Ladies and Gentlemen: An honest god is the noblest work of man. Eachnation has created a god, and the god has always resembled hiscreators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved, and he wasinvariably found on the side of those in power. Each god was intenselypatriotic, and detested all nations but his own. All these Godsdemanded praise, flattery, and worship. Most of them were pleased withsacrifice, and the smell of innocent blood has ever been considered adivine perfume. All these gods have insisted upon having a vast numberof priests, and the priests have always insisted upon being supportedby the people, and the principal business of these priests has been toboast about their God, and to insist that he could easily vanquish allthe other gods put together.
These gods have been manufactured after numberless models, andaccording to the most grotesque fashions. Some have a thousand arms,some a hundred heads, some are adorned with necklaces of living snakes,some are armed with clubs, some with sword and shield, some withbucklers, and some with wings as a cherub; some were invisible, somewould show themselves entire, and some would only show their backs;some were jealous, some were foolish, some turned themselves into men,some into swans, some into bulls, some into doves, and some into holyghosts, and made love to the beautiful daughters of men. Some weremarried—all ought to have been—and some were considered as oldbachelors from all eternity. Some had children, and the children wereturned into gods and worshiped as