{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_48589/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_48589","id":"gutenberg_48589","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48589","summary":null,"tags":["Animal welfare","Category: Nutrition","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Vegetarianism -- Religious aspects"],"text":"[Illustration: Emil Edward Kusel]\n\n\n  Humanitarian\n\n  Philosophy\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  By\n\n  EMIL EDWARD KUSEL\n\n\n  Extracts From His Letters\n\n  Fourth Edition\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Thou shalt not kill.--Bible.\n\n  The individuality created by God is not carnivorous.--Mary Baker G. Eddy.\n\n  Kill not but have regard for life.--Buddha.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Los Angeles, California\n  1912\n\n\n\n\n  Copyright 1912\n\n  by Emil Edward Kusel.\n\n  All rights reserved.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n\n\n\nNOTE.\n\n\nWhen one meets with adversity and all the world seems bitterly against\nhim or when one realizes the short duration of life and hopes for a\nsplendid immortality, no doubt it is a consolation for many to read the\ninspired and lofty sentiments of the Bible.\n\nTherefore in writing the following epigrams condemning inhumanity, I\nfelt confident that kindly people would see that it is far from my\nmotive to cast reflection upon any individual inclined to accept the\ncomforting and humane passages of either the Old or New Testament.\n\nI merely aimed to prove the inhuman Mosaical law giving man the idea to\nkill is not a law of a kind and loving God. I also aimed to prove that\nthe flesh-eating religionist is an accessory to a crime more bestial in\nthe sight of God than any other sin known to the human family.\n\n  EMIL E. KUSEL.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n\n\n\nKIND WORDS.\n\n\n\"Humanitarian Philosophy\" has taught me that God and conscience are in\nunison. I would have liked to condemn the writer for opening my eyes to\nthe truth, but the Lord is on his side.\n\n\"Humanitarian Philosophy\" is an eye opener for the true religionist who\nnever before thought on the wickedness of killing.\n\n\"Humanitarian Philosophy\" is a blessing for those who wish to live the\nChrist life, although it will not appeal to the religionist who is\ninhumanly self-righteous.\n\nSince digesting \"Humanitarian Philosophy\" I know a conscientious person\ncan read the stinging truth without a selfish protest. The truth is\nmighty.\n\n\"Humanitarian Philosophy\" at first reading made me angry, but praise\nGod, the vegetarian's heart is in the right place.\n\n\"Humanitarian Philosophy\" is an inspiration.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n\n\n\nCOMPLIMENTARY.\n\n\nHave always been very much interested in the subjects of our able\nministers, but since receiving a copy of Mr. Kusel's philosophy against\nflesh eating I am a convert to the doctrine that neither minister nor\ncongregation can be \"a child of God\" until they are vegetarians.\n\nIt is impossible for me to now believe otherwise on account of the\ntremendous cruelty and horror of taking the life of animals.\n\nI never thought of the truth as Mr. Kusel puts it forth, and I am\nsurprised to think preachers never preached against blood food. I also\nthought it would be meet and proper to criticise shoe, glove and belt\nwearing, but the leather using is a secondary proposition; the animal\nis first killed for food purposes and secondarily to avoid the waste we\nmay utilize the hide, and still we should discourage that argument.\n\nMr. Kusel is defending God Almighty nobly in his \"Humanitarian\nPhilosophy\" and has given the church doctrines a slap no man can\ngainsay.\n\nWhen we favor meat eating we favor killing, and when we favor killing\nin the name of God we know we are liars and murderers, for God is kind\nand loving, and surely opposes the taking of life. Let churches preach\nthe murder of animals, but pray do not say wickedness (killing) is\nGod's will. The world needs more conscientious men like Mr. Kusel to\nprotect God Almighty from defamation.\n\n  T. J. W.\n\n  (From Los Angeles Herald.)\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n\n\n\nA NOBLE WOMAN.\n\n\n  Mr. Emil Edward Kusel,\n\n  Los Angeles, Cal.\n\nDear Mr. Kusel:--I have been wonderfully guided and blessed by reading\n\"Humanitarian Philosophy\" as it is truly an inspired work that should\nbe thought upon by all religious people.\n\nThe beauty of your blessed reasoning is that you cast all biblical\nchaff to the four winds and look to God in the true light of love and\nmercy.\n\nYes indeed, you show the inconsistency of a religion that gives us\nan evil right to kill things while every last one of us, without\nexception, cling to life with the tenacity of a coward.\n\nYou fully convince me that false prophets had a hand in writing the\nScriptures because God in His Infinite Love could not have created\nthe dear innocent lamb our Savior carried in his bosom to be killed\nnor could he have created the sweet little baby calf to be slain\nand eaten by human beings. You convince me that God is not in the\nslaughter-house, neither in the midst of those who patronize the\nbutcher any more than He is in the heart of the wild beast of prey.\n\nI do believe in a personal God as I could not live without hope for a\nblissful future life beyond the grave. This pilgrimage, to me, without\nreligion would make this world a very dreary and lonesome place.\n\nHeretofore I lived a carnivorous life, always wondering why God created\npoor sentient things for human food but now, thank God, I realize,\nwithout humanitarianism spirituality is not a reality and I applaud\nsuch men as Mr. Kusel for standing out boldly on a grand philosophy\nthat puts all church doctrines to shame and presents a religion\nconsistent with reason.\n\nYour trend of thought, my dear brother, is indeed marvelous from a\ngracious heart and I believe some mighty power is preparing you for a\nspecial great work.\n\n  Yours very truly,\n\n  MRS. J. R. B.\n\n  St. Paul, Minn., May 16, 1911.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n\n\n\nTHE HERMIT.\n\n    No flocks that roam the valley free,\n      To slaughter I condemn,\n    Taught by the power that pities me,\n      I learn to pity them.\n\n  --Goldsmith.