Title: Humanitarian Philosophy, 4th Edition
Author: Kusel, Emil Edward
Language: English
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[Illustration: Emil Edward Kusel]


  Humanitarian

  Philosophy

         *       *       *       *       *

  By

  EMIL EDWARD KUSEL


  Extracts From His Letters

  Fourth Edition

         *       *       *       *       *

  Thou shalt not kill.--Bible.

  The individuality created by God is not carnivorous.--Mary Baker G. Eddy.

  Kill not but have regard for life.--Buddha.

         *       *       *       *       *

  Los Angeles, California
  1912



  Copyright 1912

  by Emil Edward Kusel.

  All rights reserved.

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NOTE.


When one meets with adversity and all the world seems bitterly against
him or when one realizes the short duration of life and hopes for a
splendid immortality, no doubt it is a consolation for many to read the
inspired and lofty sentiments of the Bible.

Therefore in writing the following epigrams condemning inhumanity, I
felt confident that kindly people would see that it is far from my
motive to cast reflection upon any individual inclined to accept the
comforting and humane passages of either the Old or New Testament.

I merely aimed to prove the inhuman Mosaical law giving man the idea to
kill is not a law of a kind and loving God. I also aimed to prove that
the flesh-eating religionist is an accessory to a crime more bestial in
the sight of God than any other sin known to the human family.

  EMIL E. KUSEL.

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KIND WORDS.


"Humanitarian Philosophy" has taught me that God and conscience are in
unison. I would have liked to condemn the writer for opening my eyes to
the truth, but the Lord is on his side.

"Humanitarian Philosophy" is an eye opener for the true religionist who
never before thought on the wickedness of killing.

"Humanitarian Philosophy" is a blessing for those who wish to live the
Christ life, although it will not appeal to the religionist who is
inhumanly self-righteous.

Since digesting "Humanitarian Philosophy" I know a conscientious person
can read the stinging truth without a selfish protest. The truth is
mighty.

"Humanitarian Philosophy" at first reading made me angry, but praise
God, the vegetarian's heart is in the right place.

"Humanitarian Philosophy" is an inspiration.

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COMPLIMENTARY.


Have always been very much interested in the subjects of our able
ministers, but since receiving a copy of Mr. Kusel's philosophy against
flesh eating I am a convert to the doctrine that neither minister nor
congregation can be "a child of God" until they are vegetarians.

It is impossible for me to now believe otherwise on account of the
tremendous cruelty and horror of taking the life of animals.

I never thought of the truth as Mr. Kusel puts it forth, and I am
surprised to think preachers never preached against blood food. I also
thought it would be meet and proper to criticise shoe, glove and belt
wearing, but the leather using is a secondary proposition; the animal
is first killed for food purposes and secondarily to avoid the waste we
may utilize the hide, and still we should discourage that argument.

Mr. Kusel is defending God Almighty nobly in his "Humanitarian
Philosophy" and has given the church doctrines a slap no man can
gainsay.

When we favor meat eating we favor killing, and when we favor killing
in the name of God we know we are liars and murderers, for God is kind
and loving, and surely opposes the taking of life. Let churches preach
the murder of animals, but pray do not say wickedness (killing) is
God's will. The world needs more conscientious men like Mr. Kusel to
protect God Almighty from defamation.

  T. J. W.

  (From Los Angeles Herald.)

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A NOBLE WOMAN.


  Mr. Emil Edward Kusel,

  Los Angeles, Cal.

Dear Mr. Kusel:--I have been wonderfully guided and blessed by reading
"Humanitarian Philosophy" as it is truly an inspired work that should
be thought upon by all religious people.

The beauty of your blessed reasoning is that you cast all biblical
chaff to the four winds and look to God in the true light of love and
mercy.

Yes indeed, you show the inconsistency of a religion that gives us
an evil right to kill things while every last one of us, without
exception, cling to life with the tenacity of a coward.

You fully convince me that false prophets had a hand in writing the
Scriptures because God in His Infinite Love could not have created
the dear innocent lamb our Savior carried in his bosom to be killed
nor could he have created the sweet little baby calf to be slain
and eaten by human beings. You convince me that God is not in the
slaughter-house, neither in the midst of those who patronize the
butcher any more than He is in the heart of the wild beast of prey.

