H.L. Mencken on Religion - Hardcover

Mencken, H. L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1573929824 ISBN 13: 9781573929820

Publisher: Prometheus, 2002

Synopsis

No one ever argued more forcefully or with such acerbic wit against the foolish aspects of religion as H. L. Mencken (1880-1956). As a journalist, he gained national prominence through his newspaper columns describing the now-famous 1925 Scopes trial, which pitted Fundamentalists against a public school teacher who dared to teach evolution. But both before and after the Scopes trial, Mencken spent much of his career as a columnist and book reviewer lampooning the ignorant piety of gullible Americans.S. T. Joshi has brought together and organized many of Mencken's writings on religion in this provocative and entertaining collection. The articles here presented demonstrate that Mencken canvassed the entire range of religious phenomena of his time, from evangelists Billy Sunday and Aime Semple McPherson, to Christian Scientists, and theosophists and spiritualists. On a more serious note are his discussions of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and the scientific worldview as a rival to religious belief. Also included are poignant autobiographical accounts of Mencken's own upbringing and his core beliefs on religion, ethics, and politics.If anything was sacred to Mencken, it was the right to speak one's mind freely, and many of his attacks are directed against those true believers who he felt tried to foist their beliefs on others to stifle independent thinking. For everyone who values freethought and sharp intelligence, this collection of articles by America's premier iconoclast is a must.

About this title

From the Author

"Most of the sorrows of man, I incline to think, are caused by . . . repining. Alone among the animals, he is dowered with the capacity to invent imaginary worlds, and he is always making himself unhappy by trying to move into them. Thus he underrates the world in which he actually lives, and so misses most of the fun that is in it. . . .

As for me, I roll out of my couch every morning with the most agreeable expectations. In the morning paper there is always massive and exhilarating evidence that the human race, despite its ages-long effort to imitate the seraphim, is still doomed to be irrevocably human, and in my morning mail I always get soothing proof that there are men left who are even worse asses than I am." -- H.L. Mencken

From the Inside Flap

For the first time the provocative writings on religion by one of America's leading literary, social, and cultural critics of the twentieth century have been brought together in one extraordinary volume. The great majority of these writings--gathered from the newspapers and magazines in which they originally appeared--have never been reprinted, and they present a far broader picture of Mencken's stance on religion than can be found in his well-known TREATISE ON THE GODS (1930).

Although he was the son of an unbeliever, Mencken was enrolled in a Methodist Sunday school as a boy. This proved to have little bearing on his later outlook. He admitted that he was a "theological moron"--someone for whom the religious attitude was incomprehensible. Never feeling the need to believe in a supreme being, he found the notion of the immortality of the soul preposterous and repeatedly battled against efforts by the pious to impose their religion upon American citizens through legislation or social pressure.

Mencken canvassed the entire range of contemporary religious phenomena. He personally attended revival meetings by such evangelists as Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson, writing satirical accounts of both. He heaped ridicule on the credulousness of Christian Scientists, theosophists, and spiritualists. The conflict between religion and science constantly engaged Mencken, who felt that scientists and secularists should take an active role in combating religious obscurantism.

Mencken achieved his greatest fame--and notoriety--as a religious commentator through his reporting of the Scopes trial of 1925. In reporting on this landmark case pitting religious fundamentalism against science, Mencken wrote a series of pungently satirical accounts for the BALTIMORE EVENING SUN, followed by two merciless but by no means unfair obituaries of William Jennings Bryan, who died immediately after the trial's conclusion. In this volume, all of Mencken's writings on the Scopes trial and its aftermath are reprinted for the first time.

If anything was sacred to Mencken, it was the right to speak one's mind freely, and many of his attacks are directed against those true believers who he felt tried to foist their beliefs on others and to stifle independent thinking. For everyone who values freethought and sharp intelligence, this collection of articles by America's premier iconoclast is a must.

About this edition

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1573929824
• ISBN 13: 9781573929820
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 330
• Editor: Joshi S. T.