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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 48589 ***
+
+[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.
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+
+
+
+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.)
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: Decorative Border]
+
+
+
+
+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 the Project Gutenberg EBook of Humanitarian Philosophy, 4th Edition, by 
+Emil Edward Kusel
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 48589 ***