I do believe in a personal God as I could not live without hope for a
blissful future life beyond the grave. This pilgrimage, to me, without
religion would make this world a very dreary and lonesome place.

Heretofore I lived a carnivorous life, always wondering why God created
poor sentient things for human food but now, thank God, I realize,
without humanitarianism spirituality is not a reality and I applaud
such men as Mr. Kusel for standing out boldly on a grand philosophy
that puts all church doctrines to shame and presents a religion
consistent with reason.

Your trend of thought, my dear brother, is indeed marvelous from a
gracious heart and I believe some mighty power is preparing you for a
special great work.

  Yours very truly,

  MRS. J. R. B.

  St. Paul, Minn., May 16, 1911.

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THE HERMIT.

    No flocks that roam the valley free,
      To slaughter I condemn,
    Taught by the power that pities me,
      I learn to pity them.

  --Goldsmith.

       *       *       *       *       *

In religion, what damned error but some sober brow will bless it and
approve it with a text, hiding the grossness with fair ornament.

  --Shakespeare.

       *       *       *       *       *

The untold suffering the human family sanctions through a wrong
conception of what is right, should make every Christian heart ache.

  --Platt.

       *       *       *       *       *

When men go hunting (to kill) they call it sport but when the hunted
animal (perhaps wounded) turns to fight for its life, they call _that_
ferocity.--Shaw.

       *       *       *       *       *

Let all creatures live, as we desire to live.

  --Tolstoy.

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THE RELIGION OF BUDDHA.

(An Idea from "Light of Asia.")

    'Twere good to be humane
          to the helpless beast;
    Better than to deplore the
          sins of the world
    With priests who pray for
          mankind,
    And yet have no mercy
          on God's dumb creatures--
    "They pray for mercy
    Whilst they themselves
          are merciless."

  --Kusel.

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Humanitarian Philosophy

By Emil Edward Kusel

No doubt some of the conscience-stricken readers will brand the
author of the sentiments herein as an extremist rather than a humane
enthusiast, but bethink yourself it is far better to be "an extremist"
on a logical, noble basis than to be inconsistent under false pretense.

       *       *       *       *       *

The author is presenting truths from an absolutely rational standpoint
standing firmly on a real philosophical basis that cannot be overthrown
by a cyclone of protests from the "religious" flesh-eating faction.

The idea is to show that man, when he gets "right with God," drifts
away from the customs of ancient times and reasons from the Golden
Rule foundation which is consistent with a higher life and makes him
religiously humane as well as "pious."

       *       *       *       *       *

You may allow your quasi-religious principle to prevail against reason;
you may pout and cry against the Humanitarian's noble philosophy; you
may dream of the imps of hell awaiting his quietus; you may consult
your Bible to bless your inhumanity and yet mercy for our dumb
fellow-creatures is unselfish, pure and gentle, resultant from a proper
conception of man's superiority and his God.

If a man's religion is pure and good and undefiled it would be wrong
to present facts to blast his belief (be it ever so superstitious);
however, when he insists upon inhumanity toward any sentient creature,
he should be severely criticised.

       *       *       *       *       *

The scriptural passages that are well flavored with indecency and the
scriptural inhumanity written in God's name are not one whit more
inspired than are the objectionable lines of sensational literature.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Bible has caused more bloodshed, more hatred; made more hypocrites
and caused more suffering than all else combined. It is a book
containing some lofty ideas and moral laws by good men, but the
many inconsistencies therein have caused superstition, imagination,
insanity, contemptibility and horrible cruelty that haunts the brain of
the honorable thinking masses.

       *       *       *       *       *

It is proper to impress indelibly in the minds of the pretenders of the
several creeds "Thou shalt not kill;" neither shalt thou be accessory
in the killing by encouraging the slaughter through patronage.

You may erect your massive temples and dedicate them to Jehovah; you
may pray to your heart's content and sing psalms until doomsday, yet
the earthquake, the cyclone, the tornado, the volcano overthrows the
synagogue, the cathedral, the church, the brothel and the saloon
without distinction. Evidently the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is
not omnipresent to protect an institution that stands for inhumanity.

       *       *       *       *       *

One of the most noticeable inconsistencies ever presented to thinking
people is the representation of "Divine Love" portrayed under the title
"Peace," symbolized by a child leading the cow, the calf, the lion,
the leopard and the lamb. This taken from the Bible, is supposed to
represent, "And a little child shall lead them."