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn religion, what damned error but some sober brow will bless it and\napprove it with a text, hiding the grossness with fair ornament.\n\n  --Shakespeare.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe untold suffering the human family sanctions through a wrong\nconception of what is right, should make every Christian heart ache.\n\n  --Platt.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen men go hunting (to kill) they call it sport but when the hunted\nanimal (perhaps wounded) turns to fight for its life, they call _that_\nferocity.--Shaw.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet all creatures live, as we desire to live.\n\n  --Tolstoy.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n\n\n\nTHE RELIGION OF BUDDHA.\n\n(An Idea from \"Light of Asia.\")\n\n    'Twere good to be humane\n          to the helpless beast;\n    Better than to deplore the\n          sins of the world\n    With priests who pray for\n          mankind,\n    And yet have no mercy\n          on God's dumb creatures--\n    \"They pray for mercy\n    Whilst they themselves\n          are merciless.\"\n\n  --Kusel.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative Border]\n\n\n\n\nHumanitarian Philosophy\n\nBy Emil Edward Kusel\n\nNo doubt some of the conscience-stricken readers will brand the\nauthor of the sentiments herein as an extremist rather than a humane\nenthusiast, but bethink yourself it is far better to be \"an extremist\"\non a logical, noble basis than to be inconsistent under false pretense.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe author is presenting truths from an absolutely rational standpoint\nstanding firmly on a real philosophical basis that cannot be overthrown\nby a cyclone of protests from the \"religious\" flesh-eating faction.\n\nThe idea is to show that man, when he gets \"right with God,\" drifts\naway from the customs of ancient times and reasons from the Golden\nRule foundation which is consistent with a higher life and makes him\nreligiously humane as well as \"pious.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYou may allow your quasi-religious principle to prevail against reason;\nyou may pout and cry against the Humanitarian's noble philosophy; you\nmay dream of the imps of hell awaiting his quietus; you may consult\nyour Bible to bless your inhumanity and yet mercy for our dumb\nfellow-creatures is unselfish, pure and gentle, resultant from a proper\nconception of man's superiority and his God.\n\nIf a man's religion is pure and good and undefiled it would be wrong\nto present facts to blast his belief (be it ever so superstitious);\nhowever, when he insists upon inhumanity toward any sentient creature,\nhe should be severely criticised.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe scriptural passages that are well flavored with indecency and the\nscriptural inhumanity written in God's name are not one whit more\ninspired than are the objectionable lines of sensational literature.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Bible has caused more bloodshed, more hatred; made more hypocrites\nand caused more suffering than all else combined. It is a book\ncontaining some lofty ideas and moral laws by good men, but the\nmany inconsistencies therein have caused superstition, imagination,\ninsanity, contemptibility and horrible cruelty that haunts the brain of\nthe honorable thinking masses.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is proper to impress indelibly in the minds of the pretenders of the\nseveral creeds \"Thou shalt not kill;\" neither shalt thou be accessory\nin the killing by encouraging the slaughter through patronage.\n\nYou may erect your massive temples and dedicate them to Jehovah; you\nmay pray to your heart's content and sing psalms until doomsday, yet\nthe earthquake, the cyclone, the tornado, the volcano overthrows the\nsynagogue, the cathedral, the church, the brothel and the saloon\nwithout distinction. Evidently the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is\nnot omnipresent to protect an institution that stands for inhumanity.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne of the most noticeable inconsistencies ever presented to thinking\npeople is the representation of \"Divine Love\" portrayed under the title\n\"Peace,\" symbolized by a child leading the cow, the calf, the lion,\nthe leopard and the lamb. This taken from the Bible, is supposed to\nrepresent, \"And a little child shall lead them.\"\n\nJust think of symbolizing \"Peace\" with an innocent child leading\nanimals we actually murder! No doubt every religionist looks upon that\npainting as a masterpiece--an inspiration. Yet most of them sanction\nthe slaughter of innocence by relishing a lamb chop or a veal cutlet.\n\n\"And a little child shall lead them!\" Whither? To the slaughter? Is not\nthat a miserable symbolization of \"Divine Love\" and \"Peace?\"\n\nSuch inconsistency painted in the name of religion is an abomination\nand deserves strenuous criticism.\n\nNot the least in the realm of inconsistency are the Jewish people who\nfast on their day of atonement and break the Sabbath fifty-two times a\nyear by bartering. Now where is the consistency in such an atonement\nwhen the Bible says explicitly: \"Remember the Sabbath day and keep it\nholy.\"\n\nSuch incongruity is practised universally among the orthodox as well\nas the reformed element. Like the Gentile, the Jewish religionist,\nnotwithstanding that he admits the horror of viewing the death throes\nof a butchered animal, eats his flesh food \"kosher\" to satisfy his\npalate rather than live up to the promptings of conscience.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJudaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Christian Sciencism alike\ndisregard the sacredness of all animal kingdom, and yet, after\nadmitting the horror of the slaughter pen, they all encourage the\nmerciless killing under the cloak of the Bible.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose\" may well be applied to\nthe religionist who upholds the killing of our dumb fellow creatures.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe fact that the Bible encourages the murder of an animal proves it is\nnot entirely from the pen of holy men.