Verses Across™

  • Atheist, agnostic, deist and skeptic writers. Verses Across shows each tradition in its own words. This section holds the classic public-domain writing of those who questioned or rejected religion.

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Freethought · Atheism

Superstition in All Ages 18XXI.—Spirituality Is a Chimera

18

Freethought · Atheism

Superstition in All Ages 18

XXI.—Spirituality Is a Chimera

KnoopEnglish
The barbarian, when he speaks of a spirit, attaches at least some sense to this word; he understands by it an agent similar to the wind, to the agitated air, to the breath, which produces, invisibly, effects that we perceive. By subtilizing, the modern theologian becomes as little intelligible to himself as to others. Ask him what he means by a spirit? He will answer, that it is an unknown substance, which is perfectly simple, which has nothing tangible, nothing in common with matter. In good faith, is there any mortal who can form the least idea of such a substance? A spirit in the language of modern theology is then but an absence of ideas. The idea of spirituality is another idea without a model.

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Sources & credits: Knoop

Knoop — Superstition in All Ages (Jean Meslier, translated by Anna Knoop) (1729). Public Domain. Jean Meslier, translated by Anna Knoop, Superstition in All Ages; public domain in the US; text from Project Gutenberg #17607. Source

Freethought · Atheism

Superstition in All Ages 19

KnoopEnglish