Just think of symbolizing "Peace" with an innocent child leading
animals we actually murder! No doubt every religionist looks upon that
painting as a masterpiece--an inspiration. Yet most of them sanction
the slaughter of innocence by relishing a lamb chop or a veal cutlet.

"And a little child shall lead them!" Whither? To the slaughter? Is not
that a miserable symbolization of "Divine Love" and "Peace?"

Such inconsistency painted in the name of religion is an abomination
and deserves strenuous criticism.

Not the least in the realm of inconsistency are the Jewish people who
fast on their day of atonement and break the Sabbath fifty-two times a
year by bartering. Now where is the consistency in such an atonement
when the Bible says explicitly: "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it
holy."

Such incongruity is practised universally among the orthodox as well
as the reformed element. Like the Gentile, the Jewish religionist,
notwithstanding that he admits the horror of viewing the death throes
of a butchered animal, eats his flesh food "kosher" to satisfy his
palate rather than live up to the promptings of conscience.

       *       *       *       *       *

Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Christian Sciencism alike
disregard the sacredness of all animal kingdom, and yet, after
admitting the horror of the slaughter pen, they all encourage the
merciless killing under the cloak of the Bible.

       *       *       *       *       *

"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose" may well be applied to
the religionist who upholds the killing of our dumb fellow creatures.

       *       *       *       *       *

The fact that the Bible encourages the murder of an animal proves it is
not entirely from the pen of holy men.

The individual who professes religion and says it is right to slay and
eat when he can live without taking sentient life, on the vegetation
which nature so bountifully provides, is a liar, a murderer and a
hypocrite in his own higher conscience.

       *       *       *       *       *

The so-called devout man wants to live and enjoy life, but he eats of
the innocent animal that has been battered to death by the blow of
the ax; he contends that a body which suffers pain was created for
slaughter to satisfy his beastly palate. Such a man is destitute of the
very essence of God-life be he minister, church-goer or layman.

       *       *       *       *       *

Above all things the minister of the Gospel and the church attendant
should be kind and considerate toward all animal creation and should
construe the Scriptures and preach to prove the sacredness of
their Holy Bible. They should do God's will one earth as it is in
Heaven, absolutely abstaining from the fleshpots of Egypt, thereby
discouraging the blotting out of animal life, proving conclusively by
their lives that their God is just and kind and merciful.

       *       *       *       *       *

The man who opposes the spilling of life blood of Nature's creatures is
on the higher plane of life.

After searching for a mode of living through which we might find
perfect peace on earth and good will toward our fellow-men, we become
partially interested in the different religions, but we cannot
conscientiously close our eyes and believe a meat-eating, gormandizing
religionist is undefiled and passing on to spiritual perfection to
ultimately, at dissolution, burst into a glorious immortality.

       *       *       *       *       *

Read the memorable Sermon on the Mount, supposed to have been delivered
by Christ Jesus, and note the humility, the tenderness, the love and
all therein that is grand and noble--then decide that such a meek
and lowly Nazarene could have eaten of the fleshpots or even have
sanctioned the killing of any living creature, and you deprive that
character of the very essence of divinity.

       *       *       *       *       *

Flesh eating man's religion cannot emanate from a kindly heart because
with all his intellectuality and knowledge of right and wrong, his
animalistic tendencies are in excess. His horror for the slaughter pen
is conclusive and positive evidence that the higher consciousness is
dormant proving that carnivorous man hath no pre-eminence above the
beast.

We fail to see any Christianity in the present-day Sunday churchianity,
and we positively know there is nothing sacred in the person upholding
the merciless slaughter of animals. Through all this we are made to
fully realize the inconsistency of nearly all religious professions.
We finally study the Laws of Nature, and we live from that time on
according to the dictates of conscience and reason, with some little
faith in addition. The first thought that impresses us is the inhuman
custom of taking life blood, knowing that every man, woman and child,
who possesses an atom of feeling, would shudder to look upon the
butchery of our dumb fellow-creatures, and we know if the horror of the
slaughter pen is admitted, it surely is a heinous crime to slaughter.
Then we begin to delve deep into the real scientific subjects of
real scientific men and really discover the real body builders are
proper food, proper mastication, proper air and proper breathing, and
occasional proper fasting, etc. We live the life as recommended by
these noble logicians and benefactors. Now we look from the heights
to the vast expanse of empty faith cure, cults and isms, creeds and
dogmas, and theories, and realize how narrow they all are by not
embodying humanitarianism and the laws of health and hygiene in their
teachings.

