WIST Quotations

Adams, John -- Letter (1816-11-04) to Thomas Jefferson

Dave — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 17:19:47 +0000

We have now, it seems a National Bible Society, to propagate King James Bible, through all Nations. Would it not be better, to apply these pious Subscriptions, to purify Christendom from the corruptions of Christianity; than to propagate those Corruptions in Europe, Asia, Africa and America!

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founder, statesman; US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1816-11-04) to Thomas Jefferson

After the founding of the American Bible Society (11 May 1816).

Jackson, Robert H. -- American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 438 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]

Dave — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:06:46 +0000

But we must not forget that in our country are evangelists and zealots of many different political, economic and religious persuasions whose fanatical conviction is that all thought is divinely classified into two kinds — that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous. Communists are not the only faction which would put us all in mental straitjackets.

Robert H. Jackson (1892–1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941–54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 438 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 1557 (1725)

Dave — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:39:42 +0000

Be not magisterial in thy Dictates, nor pertinaciously contentious in ordinary discourse for thy Opinion; no nor for even a Truth of small Consequence. If thou thinkest good, declare thy Reasons; if they be not accepted, be quiet, and let them alone. Thou are not bound to convert all the World to Truth.

Thomas Fuller (1654–1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 1557 (1725)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago

Dave — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:35:56 +0000

I do not say, and I do not believe, that Christians are as bad as their creeds. In spite of church and dogma, there have been millions and millions of men and women true to the loftiest and most generous promptings of the human heart. They have been true to their convictions, and, with a self-denial and fortitude excelled by none, have labored and suffered for the salvation of men. Imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice, believing that by personal effort they could rescue at least a few souls from the infinite shadow of hell, they have cheerfully endured every hardship and scorned every danger.
And yet, notwithstanding all this, they believed that honest error was a crime. They knew that the Bible so declared, and they believed that all unbelievers would be eternally lost. They believed that religion was of God, and all heresy of the devil. They killed heretics in defense of their own souls and the souls of their children. They killed them because, according to their idea, they were the enemies of God, and because the Bible teaches that the blood of the unbeliever is a most acceptable sacrifice to heaven.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago

Collected in The Gods and Other Lectures (1876).