Atheism Among The People
Lamartine's essay examining the spread of atheism and irreligion among the common people, arguing that the rejection of God leads to moral decay and social disorder. He defends the necessity of religious faith for individual virtue and the stability of civilization.
21 Chapters
Table of Contents
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ADVERTISEMENT.
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I. I have often asked myself, |Why am I a Republican? -- Why am I the
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II. |And what is there in common,| you will say to me
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III. Faith, or reasonable and effective belief in God, proceeds
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IV. It is in this sense, my friends, that I say to you
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V. God, when one believes in Him as you and I do
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VI. The love of the People, the conscience of the citizen
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VII. Must I demonstrate to you so simple a truth? Can you not comprehend
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VIII. Sometimes the masses have been driven to Atheism by science.
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IX. Besides these men, there is still another class, -- inventors of another science
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X. But that People which forgets God, forgets itself.
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XI. But even this is nothing.
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XII. The Republic had passed its paroxysm of fever, of demagoguical madness
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XIII. This system was continued, with more sincerity on the part of government
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XIV. For eighteen years, new sects, or, rather, posthumous sects
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XV. Analyze with me, if you are not overwhelmed with humiliation
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XVI. See where we were when the Republic arose: happy was it that the People had
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XVII. Thus, look at every free People, from the mountains of Helvetia to the forests of
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XVIII. Open the history of America, the history of England
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XIX. If you wish that this revolution should not have the same end
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Transcriber's Note