Robert Green Ingersol
"If Christ was in fact God, he knew all the future.
Before him like a panorama moved the history yet to
be. He knew how his words would be interpreted. He
knew what crimes, what horrors, what infamies, would
be committed in his name. He knew that the hungry
flames of persecution would climb around the limbs of
countless martyrs. He knew that; thousands and
thousands of brave men and women would languish in
dungeons in darkness, filled with pain. He knew that
his church would invent and use instruments of
torture; that his followers would appeal to whip and
fagot, to chain and rack. He saw the horizon of the
future lurid with the flames of the auto da fe. He
knew what creeds would spring like poisonous fungi
from every text. He saw the ignorant sects waging war
against each other. He saw thousands of men, under
the orders of priests, building prisons for their
fellow-men. He saw thousands of scaffolds dripping
with the best and bravest blood. He saw his followers
using the instruments of pain. He heard the groans --
saw the faces white with agony. He heard the shrieks
and sobs and cries of all the moaning, martyred
multitudes. He knew that commentaries would be
written on his words with swords, to be read by the
light of fagots. He knew that the Inquisition would
be born of the teachings attributed to him."
---
David Michael Rice
> From Robert Green Ingersol
At the bottom of religious persecution is the doctrine of
self-defence; that is to say, the defence of the soul. If
the founder of Christianity had plainly said: "It is not
necessary to believe in order to be saved; it is only
necessary to do, and he who really loves his fellow-men,
who is kind, honest, just and charitable, is to be forever
blest" -- if he had only said that, there would probably
have been but little persecution.
If he had added to this: "You must not persecute in my
name. The religion I teach is the Religion of Love -- not
the Religion of Force and Hatred. You must not imprison
your fellow-men. You must not stretch them upon racks, or
crush their bones in iron boots. You must not flay them
alive. You must not cut off their eyelids, or pour molten
lead into their ears. You must treat all with absolute
kindness. If you cannot convert your neighbor by example,
persuasion, argument, that is the end. You must never
resort to force, and, whether he believes as you do or
not, treat him always with kindness" -- his followers then
would not have murdered their fellows in his name.
If Christ was in fact God, he knew the persecutions that
would be carried on in his name; he knew the millions that
would suffer death through torture; and yet he died
without saying one word to prevent what he must have
known, if he were God, would happen.
---
David Michael Rice
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From: David Rice
The world's second biggest glutton! (Next to Godzilla)
The world's second biggest glutton! (Next to Godzilla)
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