instance, in Jerusalem, Blake proposes the Brotherhood of Man as the only solution to the world's problems, both individual and international (Damon 60). According to Blake, we are all brothers because we are all sons of the Father, and all have Jesus (who often symbolizes Imagination, Humanity, and the source of everything for Blake) in us (Damon 60; Damon 158-159). This is very similar to the fundamental rights of man espoused in the Declaration of Independence, which states that "all men are created equal" because they are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" (Declaration 10-20). Blake also believed that all life was inherently holy; Damon says that his religion "became all-inclusive when he declared that every thing that lives is holy. This was a natural conclusion from the ancient belief that all things were created from the divine substance" (Damon 344). This becomes especially important and vital to us in an age where terrorist attacks are becoming increasingly common (witness the bombings at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the Oklahoma City building and increased security on international airline flights), the debate over abortion has led some anti-abortion activists to begin shooting doctors who perform abortions (such as the shooting of Dr. David L. Gunn in 1993), and the major nations of the world have nuclear weapons enough to kill every person on the earth multiple times. Blake's views on religion are also particularly relevant to the modern world. As Appelbaum said of Blake, "Blake replaced the arid atheism or tepid deism of the encyclopedists and their disciples with a glowing new personal religion" (Appelbaum iii). Besides rejecting "arid atheism" and "tepid deism," Blake also attacked conventional religion. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell he wrote "Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothers with bricks of Religion" and "As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so th...