\n\nThe individual who professes religion and says it is right to slay and\neat when he can live without taking sentient life, on the vegetation\nwhich nature so bountifully provides, is a liar, a murderer and a\nhypocrite in his own higher conscience.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe so-called devout man wants to live and enjoy life, but he eats of\nthe innocent animal that has been battered to death by the blow of\nthe ax; he contends that a body which suffers pain was created for\nslaughter to satisfy his beastly palate. Such a man is destitute of the\nvery essence of God-life be he minister, church-goer or layman.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAbove all things the minister of the Gospel and the church attendant\nshould be kind and considerate toward all animal creation and should\nconstrue the Scriptures and preach to prove the sacredness of\ntheir Holy Bible. They should do God's will one earth as it is in\nHeaven, absolutely abstaining from the fleshpots of Egypt, thereby\ndiscouraging the blotting out of animal life, proving conclusively by\ntheir lives that their God is just and kind and merciful.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe man who opposes the spilling of life blood of Nature's creatures is\non the higher plane of life.\n\nAfter searching for a mode of living through which we might find\nperfect peace on earth and good will toward our fellow-men, we become\npartially interested in the different religions, but we cannot\nconscientiously close our eyes and believe a meat-eating, gormandizing\nreligionist is undefiled and passing on to spiritual perfection to\nultimately, at dissolution, burst into a glorious immortality.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nRead the memorable Sermon on the Mount, supposed to have been delivered\nby Christ Jesus, and note the humility, the tenderness, the love and\nall therein that is grand and noble--then decide that such a meek\nand lowly Nazarene could have eaten of the fleshpots or even have\nsanctioned the killing of any living creature, and you deprive that\ncharacter of the very essence of divinity.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFlesh eating man's religion cannot emanate from a kindly heart because\nwith all his intellectuality and knowledge of right and wrong, his\nanimalistic tendencies are in excess. His horror for the slaughter pen\nis conclusive and positive evidence that the higher consciousness is\ndormant proving that carnivorous man hath no pre-eminence above the\nbeast.\n\nWe fail to see any Christianity in the present-day Sunday churchianity,\nand we positively know there is nothing sacred in the person upholding\nthe merciless slaughter of animals. Through all this we are made to\nfully realize the inconsistency of nearly all religious professions.\nWe finally study the Laws of Nature, and we live from that time on\naccording to the dictates of conscience and reason, with some little\nfaith in addition. The first thought that impresses us is the inhuman\ncustom of taking life blood, knowing that every man, woman and child,\nwho possesses an atom of feeling, would shudder to look upon the\nbutchery of our dumb fellow-creatures, and we know if the horror of the\nslaughter pen is admitted, it surely is a heinous crime to slaughter.\nThen we begin to delve deep into the real scientific subjects of\nreal scientific men and really discover the real body builders are\nproper food, proper mastication, proper air and proper breathing, and\noccasional proper fasting, etc. We live the life as recommended by\nthese noble logicians and benefactors. Now we look from the heights\nto the vast expanse of empty faith cure, cults and isms, creeds and\ndogmas, and theories, and realize how narrow they all are by not\nembodying humanitarianism and the laws of health and hygiene in their\nteachings.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFrom a spiritual conception, it is just as reasonable to recommend\nhuman cannibalism as the eating of butcher shop carrion.\n\nThe 25th day of December is the day set aside to present gifts to our\nsweethearts, wives and friends; the day Santa Claus brings toys to our\nlittle ones to overflow their little hearts with gladness, but mainly\nto commemorate the birth of one of the kindliest characters the world\nhas ever known.\n\nThat holy day is horribly desecrated by the quasi-pious element\nthroughout our Christian land in the killing of countless numbers of\nNature's sentient creation.\n\nThanksgiving Day, likewise set aside for a sacred purpose--to thank\nGod for the many blessings bestowed upon our great nation--is also\ndesecrated by religious people as well as by the laity. On the day we\nshould send our thanks to that invisible something (The First Great\nCause) we praise an imaginary personal deity by killing things to\nsatiate the craving of the palate.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Bible condemns the eating of swine flesh (Deut. 14: 8; Is. 65: 4),\nbut what care the pharisee so long as he intends pleasing the palate\nrather than obey the law of his God and conscience?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen we reach the Holy Mountain (consistent religion) we will abstain\nfrom eating flesh food and have a heartfelt desire for all creatures to\nlive and enjoy life as we wish to live (Golden Rule.)\n\nSelfish civilized intellectual human takes his gun and repairs to the\nforest and wantonly slaughters wild game. Perhaps he kills outright;\nperhaps he wounds; perhaps the animal he has wounded is dying a slow,\npainful death; perhaps he wounds or kills a mother and the young are\nstarving in nest or lair, and perhaps a professed Jew, Catholic,\nProtestant or Christian Scientist is relishing the seasoned carrion\nwhile the little ones are dying for the want of that mother's care. God\nforbid the belief in such a god!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe huntsman, who wounds the wild game, goes to his couch and rests\npeacefully while the poor dumb, wounded animal is dying in the forest,\nsuffering most excruciating pain.\n\nThe deer, the dove, the quail and all of Nature's blood creation must\nsuffer with horrifying wounds at the hands of the thoughtless, cruel\nhunter; upheld by so-called religious people who contend that such\ninhumanity is permissible in God's sight.