“Some Christian lawyers—some eminent and stupid judges—have said and still say, that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of all law. Nothing could be more absurd. Long before these commandments were given there were codes of laws in India and Egypt—laws against murder, perjury, larceny, adultery and fraud. Such laws are as old as human society; as old as the love of life; as old as industry; as the idea of prosperity; as old as human love. All of the Ten Commandments that are good were old; all that were new are foolish. If Jehovah had been civilized he would have left out the commandment about keeping the Sabbath, and in its place would have said: 'Thou shalt not enslave thy fellow-men.' He would have omitted the one about swearing, and said: 'The man shall have but one wife, and the woman but one husband.' He would have left out the one about graven images, and in its stead would have said: 'Thou shalt not wage wars of extermination, and thou shalt not unsheathe the sword except in self-defence.' If Jehovah had been civilized, how much grander the Ten Commandments would have been. All that we call progress—the enfranchisement of man, of labor, the substitution of imprisonment for death, of fine for imprisonment, the destruction of polygamy, the establishing of free speech, of the rights of conscience; in short, all that has tended to the development and civilization of man; all the results of investigation, observation, experience and free thought; all that man has accomplished for the benefit of man since the close of the Dark Ages—has been done in spite of the Old Testament.” LoveLawProgressSocietyIndustryCivilizationConscienceIndiaMurderProsperityAbsurdFraudFree SpeechEgyptAdulteryDark AgesOld TestamentSabbathJehovahPolygamyTen CommandmentsLawyersFree ThoughtPerjuryJudgesLarceny Book:About The Holy Bible Source: About The Holy Bible
“All nations seem to have had supreme confidence in the deterrent power of threatened and inflicted pain. They have regarded punishment as the shortest road to reformation...nations have relied on confiscation and degradation, on maimings, whippings, brandings, and exposure to public ridicule and contempt...Curiously enough, the fact is that, no matter how severe the punishments were, the crimes increased.” HumanitarianismCriminal JusticeCriminal Justice Reform Author:Robert G Ingersoll
“Degradation has been thoroughly tried...and the result was that those who inflicted the punishments became as degraded as their victims.” HumanitarianismCriminal Justice ReformCriminal Justice Policy Author:Robert G Ingersoll
“Is it not true that the criminal is a natural product, and that society unconsciously produces these children of vice? Can we not safely take another step, and say that the criminal is a victim, as the diseased and deformed and insane are victims? We do not think of punishing a man because he is afflicted with disease--our desire is to find a cure. We send him, not to the penitentiary, but to the hospital, to an asylum...instead of punishing, we pity. If there are diseases of the mind...as there are diseases of the body...and if these deformities produce what we call vice, why should we punish the criminal, and pity those who are physically diseased?” HumanitarianismCriminal JusticeCriminal Justice Reform Author:Robert G Ingersoll
“Those who are not affected by the agonies of the bad, will in a little time care nothing for the sufferings of the good.” HumanitarianismCriminal Justice Reform Author:Robert G Ingersoll
“The average man does not wish to employ an ex-convict, because the average man has no confidence in the reforming powers of the penitentiary. He believes that the convict who comes out is worse than the convict who went in.” HumanitarianismCriminal JusticeCriminal Justice Reform Author:Robert G Ingersoll
“Those who are the fiercest to destroy their fellow men for having committed crimes, are, for the most part, at heart, criminals themselves.” HumanitarianismCriminal JusticeCriminal Justice Reform Author:Robert G Ingersoll
“Some may be, and probably millions have been, reformed, through kindness, through gratitude--made better in the sunlight of charity. In the atmosphere of kindness the seeds of virtue burst into bud and flower. Cruelty, tyranny, brute force, do not and cannot by any possibility better the heart of man.” HumanitarianismCriminal JusticeCriminal Justice Reform Author:Robert G Ingersoll