Editing Mark Twain (section)

===Religion===
{{see also|Twain–Ament indemnities controversy}}
Twain was a [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]]<!-- buried from Presbyterian church, attended Presbyterian services with Livy, raised as a Presbyterian per Autobiography, donated large sums to build Presbyterian churches{{cn|date=January 2015}}-->.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The wit and wisdom of Mark Twain|last=Twain|first=Mark|others=Blaisdell, Robert|isbn=978-0486489230|location=Mineola, NY|publisher=Dover Publications|page=20|oclc=761852687|date = January 2013}}</ref> He was critical of [[organized religion]] and certain elements of Christianity through his later life. For example, Twain wrote, "Faith is believing what you know ain't so", and "If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be&nbsp;– a Christian".<ref name="Huberman">{{cite book| title =The Quotable Atheist| last =Huberman| first =Jack| year =2007| publisher =Nation Books| isbn =978-1-56025-969-5| pages =[https://archive.org/details/quotableatheista0000unse/page/303 303–304]|url=https://archive.org/details/quotableatheista0000unse/page/303}}</ref> With [[anti-Catholic]] sentiment rampant in 19th century America, Twain noted that he was "educated to enmity toward everything that is Catholic".<ref>{{cite news|title=America's dark and not-very-distant history of hating Catholics|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/12/america-history-of-hating-catholics|newspaper=The Guardian|date=September 18, 2016|access-date=December 12, 2016|archive-date=March 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314100423/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/12/america-history-of-hating-catholics|url-status=live}}</ref> As an adult, Twain engaged in religious discussions and attended services, his theology developing as Twain wrestled with the deaths of loved ones and with his own mortality.<ref name="199.236.117.33">Dempsey, Terrell, [http://www.twainweb.net/reviews/phipps.html Book Review: Mark Twain's Religion. William E. Phipps] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915090227/http://www.twainweb.net/reviews/phipps.html |date=September 15, 2014 }} 2004 Mark Twain Forum</ref>

Twain generally avoided publishing his most controversial<ref>{{cite book|title=Letters from Earth|publisher=Ostara publications|page=back cover|year=2013}}</ref> opinions on religion in his lifetime, and they are known from essays and stories that were published later. In the essay ''Three Statements of the Eighties'' in the 1880s, Twain stated that he believed in an almighty God, but not in any messages, [[revelation]]s, [[holy scripture]]s such as the Bible, [[Divine Providence|Providence]], or retribution in the [[afterlife]]. Twain did state that "the goodness, the justice, and the mercy of God are manifested in His works", but also that "[[deism|the universe is governed by strict and immutable laws]]", which determine "small matters", such as who dies in a pestilence.<ref>Twain, Mark, ed. by Paul Baender. 1973. What is man?: and other philosophical writings. p. 56</ref> At other times, he plainly professed a belief in Providence.<ref>Phipps, William E., [https://books.google.com/books?id=x2HBYrytvRoC Mark Twain's Religion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418110717/https://books.google.com/books?id=x2HBYrytvRoC |date=April 18, 2023 }}, pp. 263–266, 2003 Mercer Univ. Press</ref> In some later writings in the 1890s, Twain was less optimistic about the [[theodicy|goodness of God]], observing that "if our Maker ''is'' all-powerful for good or evil, He is not in His right mind". At other times, he conjectured sardonically that perhaps God had created the world with all its tortures for some purpose of His own, but was otherwise indifferent to humanity, which was too petty and insignificant to deserve His attention anyway.<ref>Twain, Mark, ed. by Paul Baender. 1973. What is man?: and other philosophical writings. pp. 10, 486</ref>

In 1901, Twain criticized the actions of the [[missionary]] Dr. [[William Scott Ament]] (1851–1909) because Ament and other missionaries had collected indemnities from Chinese subjects in the aftermath of the [[Boxer uprising]] of 1900. Twain's response to hearing of Ament's methods was published in the ''North American Review'' in February 1901: ''[[To the Person Sitting in Darkness]]'', and deals with examples of [[imperialism]] in China, South Africa, and with the U.S. occupation of the Philippines.<ref>Mark Twain, "To the Person Sitting in Darkness", ''The North American Review'' 182:531 (February 1901): 161–176; {{JSTOR|25105120}}</ref> A subsequent article, "To My Missionary Critics" published in ''The North American Review'' in April 1901, unapologetically continues his attack, but with the focus shifted from Ament to his missionary superiors, the [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]].<ref>Mark Twain, "To My Missionary Critics", ''The North American Review'' 172 (April 1901):520–534; {{JSTOR|25105150}}</ref>