\n\nThis very day thousands upon thousands of our dumb fellow-creatures\nare suffering agonizing deaths caused through wounds inflicted by the\nmerciless hunter; and thousands upon thousands of professed Jews,\nCatholics, Protestants and Christian Scientists worship the god that\ntolerates such cruelty. Hypocrisy! Inconsistency! Shame!\n\nSift mankind down to his noblest thought, and he must admit the life of\nan animal is just as sacred as his own.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nKnowing that all humanity feels the horrors of taking the life blood\nof defenseless animals, you are compelled to condemn every religious\ninstitution that does not embody within its creed the vegetarian diet.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnimals instinctively flee from danger, and suffer pain, which proves\nthe brute creation has a right to an appointed time upon the earth.\nWhen man slaughters these helpless creatures under the selfish idea\nthat they were created for that purpose, he is destitute of divine\nprinciple.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe almighty dollar is the god of the civilized people--mankind takes\nthe sacred life blood of God's creatures and barters the carcass in\nexchange for money. Nearly all clergymen and the laity eat of the\nmurdered animal. Shame!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet us be at least considerate and reason on the side of mercy. If your\nreligion sanctions the killing of innocent animals, well then, in the\nname of all that is pure and good, lay aside your religion and get your\nsoul in tune with the Infinite, and then use your faculties of reason\nto develop up to the highest ideal.\n\nCondemn the killing of innocent, defenseless animals, and do away with\nthe fleshpots of Egypt, and praise Deity for endowing you with reason\nsufficient to realize the wrong of shedding life blood, and then sing\nhosannas for the nobility of living according to the promptings of\nhigher conscience.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDo not think of the savory beef and mutton as it hangs in the market\nplace, but turn your mind and heart to the abattoirs and see the horror\nof slaughter and then acknowledge that if God is not in the slaughter\nhouse to hinder the killing of a dumb brute he is surely not in the\nchurches reserving crowns and halos for a sanctimonious element whose\npalate takes precedence of principle.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe church folk encourage the killing of quadruped, fish and fowl and\nthen have the audacity to say grace at meal time, thanking God and\nimploring Him to shower blessings upon them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYou believe in all that elevates man to the highest standard of\nexcellence and yet in the eating of a slaughtered animal you are an\naccessory to the crime of murder--a crime that is far more morally\nwrong and horrible than any so-called venial sin.\n\nThe man who \"believes\" and has \"faith\" solely for his soul's safety\nthrough fear rather than through love; the man who affiliates with\nthe church with mercenary motive; the man who testifies with lying\ntongue to the virtue of his carnivorous unfeeling religion; the man who\nshifts the blame of his cussedness to the mythical Satan; the man who\nis weak and bent toward religious emotionalism; the man who sees the\nmote in every eye but his own; the man who stands on the street corner\npreaching hell and damnation, \"fighting the devil,\" are the sorts of\nmen who decry that all beings have an equal right to live.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIf perchance a fellow human becomes tired and weary of the vicissitudes\nof this world and cancels his own captivity (suicide), we frantically\nthrow up our hands realizing the enormity of such a crime.\n\nHis life is his own and he may do as he pleases; his sin of\nself-destruction is between himself and his God, and yet we grieve\nat such a sad exit. The very same man who shudders at the uncanny\nthought of another's self-murder will uphold the killing of a dumb\nbrute to satiate the \"human\" palate. The animal does not want to die\nyet the intelligent man who has a \"merciful loving God\" makes murder\npermissible taking his authority from the book he calls \"The Sacred\nBible.\"\n\nThe Proverbs, the Psalms, the Sermon on the Mount, and many other\nportions of the Good Book are beautiful, and no doubt the writers of\nthe select passages were inspired, but the evil spirit was surely\npredominant in the man who depicted the Prince of Peace, in all his\nhumility, as a flesh eater.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA pitiful story to be told about a little girl whose father was\nsupposed to be very devout, and in whose residence the motto,\n\n \"GODI S NOW HERE I NOUR HOME\"\n\nadorned the wall, confusedly printed by her illiterate parent.\n\nOne beautiful day, as all nature seemed in perfect harmony, the child\nstrolled to the barnyard where the hired man was killing the petted\ncalf preparatory to having a great feast in honor of the son, returning\nfrom a western college of theology.\n\nA thought struck the child as she saw the life blood of an innocent\nanimal ebbing away, through a horrible knife wound.\n\nShe hastened back to her father's home, sad but wiser, and\nappropriately divided the motto on the wall:\n\n GOD IS NO WHERE IN OUR HOME.\n\nor as Daniel interpreted King Belshazzar's dream, the thinking child\nweighed her papa in the balances and found him very much wanting in God\nprinciple.\n\nMany so-called pious people throughout the land condemn theaters,\ndancing, sociable drinking, prize-fighting, card playing, pastime\nsmoking, Sunday recreation, the innocent custom of Santa Claus and\nthe comic supplements of our Sunday newspapers, yet none of these\npleasures and pastimes could be half so abominable and sinful as the\nencouragement of slaughter.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nEvery church member construes the Scriptures to please his own\nindividuality; sometimes he construes literally but when the passage\ndoes not coincide with his appetite or manner of living he invariably\nfinds a figurative meaning.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe justify almost any sort of life by the Holy Bible, but we cannot\npull the blinds over the eyes of conscience.