       *       *       *       *       *

From a spiritual conception, it is just as reasonable to recommend
human cannibalism as the eating of butcher shop carrion.

The 25th day of December is the day set aside to present gifts to our
sweethearts, wives and friends; the day Santa Claus brings toys to our
little ones to overflow their little hearts with gladness, but mainly
to commemorate the birth of one of the kindliest characters the world
has ever known.

That holy day is horribly desecrated by the quasi-pious element
throughout our Christian land in the killing of countless numbers of
Nature's sentient creation.

Thanksgiving Day, likewise set aside for a sacred purpose--to thank
God for the many blessings bestowed upon our great nation--is also
desecrated by religious people as well as by the laity. On the day we
should send our thanks to that invisible something (The First Great
Cause) we praise an imaginary personal deity by killing things to
satiate the craving of the palate.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Bible condemns the eating of swine flesh (Deut. 14: 8; Is. 65: 4),
but what care the pharisee so long as he intends pleasing the palate
rather than obey the law of his God and conscience?

       *       *       *       *       *

When we reach the Holy Mountain (consistent religion) we will abstain
from eating flesh food and have a heartfelt desire for all creatures to
live and enjoy life as we wish to live (Golden Rule.)

Selfish civilized intellectual human takes his gun and repairs to the
forest and wantonly slaughters wild game. Perhaps he kills outright;
perhaps he wounds; perhaps the animal he has wounded is dying a slow,
painful death; perhaps he wounds or kills a mother and the young are
starving in nest or lair, and perhaps a professed Jew, Catholic,
Protestant or Christian Scientist is relishing the seasoned carrion
while the little ones are dying for the want of that mother's care. God
forbid the belief in such a god!

       *       *       *       *       *

The huntsman, who wounds the wild game, goes to his couch and rests
peacefully while the poor dumb, wounded animal is dying in the forest,
suffering most excruciating pain.

The deer, the dove, the quail and all of Nature's blood creation must
suffer with horrifying wounds at the hands of the thoughtless, cruel
hunter; upheld by so-called religious people who contend that such
inhumanity is permissible in God's sight.

This very day thousands upon thousands of our dumb fellow-creatures
are suffering agonizing deaths caused through wounds inflicted by the
merciless hunter; and thousands upon thousands of professed Jews,
Catholics, Protestants and Christian Scientists worship the god that
tolerates such cruelty. Hypocrisy! Inconsistency! Shame!

Sift mankind down to his noblest thought, and he must admit the life of
an animal is just as sacred as his own.

       *       *       *       *       *

Knowing that all humanity feels the horrors of taking the life blood
of defenseless animals, you are compelled to condemn every religious
institution that does not embody within its creed the vegetarian diet.

       *       *       *       *       *

Animals instinctively flee from danger, and suffer pain, which proves
the brute creation has a right to an appointed time upon the earth.
When man slaughters these helpless creatures under the selfish idea
that they were created for that purpose, he is destitute of divine
principle.

       *       *       *       *       *

The almighty dollar is the god of the civilized people--mankind takes
the sacred life blood of God's creatures and barters the carcass in
exchange for money. Nearly all clergymen and the laity eat of the
murdered animal. Shame!

       *       *       *       *       *

Let us be at least considerate and reason on the side of mercy. If your
religion sanctions the killing of innocent animals, well then, in the
name of all that is pure and good, lay aside your religion and get your
soul in tune with the Infinite, and then use your faculties of reason
to develop up to the highest ideal.

Condemn the killing of innocent, defenseless animals, and do away with
the fleshpots of Egypt, and praise Deity for endowing you with reason
sufficient to realize the wrong of shedding life blood, and then sing
hosannas for the nobility of living according to the promptings of
higher conscience.

       *       *       *       *       *

Do not think of the savory beef and mutton as it hangs in the market
place, but turn your mind and heart to the abattoirs and see the horror
of slaughter and then acknowledge that if God is not in the slaughter
house to hinder the killing of a dumb brute he is surely not in the
churches reserving crowns and halos for a sanctimonious element whose
palate takes precedence of principle.

