bible says: Who knoweth that the spirit of man goeth upward and the spirit of the beast goeth downward?

The Bible says: Your stomachs are an open sepulchre.

The Bible says: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

The Bible says: Prove all things and hold fast of that which is good.

The Bible says: Do not be as the hypocrites are, testifying in public places and yet living apart from God.

The Bible says: Reason is too high for a fool.

The Bible says: He that follows after mercy findeth life.

The Bible says: The wise man's eyes are in his head (he reasons), but the fool's eyes are neither here nor there, he walketh in darkness.

The Bible says: When a man's ways are in harmony with higher consciousness he maketh his enemies be at peace with him.

The Bible says: The Spirit of God made Samson a murderer.

The Bible says: The beasts of the field shall honor me.

The Bible says: Fool thou art to believe all that the prophets have said.

The Bible says: God sent plagues to torment his people.

The Bible says: Shed not innocent blood.

The Bible says: Praise the Lord every living creature--the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and earth, the fish of the waters and all mankind.

The Bible says: Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

The Bible says: Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.

The Bible says: There are many false lords and false gods the people are worshipping.

The Bible says: Come now, let us reason together.

The Bible says: Faith without works is dead.

The Bible says: He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a human.

The Bible says: Beast and man have one breath; so that man hath no pre-eminence above the beast; as one dieth so dieth the other.

The Bible says: Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

The Bible says: Every moving thing that liveth (grain, fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.) shall be food for you, but flesh with the life thereof which is blood shall ye not eat.

The Bible says: God blessed every creature.

The Bible says: Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth and every tree, on the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.

The Bible says: All that cry Lord, Lord, are not of God.

The Bible says: They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy Mountain.

The Bible says: I am God, I change not.

The Bible says: Do a little consistent heart cleaning so that the human mind's eye shall be spiritual to see and segregate right from wrong.

The Bible says: Christ taught love, leniency, forgiveness, tenderness and mercy.

The Bible says: Dead flies cause the apothecary's ointment to send forth a stinking savour.

Capital punishment or legalized murder is another miscarriage of consistency; it does not dovetail into mercy and it does not blend into the law that God has given man an allotted time upon the earth. What right have twelve jurors to virtually cancel the life of a murderer? Incarcerate the offender under a life sentence with proper food and training, and ultimately that murderer's heart and soul might be purer than Judge, jurors and all connected with the courts of justice.

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If a criminal under excitement or cool pre-meditation takes the life of a human being, the cool, considerate jurors, responsible for the death penalty, are just as guilty of murder as the prisoner.

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The butcher is rejected as a juror on a murder trial on the ground that his business has hardened his heart, and yet the Judge of the Superior Court, the sheriff and his deputies and the eligible jurors all eat of the beef the butcher slaughters.

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Despite the protests that may come to the surface in reading the inspired, pointed truths, the fact should be reiterated that Justice, Kindness and Mercy for every living creature is in the heart and soul of the true religionist.

The sand-blind carnivorous faith curist (who reads his Bible through a pair of eye-glasses not made by God Almighty) tells us of a divine healing power.

We hear many testimonies from the lips of these people praising this wonderful (?) curative agency, but when sensibly considered we know the "power" removes only visionary ills.

Imaginary tumors, etc., hypochondria and other nervous troubles readily yield to this mythical physician, but no disease or defect in reality, can be removed until we remove the physical cause.

If we continue living regardless of natural health laws all the "belief" and all the "faith" and all the "Blood" cannot offset the inevitable result of continued disobedience.

They sometimes speculate as to the stubbornness and apparent incurability of an ailment and finally lay the blame to a spiritual insufficiency. Ridiculous!

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Mankind is filled with patriotism when a victorious war is ended, forgetting the awful gloom pervading some poor mother's home. The higher self should make us grieve with those that grieve rather than be exultant at the loss or downfall of any nation. We should love all nations and nationalities as we do our own, and be bound together by inseparable bonds, realizing that we all must pass to the final tomb of man on the same level.

A bow of horse hair coming in contact with the gut strings of a violin produces exquisite harmony that thrills every fibre of our being with ecstasy. We can attribute the melody to the spirit of the deceased animal appealing to the human heart. Strange that after life has departed we can charm the muses with tones produced on a stringed instrument. What human being has ever bequeathed to the world a substance to awaken the emotions of our soul through concord of sweet sounds like unto the gut of a deceased animal? Evidently there is more harmony in the entrails of lower creatures than we find in the entire carcass of religious civilized carnivorous man.

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The scientist who upholds painful experimental surgery in the interest of science should give over his own body for experiment instead of encouraging the cruelties of vivisection. It hurts being "cut to pieces," consequently the heartless scientific fellow, instead of offering his own body for the dissecting table, tortures a poor friendless dog or other animal.

The horrible suffering thousands of helpless creatures have undergone through the process of vivisection is heartrending.

There should be stringent law against such inhumanity.

A DEVOUT (?) ADMONITION.