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Women's Christian Temperance Union cannot influence towards\nreformation effectively; the women of this religious order are trying\nto defeat liquor and cigarette traffic, yet loth to realize under their\nprofession of Christianity, they are sinners greater than either the\nunfortunate cigarette fiend or the drunkard, because they all admit\nthe horror of killing, at the same time relishing a mess of carrion,\nthereby virtually encouraging the killer to kill more.\n\nThe tiger pounces upon the giraffe and rides it to death, all the while\ntearing the flesh from the bleeding animal; the puma pounces upon the\nmountain goat; the hyena tears the entrails from its living prey and\nthe cat pounces upon the beautiful song bird and takes its innocent\nlife--where is your merciful, loving, personal God?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe religionist who lives on hallucination or believes that faith alone\n\"is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not\nseen,\" and will not reason, is living in the dark ages still.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIf one desires going into absolute truth concerning the killing of\nhelpless animals, he may justly condemn the wearing of leather shoes,\ngloves, etc., all of which are worn contrary to Nature's Law.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe self-styled religious element send missionaries to foreign lands to\nspread the gospel of love when they, themselves, as well as those they\nsend, are insufficiently human to recognize the brutality of slaughter.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTake man to the slaughter house to view the butchery, and then if he\ncontends God created helpless, dumb brutes for the slaughter pen, he is\npositively heartless. If he shudders to witness the hideous butchery,\nthat proves conclusively that God is not omnipresent.\n\nIf man wishes to disregard spirituality and remain an agnostic, infidel\nor an atheist, that is his privilege and he may continue eating carrion\nand encouraging slaughter, from the lower animal plane, but when he\nsteps over the threshold into religion and affiliates with the churches\nand talks of man's pre-eminence above the beast he must of necessity\nbe in sympathy with his dumb fellow creatures and abstain from\nflesh-eating to discourage all things not in harmony with God. (Higher\nself).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDoes it not hurt the innocent lamb when you cut its little throat? Does\nit not hurt the little calf when you take its tender life? Does it not\nhurt the cow when you wield the axe with tremendous force against its\nforehead? Does it not hurt the sheep when in the agonies of death? Does\nit not hurt when the goat pitifully gurgles the sound \"Oh Lord,\" as its\nlife-blood is passing the butcher's knife? If pain does attend this\nhorrible inhumanity of man, what right then has he to establish for\nhimself a God in Heaven when in reality he hath no more feeling in his\nmiserable carcass than hath the cannibal of the uncivilized isles.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAll things may be possible to God, but the idea of placing the breath\nof life into our fellow-beings to be snuffed out by a superior\nintellectual animal is the absurdest of all absurdities.\n\nDancing, theater-going, rag-time music, and all other pleasures to\nkill the monotony of daily routine, are under the ban of the churches.\nWe carry ourselves aloof from these awful (?) sins and walk in the\nattitude of solemnity to impress Almighty God with our piety. We preach\nagainst liquor and tobacco while we ourselves are addicted to the use\nof tea and coffee (stimulants). We condemn everything we ourselves do\nnot care for and we jealously admonish others to be just like us. Now\nif dancing, theater-going, rag-time music, etc., and the immoralities\nof life are sins of venial proportion, of what colossal magnitude\nmust be the sin of taking life we cannot restore and how immeasurably\nhellish are the churches that uphold the killing in the name of a\nmerciful God!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe dumb animals were created by Nature same as man (except that we\nare a little above the animal in intellect), and have a divine right\nto live out their respective allotted time same as man (minister,\nchurch-goer or layman.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Buddhist who regards all animal life sacred is on the right path to\nspirituality, while the carnivorous Jew, Catholic and Protestant are\ndrifting in the rut of dark age fantasy and fanaticism.\n\n\n\n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS\n\n\nQ. Are you not a little bit radical on the subject of Humanitarianism?\n\nA. To you I may be \"a little bit radical\" because I oppose all\nreligions (yours inclusive) which make mankind selfish and unfeeling.\n\nQ. If the Bible teaches me to slay and eat have I not a right to eat\nflesh?\n\nA. Yes, a legal right and your Bible right, but not a moral right.\n\nQ. Do not some people believe it is right to slay and eat lower animals?\n\nA. Yes, from their palate, but all honorable conscientious men see a\nwrong in taking life.\n\nQ. Has not environment throughout one's life something to do with our\neating of flesh?\n\nA. Yes, but come out of it and be in line with a grander, nobler and\nconsistent life. Lay aside your palate and let your conscience rule.\n\nQ. Is not the devil in your philosophy?\n\nA. It seems so to you because it is an expos\u00c3\u00a9 of churchianity, proving\nbeyond question the nothingness of the flesh eating religionist's piety.\n\nQ. Suppose man lives in a country where he cannot find vegetarian food?\n\nA. Then he might be justified in eating flesh to preserve his life.\n\nQ. If there is no personal God, who created this world?\n\nA. It is a scientific proposition, and so acknowledged by all thinking\nmen.\n\nQ. Do church people get angry at your philosophy?\n\nA. Yes, sometimes, as when their conscience is seared by a hot iron.\n\nQ. Have not vegetables life?\n\nA. Not life which suffers an evident pain nor do they flee when you\nthreaten to pluck them. Such a question is invariably asked by a\ncarnivorous wiseacre.\n\nQ. Why are all Vegetarians lank, lean and skinny?\n\nA. Because you like the taste of meat and intend to continue eating it.