       *       *       *       *       *

The church folk encourage the killing of quadruped, fish and fowl and
then have the audacity to say grace at meal time, thanking God and
imploring Him to shower blessings upon them.

       *       *       *       *       *

You believe in all that elevates man to the highest standard of
excellence and yet in the eating of a slaughtered animal you are an
accessory to the crime of murder--a crime that is far more morally
wrong and horrible than any so-called venial sin.

The man who "believes" and has "faith" solely for his soul's safety
through fear rather than through love; the man who affiliates with
the church with mercenary motive; the man who testifies with lying
tongue to the virtue of his carnivorous unfeeling religion; the man who
shifts the blame of his cussedness to the mythical Satan; the man who
is weak and bent toward religious emotionalism; the man who sees the
mote in every eye but his own; the man who stands on the street corner
preaching hell and damnation, "fighting the devil," are the sorts of
men who decry that all beings have an equal right to live.

       *       *       *       *       *

If perchance a fellow human becomes tired and weary of the vicissitudes
of this world and cancels his own captivity (suicide), we frantically
throw up our hands realizing the enormity of such a crime.

His life is his own and he may do as he pleases; his sin of
self-destruction is between himself and his God, and yet we grieve
at such a sad exit. The very same man who shudders at the uncanny
thought of another's self-murder will uphold the killing of a dumb
brute to satiate the "human" palate. The animal does not want to die
yet the intelligent man who has a "merciful loving God" makes murder
permissible taking his authority from the book he calls "The Sacred
Bible."

The Proverbs, the Psalms, the Sermon on the Mount, and many other
portions of the Good Book are beautiful, and no doubt the writers of
the select passages were inspired, but the evil spirit was surely
predominant in the man who depicted the Prince of Peace, in all his
humility, as a flesh eater.

       *       *       *       *       *

A pitiful story to be told about a little girl whose father was
supposed to be very devout, and in whose residence the motto,

 "GODI S NOW HERE I NOUR HOME"

adorned the wall, confusedly printed by her illiterate parent.

One beautiful day, as all nature seemed in perfect harmony, the child
strolled to the barnyard where the hired man was killing the petted
calf preparatory to having a great feast in honor of the son, returning
from a western college of theology.

A thought struck the child as she saw the life blood of an innocent
animal ebbing away, through a horrible knife wound.

She hastened back to her father's home, sad but wiser, and
appropriately divided the motto on the wall:

 GOD IS NO WHERE IN OUR HOME.

or as Daniel interpreted King Belshazzar's dream, the thinking child
weighed her papa in the balances and found him very much wanting in God
principle.

Many so-called pious people throughout the land condemn theaters,
dancing, sociable drinking, prize-fighting, card playing, pastime
smoking, Sunday recreation, the innocent custom of Santa Claus and
the comic supplements of our Sunday newspapers, yet none of these
pleasures and pastimes could be half so abominable and sinful as the
encouragement of slaughter.

       *       *       *       *       *

Every church member construes the Scriptures to please his own
individuality; sometimes he construes literally but when the passage
does not coincide with his appetite or manner of living he invariably
finds a figurative meaning.

       *       *       *       *       *

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

       *       *       *       *       *

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?

       *       *       *       *       *

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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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).

       *       *       *       *       *

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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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!

       *       *       *       *       *

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.)

       *       *       *       *       *

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."

       *       *       *       *       *

 "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."

       *       *       *       *       *

 "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."

       *       *       *       *       *

 "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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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!

       *       *       *       *       *

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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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.

Of course men like yourself, who are afraid of being crowded off the
earth, have a special self-given right to raise and cruelly slaughter
any living creature for eating.

Meat eating will continue until the end of the world, no doubt, but the
Humanitarian will not eat it; it will be devoured by ungodly church
people and outsiders who like the flavor of flesh food, regardless of
the wrong of premeditated killing.

  T. J. W.

  Compton, Cal.

  (From Los Angeles Herald.)

       *       *       *       *       *

Transcriber's Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.

The repetition of the headings "QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS" on five and
"IN AND BETWEEN THE LINES" on three consecutive pages has been removed.

Italics are represented thus _italics_.





*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Humanitarian Philosophy, 4th Edition" ***

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