E. E. Kusel,

Los Angeles, Cal.

Sir: I read your "Humanitarian Philosophy" booklet and I take it as a mass of devil talk. It is not in favor of the Holy Bible and it says it is wrong to kill animals. This is crossing God's word. You say it says swine meat is forbidden. That is the only true statement in your book but that is the law for the Jews only. You say it says thou shalt not kill; of course it does, and that has references to the human family only. You say the religious man that does not shudder at the works of a butcher is heartless and godless. You tell a falsehood there. I have been a believer fifteen years and I know all animals were made for man.

I can see the devil has a powerful influence over you as it had over Voltaire, Paine, Ingersoll, Edison, Hubbard and other non-believers. You infidels preach against God's Bible and will be burned in the everlasting fires of hell for it. You will be glad to have a drop of cold water in your suffering, but god will not have mercy--it will be too late then.

Hell is full of agnostics and infidels and non-believers burning and suffering and I warn you to have a care as to what you say.

The Catholics and Christian Scientists are as much of the devil's doings as you are, so you'll have company if you do not repent of your infidelity.

You are adding to God's word and it is punishable by his wrath (Rev. 22:18.)

Your book is a lot of lies and infidelity.

N. S. W.

Birmingham, Ala., Jan. 30, 1911.

A REPLY.

Mr. N. S. W.,

Birmingham, Ala.

My dear sir: In reply to your letter of Jan. 30th, concerning my "Humanitarian Philosophy," I wish to candidly tell you that I am not at all afraid of your sort of god. The God I worship is not very likely to materialize in a selfish fanatical subject, but always comes to the surface in the heart and soul of honorable, conscientious thinking men--men who either profess nothing and live according to custom or in men who profess religion and uphold their God as kind, loving and merciful.

This latter man is an ethical vegetarian and will not accept the cruelties and inconsistencies of the Bible but says "it is an error in translation."

As to the lower animals, one preying upon the other, the conscientious, devout Bible believer presents the theory of his own freeing God Almighty from the sinful responsibility. He divides Bible truth from Bible error--he accepts the lofty and beautiful and holds fast to that which is good.

If you intend to preach a gospel of Love you will find it an utter impossibility to do so if you do not live a Humanitarian life--a life that forbids the killing of any thing that suffers pain, and fear of death as you yourself may sometimes suffer.

In conclusion I wish to impress you with the fact that your letter is sufficient proof that you read the Bible in a haphazard style and know not its contents.

Every assertion, every quotation and every conclusion in my "Humanitarian Philosophy," my dear sir, is absolutely true and justified.

Respectfully,

E. E. KUSEL.

FROM THE W. A. T. L.

The tobacco smoking on street cars has been very much discussed in your valuable paper recently. Now, I will suggest that all persons who object to the poisonous effects of tobacco register a protest every chance they get and spend some good money, as I am doing, to back up their argument against the most deadly plant used by human beings. There is no traffic so degrading in its influence and effect as tobacco. It goes hand in hand with liquor, and when we stop the youth of the land from using the weed, then the saloon will have no customers.

G. L. R.

Founder World's Anti-Tobacco League, Los Angeles, Cal.

(From Los Angeles Herald.)

THE "WORST" SIN.

The church element construe the Bible to blend into their own desires and appetites and then in the name of their god (little g) they commit every iniquity under the sun, the most abominable of which is the eating of "a beef which has been battered in the head by the blow of an ax or mutton which has had its throat cut from ear to ear."

Get yourself in touch with the Infinite and you will see that the taking of animal life for food is a greater sin than smoking, drinking or satisfying animal desires. The three last named are only sinning against the body but not commendable by any means, while the first is the horrible sin of taking life.

Carnivorous reader (church people included) think these lines over well and then move thy tongue seven times before thou speakest of sin!

E. E. KUSEL.

Los Angeles, Cal.

(From Los Angeles Herald.)

MAN AND BEAST.

What queer and wild notions religious faddists get into their heads. T. J. W. wants us to quit killing cattle and hogs, etc., in fact all kinds of animals and birds because God has put them on earth. I would like Mr W. to tell us what would become of us if we followed his advice. Why, the animals would crowd man off the earth in a short while. The farmer could not raise any crops. Cattle, deer, hares and sheep would eat his grain, the coyotes his chickens and the lions would eat him.

C. V. Pasadena, Cal.

(From Los Angeles Herald.)

VEGETARIAN'S REPLY.

If you please, Mr. V., I am not a "religious faddist." I am not religious at all. I am a firm believer in the Golden Rule, applying it to man and beast.

In reply to your query, Mr. V. I will answer briefly: Self-preservation is the first law of nature, so protect yourself against the presumed invasion of tame and wild beasts, birds, etc., but do not presume we have the right to take life of anything which endures pain or runs away from impending danger unless occasion calls for it.

My letter to the Herald, if you please, was for those who profess to be godly and "in the kingdom." Religious people must be strictly humane or they are minus the God character and their profession is either a phantom or hypocrisy.