\n\nQ. I know animals have fear and pain, but supposing God did place them\non earth for man to slay and eat, what then?\n\nA. \"God\" is no better then than your \"devil.\"\n\nQ. What were animals created for?\n\nA. What were YOU created for?\n\nQ. What is your conception of God?\n\nA. Nature. Higher self--Conscience.\n\nQ. Do you not kill insects when you drink water; and do you not cripple\nand trample harmless bugs to death with every step you take?\n\nA. Yes, but involuntarily and not with pre-meditation and not selfishly\nto satisfy an inhuman desire or appetite.\n\nQ. Would you \"swat\" a fly or kill a flea or a snake?\n\nA. If a pest or venomous reptile disturbed my peace and quiet I would\nbe justified in protecting myself.\n\nQ. Is not the survival of the fittest a natural law; consequently being\nsuperior I may slay and eat?\n\nA. That's your idea because the \"fittest\" is yourself--in your own\nestimation and power; but there's no godliness in such a contention.\nIt is your selfish conclusion that might is right at the expense of\nsentient life.\n\nQ. Do I not work hard and do I not know that I need meat to sustain me\nin my manual labor? Do I not know what my system needs.\n\nA. Your system does not require food which must come from a murdered\nanimal! When you contend that you must subsist on flesh, you know not\nwhereof you speak. You are talking to uphold your inhuman appetite.\n\nQ. Where would medical research be were it not for vivisection\n(torture) and killing animals for experiment in the interest of science?\n\nA. I do not know, but I do know scientific men have not a moral right\nto torture and kill harmless, helpless animals. Experimenting in\nsurgery, etc., should be done on humans who believe in the advancement\nof medical science at the expense of life.\n\nQ. Do you object to the infidel eating flesh food?\n\nA. I do not object to anyone eating flesh food--eat whatever you like,\nbut I do point out the wrong of taking life and I emphatically say the\nreligious institution upholding slaughter is a farce and a pharisaical\nmonument to a man-made deity.\n\nQ. Do you actually consider flesh eating the most abominable of sins?\n\nA. Yes, absolutely the most abominable.\n\nQ. What do you think of religious emotionalism and ecstasy?\n\nA. If from the mouth of a carnivorous worshipper it is sham and\npretense--a mockery.\n\nQ. Is not your feeling toward animals mawkish sentimentality?\n\nA. There is no such thing as mawkish sentimentality in decrying\ninhumanity.\n\nQ. Do not the lower animals prey upon one another, and do not the big\nfish eat the little fish?\n\nA. You profess to be above the inferior animals and you profess to have\na soul; you also have a Golden Rule supposed to have been handed down\nby a kind and merciful Creator.\n\nQ. What shall we do with all the animals if we do not kill them?\n\nA. Is that why you eat flesh?\n\nQ. Do you really think carnivorous churchites are not of God?\n\nA. I don't _think_ it, I _know_ it _absolutely_, because I know it\nis wrong to kill and I know they know it and I know they search the\nScriptures for \"proof\" to satisfy palate while Conscience rebels.\n\nQ. What do you think of a religionist who says, \"I am living under a\nnew dispensation since Christ came and went, and I now eat anything the\nLord sets before me?\"\n\nA. If he means he can eat at the expense of sentient life he is not a\nGodly man; he is not living in harmony with the Golden Rule; he is not\nliving according to the promptings of a higher self, consequently the\nGod spirit is dormant.\n\nThe church carnivora's favorite Bible quotations to justify his\ninhumanity are invariably quoted from a petrified conscience and the\nregion of the palate. Here are several of the passages:\n\n \"There is nothing from without a man, entering into him can defile\n him; but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile\n the man.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n \"For one believeth that he may eat all things; another, who is weak,\n eateth herbs. But to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him\n it is unclean.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n \"Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some\n shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and\n doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their\n conscience seared with a hot iron; commanding to abstain from meats,\n which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them, which\n believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and\n nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is\n sanctified by the word of God and prayer.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n \"In a trance I saw a vision; a certain vessel descend as it had been\n a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. I considered and\n saw four-footed beasts of the earth and beasts and creeping things and\n fowls of the air; and a voice said unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and\n eat.\"\n\n\n\n\nIN AND BETWEEN THE LINES\n\n\nThe Bible says: Be not among eaters of flesh.\n\nThe Bible says: It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to\nhear the hymns of fools.\n\nThe Bible says: If an animal dieth of itself do not eat it but give it\nto thy neighbor and let him eat thereof.\n\nThe Bible says: Who knoweth that the spirit of man goeth upward and the\nspirit of the beast goeth downward?\n\nThe Bible says: Your stomachs are an open sepulchre.\n\nThe Bible says: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.\n\nThe Bible says: Prove all things and hold fast of that which is good.\n\nThe Bible says: Do not be as the hypocrites are, testifying in public\nplaces and yet living apart from God.\n\nThe Bible says: Reason is too high for a fool.\n\nThe Bible says: He that follows after mercy findeth life.\n\nThe Bible says: The wise man's eyes are in his head (he reasons), but\nthe fool's eyes are neither here nor there, he walketh in darkness.\n\nThe Bible says: When a man's ways are in harmony with higher\nconsciousness he maketh his enemies be at peace with him.\n\nThe Bible says: The Spirit of God made Samson a murderer.\n\nThe Bible says: The beasts of the field shall honor me.\n\nThe Bible says: Fool thou art to believe all that the prophets have\nsaid.\n\nThe Bible says: God sent plagues to torment his people.