J. Williams Thorne didn't attack God per se, but Christianity.
Harry McKown of the UNC-Chapel Hill Library took a read through a pamphlet written by Thorne after his expulsion from the legislature.
From what he can tell, Thorne originally was responding to a lecture by Rev. Joseph Barker, who said (Thorne's words) that "as a class, those who denied the Divine authority of the Bible, were inferior in morals to those who thus accepted it."
In response, Thorne went after the Christian Church, particularly the evangelical church, and the depiction of God in the Old and New Testament, McKown writes Dome.
Here is one example of his writing:
"As the Christian Church rose in power and influence, civilization declined. And now civilization is advancing in exact proportion as the Church loses its power and influence among men."
More after the jump.
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A few more select quotes from the writings of J. Williams Thorne, as selected by Harry McKown of the UNC library:
* About God, as depicted in the scripture: "Still, there can be no doubt that David was a man after God's own heart; for he was just as merciless as the great Jewish God whom he loved and served."
* "The God of Christian Theology is not presented to us in a lovable and attractive form. We worship him through fear of punishment — as the Indian worships the devil — not for love, but for fear of the injury he may do us, if we do not."
* "Having shown that the fruits of Christianity have been generally evil and that its influence has tended rather to darken than enlighten the world; I will now endeavor to show that we have no right to expect better fruits from this Christian tree than those we have obtained. I shall proceed to show that both fruit and tree are, essentially, of the same evil character."
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