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I’m not the first to post this today, but it’s cer­tainly worth the read. The fol­low­ing is from Robert Ingersoll’s “What I Want For Christmas.”

If I had the power to pro­duce exactly what I want for next Christ­mas, I would have all the kings and emper­ors resign and allow the peo­ple to gov­ern themselves.

I would have all the nobil­ity crop their titles and give their lands back to the people.

I would have the Pope throw away his tiara, take off his sacred vest­ments, and admit that he is not act­ing for God, is not infal­li­ble, and is just an ordi­nary Italian.

I would have all the car­di­nals, arch­bish­ops, bish­ops, priests and cler­gy­men admit that they know noth­ing about the­ol­ogy, noth­ing about hell or heaven, noth­ing about the des­tiny of the human race, noth­ing about dev­ils or ghosts, gods or angels. I would have them tell all their “flocks” to think for them­selves, to be manly men and wom­anly women, and to do all in their power to increase the sum of human happiness.

I would have all the pro­fes­sors in col­leges, all the teach­ers in schools of every kind, includ­ing those in Sun­day schools, agree that they would teach only what they know and not palm off guesses as demon­strated truths.

I would like to see all the politi­cians changed to statesmen:

• Men who long to make their coun­try great and free
• Men who care more for pub­lic good than pri­vate gain
• Men who long to be of use

I would like to see all the edi­tors of papers and mag­a­zines agree to print the truth and noth­ing but the truth, to avoid all slan­der and mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion, and to let the pri­vate affairs of the peo­ple alone.

I would like to see drunk­en­ness and pro­hi­bi­tion both abolished.

I would like to see cor­po­ral pun­ish­ment done away with in every home, in every school, in every asy­lum, refor­ma­tory, and prison. Cru­elty hard­ens and degrades, kind­ness reforms and ennobles.

I would like to see mil­lion­aires unite and form a trust for the pub­lic good.

I would like to see a fair divi­sion of prof­its between cap­i­tal and labor, so that the toiler could save enough to min­gle a lit­tle June with the Decem­ber of his life.

I would like to see an inter­na­tional court estab­lished in which to set­tle dis­putes between nations, so that armies could be dis­banded and the great navies allowed to rust and rot in per­fect peace.

I would like to see the whole world free — free from injus­tice, and free from superstition.

This will do for next Christ­mas. The fol­low­ing Christ­mas, I may want more.

I think many of us could agree that if some­how these requests could be granted the world would be a vastly bet­ter place.

Via Unrea­son­able Faith and Cynical-C