\n\nThe Bible says: Shed not innocent blood.\n\nThe Bible says: Praise the Lord every living creature--the beasts of\nthe field, the birds of the air and earth, the fish of the waters and\nall mankind.\n\nThe Bible says: Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.\n\nThe Bible says: Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.\n\nThe Bible says: There are many false lords and false gods the people\nare worshipping.\n\nThe Bible says: Come now, let us reason together.\n\nThe Bible says: Faith without works is dead.\n\nThe Bible says: He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a human.\n\nThe Bible says: Beast and man have one breath; so that man hath no\npre-eminence above the beast; as one dieth so dieth the other.\n\nThe Bible says: Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy\nheart is not right in the sight of God.\n\nThe Bible says: Every moving thing that liveth (grain, fruits,\nvegetables, nuts, etc.) shall be food for you, but flesh with the life\nthereof which is blood shall ye not eat.\n\nThe Bible says: God blessed every creature.\n\nThe Bible says: Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which\nis upon the face of the earth and every tree, on the which is the fruit\nof a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.\n\nThe Bible says: All that cry Lord, Lord, are not of God.\n\nThe Bible says: They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy Mountain.\n\nThe Bible says: I am God, I change not.\n\nThe Bible says: Do a little consistent heart cleaning so that the human\nmind's eye shall be spiritual to see and segregate right from wrong.\n\nThe Bible says: Christ taught love, leniency, forgiveness, tenderness\nand mercy.\n\nThe Bible says: Dead flies cause the apothecary's ointment to send\nforth a stinking savour.\n\nCapital punishment or legalized murder is another miscarriage of\nconsistency; it does not dovetail into mercy and it does not blend into\nthe law that God has given man an allotted time upon the earth. What\nright have twelve jurors to virtually cancel the life of a murderer?\nIncarcerate the offender under a life sentence with proper food and\ntraining, and ultimately that murderer's heart and soul might be purer\nthan Judge, jurors and all connected with the courts of justice.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIf a criminal under excitement or cool pre-meditation takes the life\nof a human being, the cool, considerate jurors, responsible for the\ndeath penalty, are just as guilty of murder as the prisoner.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe butcher is rejected as a juror on a murder trial on the ground that\nhis business has hardened his heart, and yet the Judge of the Superior\nCourt, the sheriff and his deputies and the eligible jurors all eat of\nthe beef the butcher slaughters.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDespite the protests that may come to the surface in reading the\ninspired, pointed truths, the fact should be reiterated that Justice,\nKindness and Mercy for every living creature is in the heart and soul\nof the true religionist.\n\nThe sand-blind carnivorous faith curist (who reads his Bible through\na pair of eye-glasses not made by God Almighty) tells us of a divine\nhealing power.\n\nWe hear many testimonies from the lips of these people praising this\nwonderful (?) curative agency, but when sensibly considered we know the\n\"power\" removes only visionary ills.\n\nImaginary tumors, etc., hypochondria and other nervous troubles readily\nyield to this mythical physician, but no disease or defect in reality,\ncan be removed until we remove the physical cause.\n\nIf we continue living regardless of natural health laws all the\n\"belief\" and all the \"faith\" and all the \"Blood\" cannot offset the\ninevitable result of continued disobedience.\n\nThey sometimes speculate as to the stubbornness and apparent\nincurability of an ailment and finally lay the blame to a spiritual\ninsufficiency. Ridiculous!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMankind is filled with patriotism when a victorious war is ended,\nforgetting the awful gloom pervading some poor mother's home. The\nhigher self should make us grieve with those that grieve rather than\nbe exultant at the loss or downfall of any nation. We should love all\nnations and nationalities as we do our own, and be bound together by\ninseparable bonds, realizing that we all must pass to the final tomb of\nman on the same level.\n\nA bow of horse hair coming in contact with the gut strings of a violin\nproduces exquisite harmony that thrills every fibre of our being with\necstasy. We can attribute the melody to the spirit of the deceased\nanimal appealing to the human heart. Strange that after life has\ndeparted we can charm the muses with tones produced on a stringed\ninstrument. What human being has ever bequeathed to the world a\nsubstance to awaken the emotions of our soul through concord of sweet\nsounds like unto the gut of a deceased animal? Evidently there is more\nharmony in the entrails of lower creatures than we find in the entire\ncarcass of religious civilized carnivorous man.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe scientist who upholds painful experimental surgery in the interest\nof science should give over his own body for experiment instead of\nencouraging the cruelties of vivisection. It hurts being \"cut to\npieces,\" consequently the heartless scientific fellow, instead of\noffering his own body for the dissecting table, tortures a poor\nfriendless dog or other animal.\n\nThe horrible suffering thousands of helpless creatures have undergone\nthrough the process of vivisection is heartrending.\n\nThere should be stringent law against such inhumanity.\n\n\n\n\nA DEVOUT (?) ADMONITION.\n\n\n  E. E. Kusel,\n\n  Los Angeles, Cal.\n\nSir: I read your \"Humanitarian Philosophy\" booklet and I take it as a\nmass of devil talk. It is not in favor of the Holy Bible and it says it\nis wrong to kill animals. This is crossing God's word. You say it says\nswine meat is forbidden. That is the only true statement in your book\nbut that is the law for the Jews only. You say it says thou shalt not\nkill; of course it does, and that has references to the human family\nonly. You say the religious man that does not shudder at the works of\na butcher is heartless and godless. You tell a falsehood there. I have\nbeen a believer fifteen years and I know all animals were made for man.