A FREETHOUGHT "JOKE."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12445, 30 August 1902, Page 10

A FREETHOUGHT "JOKE."

TO THE EDITOR. * . Sin,—Has my friend "Agnostic" ever Jiappenod upon the following brainy pro* ductiouThere was a boy; there was a tilde; there was a teacher new; the tack sat down upon us hoad; the. teacher sat down too! , . , Then up he rose and seized that boy, who shook in every joint: I. onjv meant it (or a joke." 'I failed to see the point! " —which things are an si.egoi'y. "Agnostic" is tliat boy, and I— well, yea, unfortunately, I'am the teachcr. Our friend "Agnostic" gives utterance to an intolerant, even brutal, dpctrino, and cornered, " he only meant it for a joke," but forthwith proceeds to add blcodthnutinoss to intolerance, and would have freedom of speech stamped out when Britain is at war—even by shooting and hanging, if necessary. Irft us look at some of these doctrines of his. " Freedom of thought in matters religious is one thing, and in matters politioal afiothor." Is j.his joke No. 2, or is it sober earnest? Well, well! "In tho name of tho Prophet, figs!" aaid The pcL'ito id cooked!" must, go to the foot of the class of wise sayings in future. (Hie Covenanters of Scotland and the Puritans of England were political freethmkerj. and they had their " necks twisted" in a way which must . give " Agnostic" great satisfaction when lie thinks of it. They had their turn afterwards, to be sure; but this was a dear case of not " playing the gamo"-at least, not according to "Agnostic's" ruling. We will, however, take an example of moio recent date. .John Bright, and" others with him, strenuously fought, in and out of Parliament, before, during, ancl after the Crimean war, against that'ghastly national blunder—they were, indeed, the pro-Boers of their time, and they died in their beds. They should not, according to "Agnostic's" doctrine, and his " England, right or wrong," and shooting of pro-Boors. Will he kindly inform us how much better the world was when she (England) "sheathed the sword" after that gruesome business? Then, again, the names of Chatham, Burke, Fox, and others like-minded, are not unknown in our history, and theso were the pro-Boors of their day. They wore freethinking and free-speaking" politicians, who supported _ the North American rebels" in their war of independence with might and main. "They" (doubtless) " prolonged war unnecessarily, ;md caused increased bloodshed"; but they saved Englishmen from being dubbod universal fools, even if tho great majority are Frcetliinkere. John Bull neglected to " twist the necks" of the men I have mentioned, and ho failed to do so with the politically freo-thinking colonists. Thero is no doubt that when honest John "sheathed the sword " tliat time the world was bc-tter than before, and civilisation greatly advanced; but the credit did not belong to John. Oh, dear, 110! Good old blundering John would have biased the world in quito a different way then, if 110 had been able. Tho oredit belonged to tho pro-colonist "chatterer.?"— Chatham, Burko, and Co.,— and to the stiff-necked colonists, who did not (" England, right or wrong") care to Imvo their necks twisted. Personally, I havo not one scrap of sympathy with proBoer utterances as such; but I can and do admiro men who, for tho sake of their convictions, ore willing to endure hissing and ilHvfll. and, perhaps, personal loss; and I am freethinker enough to believe that t.ho stubborn Boers would have fought to the hitler end, nro-Boer or no pro-Boer, Freethinkers are generally supposed to be admirers of what we call the heathen phitosopliers. Let me put over against "Agnostic's" wtitto, " .Emdand, rijjht or wronc,"

one of. thoir sayings—viz., "Let justice.he done, though the heavens should fall." Which is ,the nobler?

"Agnostio" dilates on some theological questions which I did not raise, but I decline to follow him there. I am afraid of further "jokes," and, like myself, "ho jokes wi' deefficulty."—l am, olc.,

Fettered Thinker, [Correspondence closed.—Ed. O.D.T.]