After his death, Twain's family suppressed some of his work that was especially irreverent toward conventional religion, including ''[[Letters from the Earth]]'', which was not published until his daughter [[Clara Clemens|Clara]] reversed her position in 1962 in response to [[Soviet propaganda]] about the withholding.<ref name="NYTimes1962">{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | title = Anti-Religious Work by Twain, Long Withheld, to Be Published | periodical = The New York Times | page = 23 | date = August 24, 1962 | publication-date = August 24, 1962 | last1 = Gelb | first1 = Arthur | author-link = Arthur Gelb | url = http://www.twainquotes.com/19620824.html | access-date = April 22, 2008 | archive-date = July 25, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080725071803/http://www.twainquotes.com/19620824.html | url-status = live }}</ref> The anti-religious ''The Mysterious Stranger'' was published in 1916. ''Little Bessie'', a story ridiculing Christianity, was first published in the 1972 collection ''Mark Twain's Fables of Man''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mark Twain's Fables of Man |last=Twain |first=Mark |editor1=John S. Tuckey |editor2=Kenneth M. Sanderson |editor3=Bernard L. Stein |editor4=Frederick Anderson |year=1972 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=California |isbn=978-0-520-02039-9 |chapter=Little Bessie |chapter-url=http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/twainbes.htm |url=https://archive.org/details/fablesofman0000twai }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Twain raised money to build a [[Presbyterian Church]] in Nevada in 1864.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/us/02twain.html?fta=y |title=Church Aided by Twain Is in a Demolition Dispute |agency=[[Associated Press]] |work=The New York Times |date=April 2, 2006 |access-date=October 5, 2008 |archive-date=April 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415235207/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/us/02twain.html?fta=y |url-status=live }}</ref>

Twain created a reverent portrayal of [[Joan of Arc]], a subject over which he had obsessed for forty years, studied for a dozen years and spent two years writing about.<ref name="The Adventures of Mark Twain">Paine, Albert Bigelow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=93o7_0oICWMC The Adventures of Mark Twain] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406221221/https://books.google.com/books?id=93o7_0oICWMC |date=April 6, 2023 }}, p. 281, Kessinger 2004</ref> In 1900 and again in 1908, Twain stated, "I like ''Joan of Arc'' best of all my books, it is the best".<ref name="The Adventures of Mark Twain"/><ref>Goy-Blanquet, Dominique, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4QkSZ7cHy38C Joan of Arc, a saint for all reasons: studies in myth and politics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406221223/https://books.google.com/books?id=4QkSZ7cHy38C |date=April 6, 2023 }}, p. 132, 2003 [[Ashgate Publishing]]</ref>

Those who knew Twain well late in life recount that he dwelt on the subject of the afterlife, his daughter Clara saying: "Sometimes he believed death ended everything, but most of the time he felt sure of a life beyond."<ref>Phipps, William E., [https://books.google.com/books?id=x2HBYrytvRoC Mark Twain's Religion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418110717/https://books.google.com/books?id=x2HBYrytvRoC |date=April 18, 2023 }}, p. 304, 2003 Mercer Univ. Press</ref>

Twain's frankest views on religion appeared in his final work ''[[Autobiography of Mark Twain]]'', the publication of which started in November 2010, 100 years after his death. In it, Twain said:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec10/twain_07-07.html| title = Mark Twain's Autobiography Set for Unveiling, a Century After His Death| author = PBS NewsHour| website = [[PBS]]| date = July 7, 2010| access-date = July 7, 2010| author-link = PBS NewsHour| archive-date = January 21, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121221718/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec10/twain_07-07.html| url-status = dead}}</ref>{{blockquote|There is one notable thing about our Christianity: bad, bloody, merciless, money-grabbing, and predatory as it is&nbsp;– in our country particularly and in all other Christian countries in a somewhat modified degree&nbsp;– it is still a hundred times better than the Christianity of the Bible, with its prodigious crime&nbsp;– the invention of Hell. Measured by our Christianity of to-day, bad as it is, hypocritical as it is, empty and hollow as it is, neither the Deity nor his Son is a Christian, nor qualified for that moderately high place. Ours is a terrible religion. The fleets of the world could swim in spacious comfort in the innocent blood it has spilled.}}

Twain was a [[Freemason]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mertsahinoglu.com/research/samuel-langhorne-clemens/|title=Brother Samuel Langhorne Clemens: A Missouri Freemason – Mert Sahinoglu|website=mertsahinoglu.com|access-date=October 30, 2009|archive-date=October 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005012246/http://mertsahinoglu.com/research/samuel-langhorne-clemens/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = MIC Mark Twain Award | author = Masonic Information Center | url = http://www.msana.com/twainaward/ | access-date = October 28, 2017 | archive-date = October 28, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171028145355/http://www.msana.com/twainaward/ | url-status = live }}</ref> He belonged to Polar Star Lodge No. 79 A.F.&A.M., based in St. Louis. Twain was initiated an [[Entered Apprentice]] on May 22, 1861, passed to the degree of [[Fellow Craft]] on June 12, and raised to the degree of [[Master Mason]] on July 10.

Twain visited [[Salt Lake City]] for two days and met members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]. They also gave him a [[Book of Mormon]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ldsliving.com/What-Mark-Twain-Really-Thought-About-Mormons/s/78635|title=What Mark Twain Really Thought About Mormons|author=Kathryn Jenkins Gordon|work=LDS Living|date=August 18, 2015|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=January 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103021105/http://www.ldsliving.com/What-Mark-Twain-Really-Thought-About-Mormons/s/78635|url-status=live}}</ref> He later wrote in ''[[Roughing It]]'' about that book:<ref>''[[Roughing It]]'' – Chapter 16</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/08/13/i-nephi|title=I, Nephi|author=Adam Gopnik|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=August 13, 2012|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=November 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107092313/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/08/13/i-nephi|url-status=live}}</ref>{{blockquote|The book seems to be merely a prosy detail of imaginary history, with the Old Testament for a model; followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament.}}