The Tyranny of God

"Your book, 'The Tyranny of God,' is well done. It is a very clear statement of the question, bold and true beyond dispute. I am glad that you wrote it. It is as plain as the multiplication table, which doesn't mean that everyone will believe it. I thank you for writing it. I wish I were the author."

[Illustration: JOSEPH LEWIS]

_A special edition of "The Tyranny of God," consists of two hundred and fifty copies, printed on Utopian paper, bound in limp leather, gilt top, stamped in gold. Each copy is autographed and numbered by the author._

Second edition, May, 1921 Third edition, April, 1922 Fourth edition, January, 1928 Fifth edition, April, 1930 Sixth edition, October, 1939 Seventh edition, November, 1943

THE TYRANNY OF GOD

THE TYRANNY OF GOD

BY

JOSEPH LEWIS

THE FREETHOUGHT PRESS ASSOCIATION

NEW YORK

COPYRIGHTED, 1921, BY FREETHOUGHT PRESS ASSOCIATION

All Rights Reserved

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEDICATED TO FAY MY DEAR WIFE AND COMRADE, WHOSE LOYAL AND DEVOTED COMPANIONSHIP HAS MADE LIFE LIVABLE.

FOREWORD

Go forth, little book, to destroy fear, prejudice and superstition, and help to install Reason in the minds of the human race to be its guide in the affairs of life and its living.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

The most eloquent testimony given this little book is the fact that a second edition is made necessary only a few months after the publication of the first edition.

Favorable comments and letters of recommendation from men and women eminent in literary and scientific realms, and commendatory reviews in periodicals of high standard are, I think, sufficient cause for the belief that "The Tyranny of God" forms a necessary cog in the machinery of intellectual thought and progress.

Even those who bitterly oppose the book admit that it possesses the power to make its readers think.

Of the many opposing reviews and adverse criticism of "The Tyranny of God," not a single one offers an argument in answer to it. For the most part, their characterization has been that it is "pessimistic." As if by calling it "pessimistic," they refute its claims!

If to tell a man the true nature of a disease from which he is suffering, with the hope that he will seek a cure for his malady, is pessimism, then I am a pessimist. Is the use of a danger signal at a hazardous crossing, for the purpose of preventing disaster, pessimism?

If to literally "hold the mirror up to Nature," disclosing Nature's utter disregard for the life and feelings of man, as a warning against the extravagant and useless propagating of life, is pessimism, then surely I am a pessimist.

If a fervent desire to help Man, instead of wasting time in prayer to "God," is pessimism, I am a pessimist.

If to think, to investigate, to express one's thoughts courageously in the face of centuries old dogma is pessimism, then I must confess I am a pessimist.

If to expose sham, hypocrisy and fraud; if to open the mind and free it from fear; if to stimulate the intellect, and work for the Here instead of the "Hereafter"--if all these are classified as pessimism, then truly may I be called an arch pessimist.

"The Tyranny of God" was written to express the truth as I see it--to portray life, not as we would like to have it, but as it actually is.