WIST Quotations

Stark, Freya Madeline -- Ionia: A Quest, ch. 17 (1954)

Dave — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 20:46:31 +0000

Once divested of missionary virus, the cult of our gods gives no offense. It would be a peaceful age if this were recognized, and religion, Christian, communist or any other, were to rely on practice and not on conversion for her growth.

Freya Stark (1893-1993) Franco-British explorer, travel writer [Freya Madeline Stark]
Ionia: A Quest, ch. 17 (1954)
(Source)

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, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1816-11-04) to Thomas Jefferson
(Source)

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

Muller, Max -- Chips from a German Workshop, Preface (1866)

Dave — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:39:55 +0000

It is necessary that we too should see the beam in our own eyes, and learn to distinguish between the Christianity of the nineteenth century and the religion of Christ. If we find that the Christianity of the nineteenth century does not win as many hearts in India and China as it ought, let us remember that it was the Christianity of the first century in all its dogmatic simplicity, but with its overpowering love of God and man, that conquered the world and superseded religions and philosophies, more difficult to conquer than the religious and philosophical systems of Hindus and Buddhists.

Max Müller (1823-1900) German-British philologist, Orientalist, religious studies founder
Chips from a German Workshop, Preface (1866)
(Source)

Muller, Max -- Chips from a German Workshop, vol. 1, Preface (1866)

Dave — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 17:14:47 +0000

He must be a man of little faith, who would fear to subject his own religion to the same critical tests to which the historian subjects all other religions. We need not surely crave a tender or merciful treatment for that faith which we hold to be the only true one. We should rather challenge it for the severest tests and trials, as the sailor would for the good ship to which he trusts his own life, and the lives of those who are dear to him. In the Science of Religion, we can decline no comparisons, nor claim any immunities for Christianity, as little as the missionary can, when wrestling with the subtle Brahmin, or the fanatical Mussulman, or the plain speaking Zulu.

Max Müller (1823-1900) German-British philologist, Orientalist, religious studies founder
Chips from a German Workshop, vol. 1, Preface (1866)
(Source)

Buck, Pearl S. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 03:12:31 +0000

We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won’t let them into our country.

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American writer
(Attributed)

Quoted in Clifton Fadiman, The American Treasury: 1455-1955 (1955).

Stowe, Harriet Beecher -- Letter to William Lloyd Garrison (1853)

Dave — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:19:27 +0000

The greater the interest involved in a truth the more careful, self-distrustful, and patient should be the inquiry. I would not attack the faith of a heathen without being sure I had a better one to put in its place, because, such as it is, it is better than nothing.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Letter to William Lloyd Garrison (1853)