\n\nI can see the devil has a powerful influence over you as it had over\nVoltaire, Paine, Ingersoll, Edison, Hubbard and other non-believers.\nYou infidels preach against God's Bible and will be burned in the\neverlasting fires of hell for it. You will be glad to have a drop of\ncold water in your suffering, but god will not have mercy--it will be\ntoo late then.\n\nHell is full of agnostics and infidels and non-believers burning and\nsuffering and I warn you to have a care as to what you say.\n\nThe Catholics and Christian Scientists are as much of the devil's\ndoings as you are, so you'll have company if you do not repent of your\ninfidelity.\n\nYou are adding to God's word and it is punishable by his wrath (Rev.\n22:18.)\n\nYour book is a lot of lies and infidelity.\n\n  N. S. W.\n\n  Birmingham, Ala., Jan. 30, 1911.\n\n\n\n\nA REPLY.\n\n\n  Mr. N. S. W.,\n\n  Birmingham, Ala.\n\nMy dear sir: In reply to your letter of Jan. 30th, concerning my\n\"Humanitarian Philosophy,\" I wish to candidly tell you that I am not at\nall afraid of your sort of god. The God I worship is not very likely\nto materialize in a selfish fanatical subject, but always comes to the\nsurface in the heart and soul of honorable, conscientious thinking\nmen--men who either profess nothing and live according to custom or\nin men who profess religion and uphold their God as kind, loving and\nmerciful.\n\nThis latter man is an ethical vegetarian and will not accept the\ncruelties and inconsistencies of the Bible but says \"it is an error in\ntranslation.\"\n\nAs to the lower animals, one preying upon the other, the conscientious,\ndevout Bible believer presents the theory of his own freeing God\nAlmighty from the sinful responsibility. He divides Bible truth from\nBible error--he accepts the lofty and beautiful and holds fast to that\nwhich is good.\n\nIf you intend to preach a gospel of Love you will find it an utter\nimpossibility to do so if you do not live a Humanitarian life--a life\nthat forbids the killing of any thing that suffers pain, and fear of\ndeath as you yourself may sometimes suffer.\n\nIn conclusion I wish to impress you with the fact that your letter is\nsufficient proof that you read the Bible in a haphazard style and know\nnot its contents.\n\nEvery assertion, every quotation and every conclusion in my\n\"Humanitarian Philosophy,\" my dear sir, is absolutely true and\njustified.\n\n  Respectfully,\n\n  E. E. KUSEL.\n\n\n\n\nFROM THE W. A. T. L.\n\n\nThe tobacco smoking on street cars has been very much discussed in\nyour valuable paper recently. Now, I will suggest that all persons\nwho object to the poisonous effects of tobacco register a protest\nevery chance they get and spend some good money, as I am doing, to\nback up their argument against the most deadly plant used by human\nbeings. There is no traffic so degrading in its influence and effect as\ntobacco. It goes hand in hand with liquor, and when we stop the youth\nof the land from using the weed, then the saloon will have no customers.\n\n  G. L. R.\n\n  Founder World's Anti-Tobacco League,\n  Los Angeles, Cal.\n\n  (From Los Angeles Herald.)\n\n\n\n\nTHE \"WORST\" SIN.\n\n\nThe church element construe the Bible to blend into their own desires\nand appetites and then in the name of their god (little g) they commit\nevery iniquity under the sun, the most abominable of which is the\neating of \"a beef which has been battered in the head by the blow of an\nax or mutton which has had its throat cut from ear to ear.\"\n\nGet yourself in touch with the Infinite and you will see that the\ntaking of animal life for food is a greater sin than smoking, drinking\nor satisfying animal desires. The three last named are only sinning\nagainst the body but not commendable by any means, while the first is\nthe horrible sin of taking life.\n\nCarnivorous reader (church people included) think these lines over well\nand then move thy tongue seven times before thou speakest of sin!\n\n  E. E. KUSEL.\n\n  Los Angeles, Cal.\n\n  (From Los Angeles Herald.)\n\n\n\n\nMAN AND BEAST.\n\n\nWhat queer and wild notions religious faddists get into their heads. T.\nJ. W. wants us to quit killing cattle and hogs, etc., in fact all kinds\nof animals and birds because God has put them on earth. I would like Mr\nW. to tell us what would become of us if we followed his advice. Why,\nthe animals would crowd man off the earth in a short while. The farmer\ncould not raise any crops. Cattle, deer, hares and sheep would eat his\ngrain, the coyotes his chickens and the lions would eat him.\n\n  C. V.  Pasadena, Cal.\n\n  (From Los Angeles Herald.)\n\n\n\n\nVEGETARIAN'S REPLY.\n\n\nIf you please, Mr. V., I am not a \"religious faddist.\" I am not\nreligious at all. I am a firm believer in the Golden Rule, applying it\nto man and beast.\n\nIn reply to your query, Mr. V. I will answer briefly: Self-preservation\nis the first law of nature, so protect yourself against the presumed\ninvasion of tame and wild beasts, birds, etc., but do not presume we\nhave the right to take life of anything which endures pain or runs away\nfrom impending danger unless occasion calls for it.\n\nMy letter to the Herald, if you please, was for those who profess to be\ngodly and \"in the kingdom.\" Religious people must be strictly humane\nor they are minus the God character and their profession is either a\nphantom or hypocrisy.\n\nOf course men like yourself, who are afraid of being crowded off the\nearth, have a special self-given right to raise and cruelly slaughter\nany living creature for eating.\n\nMeat eating will continue until the end of the world, no doubt, but the\nHumanitarian will not eat it; it will be devoured by ungodly church\npeople and outsiders who like the flavor of flesh food, regardless of\nthe wrong of premeditated killing.\n\n  T. J. W.\n\n  Compton, Cal.\n\n  (From Los Angeles Herald.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Notes\n\nObvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.\n\nThe repetition of the headings \"QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS\" on five and\n\"IN AND BETWEEN THE LINES\" on three consecutive pages has been removed.\n\nItalics are represented thus _italics_.","title":"Humanitarian Philosophy, 4th Edition","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":8349}