My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

46 MY LIFEopportunity one day to repeat it to my father, ratherexpecting he would be very much shocked at myacquaintance with any such infidel literature. Buthe merely remarked that such problems were mysterieswhich the wisest cannot understand, and seemed disinclinedto any discussion of the subject. This, ofcourse, did not satisfy me, and if the argument didnot really touch the question of the existence of God,it did seem to prove that the orthodox ideas as toHis nature and powers cannot be accepted.I was also greatly impressed by a tract on" Consistency," written by Robert Dale Owen, theeldest son of Robert Owen, and as a writer superiorin style and ability to his father. The chief object ofit was to exhibit the horrible doctrine of eternalpunishment as then commonly taught from thousandsof pulpits by both the Church of England andDissenters, and to argue that if those who taughtand those who accepted such dogmas thoroughlybelieved them and realized their horror, all worldlypleasures and occupations would give way to thecontinual and strenuous effort to escape such a fate.I thoroughly agreed with Mr. Dale Owen's conclusion,that the orthodox religion of the day was degradingand hideous, and that the only true and whollybeneficial religion was that which inculcated theservice of humanity, and whose only dogma was thebrotherhood of man. Thus was laid the foundationof my religious scepticism.Similarly, my introduction to advanced politicalviews, founded on the philosophy of human nature,was due to the writings and teachings of RobertOwen and some of his disciples. His great fundamentalprinciple, on which all his teaching and all his