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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1872-01-29), &#8220;The Gods,&#8221; Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/80202/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/80202/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blasphemy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[damnation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[divine judgment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[divine justice]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Strange! that no one has ever been persecuted by the church for believing God bad, while hundreds of millions have been destroyed for thinking him good. The orthodox church never will forgive the Universalist for saying &#8220;God is love.&#8221; It has always been considered as one of the very highest evidences of true and undefiled [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Strange! that no one has ever been persecuted by the church for believing God bad, while hundreds of millions have been destroyed for thinking him good. The orthodox church never will forgive the Universalist for saying &#8220;God is love.&#8221; It has always been considered as one of the very highest evidences of true and undefiled religion to insist that all men, women and children deserve eternal damnation. It has always been heresy to say, &#8220;God will at last save all.&#8221;</p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Lecture (1872-01-29), &#8220;The Gods,&#8221; Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38813/pg38813-images.html#Alink0002:~:text=Strange!%20that%20no,last%20save%20all.%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

First given on the 135th birthday of Thomas Paine. <a href="https://archive.org/details/godsotherlectu00inge/page/14/mode/2up?q=%22strange+that+no+one%22">Collected</a> in <i>The Gods and Other Lectures</i> (1876).						</span>
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		<title>Montesquieu -- Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], #  630 / 1007 &#8220;General Maxims of Politics,&#8221; No. 10 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/montesquieu/79389/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/montesquieu/79389/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2025 04:51:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Montesquieu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[devotion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heaven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hypocrisy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[orthodoxy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[piety]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Heaven alone can produce devout people; Princes produce hypocrites. [Le Ciel seul peut faire les dévots; les Princes font les hypocrites.] In the French, &#8220;seul [alone, solely]&#8221; is an amendment above the line in manuscript. (Source (French)).]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Heaven alone can produce devout people; Princes produce hypocrites.</p>
<p><em>[Le Ciel seul peut faire les dévots; les Princes font les hypocrites.]</em></p>
<br><b>Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu</b> (1689-1755) French political philosopher<br><i>Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts]</i>, #  630 / 1007 &#8220;General Maxims of Politics,&#8221; No. 10 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://archive.org/details/mythoughts0000mont/page/280/mode/2up?q=%22princes+produce%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

In the French, <em>"seul</em> [alone, solely]" is an amendment above the line in manuscript.

(<a href="https://archive.org/details/bnf-bpt6k6213190n/page/412/mode/2up?q=%22Le+Ciel+seul+peut%22">Source (French)</a>). 						</span>
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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1877-06-23), &#8220;The Ghosts,&#8221; Carson Theater, Carson City, Nevada</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/78682/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/78682/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:29:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[feet of clay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom of religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hypocrisy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[liberty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[perspective]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tyranny]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I thank Luther for protesting against the abuses of the church, and I denounce him because he was the enemy of liberty. I thank Calvin for writing a book in favor of religious freedom, and I abhor him because he burned Servetus. I thank Knox for resisting Episcopal persecution, and I hate him because he [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I thank Luther for protesting against the abuses of the church, and I denounce him because he was the enemy of liberty. I thank Calvin for writing a book in favor of religious freedom, and I abhor him because he burned Servetus. I thank Knox for resisting Episcopal persecution, and I hate him because he persecuted in his turn. I thank the Puritans for saying &#8220;Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God,&#8221; and yet I am compelled to say that they were tyrants themselves.</p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Lecture (1877-06-23), &#8220;The Ghosts,&#8221; Carson Theater, Carson City, Nevada 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38813/pg38813-images.html#Alink0007:~:text=I%20thank%20Luther,were%20tyrants%20themselves." target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

<a href="https://archive.org/details/ghostsandotherle00ingeiala/page/58/mode/2up?q=%22i+thank+luther%22">Collected</a> in <i>The Ghosts, and Other Lectures</i> (1878)						</span>
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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1874-05-03), &#8220;Heretics and Heresies,&#8221; Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/76349/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/76349/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Apr 2025 22:25:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church and state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[creed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom of thought]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heresy]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[theocracy]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[trial]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[A trial for heresy means that the spirit of persecution still lingers in the church; that it still denies the right of private judgment; that it still thinks more of creed than truth, and that it is still determined to prevent the intellectual growth of man. It means that churches are shambles in which are [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A trial for heresy means that the spirit of persecution still lingers in the church; that it still denies the right of private judgment; that it still thinks more of creed than truth, and that it is still determined to prevent the intellectual growth of man. It means that churches are shambles in which are bought and sold the souls of men. It means that the church is still guilty of the barbarity of opposing thought with force. It means that if it had the power, the mental horizon would be bounded by a creed; that it would bring again the whips and chains and dungeon keys, the rack and fagot of the past.</p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Lecture (1874-05-03), &#8220;Heretics and Heresies,&#8221; Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38813/pg38813-images.html#Alink0006:~:text=A%20trial%20for%20heresy%20means%20that%20the%20spirit%20of%20persecution%20still%20lingers%20in%20the%20church" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Collected in <i>The Gods and Other Lectures</i> (1876).						</span>
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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1874-05-03), &#8220;Heretics and Heresies,&#8221; Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/76178/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/76178/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Apr 2025 02:32:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holy war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Millions upon millions were sacrificed upon the altars of bigotry. The Catholic burned the Lutheran, the Lutheran burned the Catholic, the Episcopalian tortured the Presbyterian, the Presbyterian tortured the Episcopalian. Every denomination killed all it could of every other; and each Christian felt in duty bound to exterminate every other Christian who denied the smallest [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Millions upon millions were sacrificed upon the altars of bigotry. The Catholic burned the Lutheran, the Lutheran burned the Catholic, the Episcopalian tortured the Presbyterian, the Presbyterian tortured the Episcopalian. Every denomination killed all it could of every other; and each Christian felt in duty bound to exterminate every other Christian who denied the smallest fraction of his creed.</p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Lecture (1874-05-03), &#8220;Heretics and Heresies,&#8221; Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38813/pg38813-images.html#Alink0006:~:text=Millions%20upon%20millions%20were,fraction%20of%20his%20creed." target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Collected in <i>The Gods and Other Lectures</i> (1876).

						</span>
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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech (1876-07-04), &#8220;Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],&#8221; Peoria, Illinois</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/74405/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jan 2025 16:08:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[America]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Declaration of Independence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[So our fathers said: &#8220;We will form a secular government, and under the flag with which we are going to enrich the air, we will allow every man to worship God as he thinks best.&#8221; They said: &#8220;Religion is an individual thing between each man and his creator, and he can worship as he pleases [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So our fathers said: &#8220;We will form a secular government, and under the flag with which we are going to enrich the air, we will allow every man to worship God as he thinks best.&#8221; They said: &#8220;Religion is an individual thing between each man and his creator, and he can worship as he pleases and as he desires.&#8221; And why did they do this? The history of the world warned them that the liberty of man was not safe in the clutch and grasp of any church. They had read of and seen the thumbscrews, the racks, and the dungeons of the Inquisition. They knew all about the hypocrisy of the olden time. They knew that the church had stood side by side with the throne; that the high priests were hypocrites, and that the kings were robbers. They also knew that if they gave power to any church, it would corrupt the best church in the world. And so they said that power must not reside in a church, or in a sect, but power must be wherever humanity is &#8212; in the great body of the people. </p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Speech (1876-07-04), &#8220;Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],&#8221; Peoria, Illinois 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38813/pg38813-images.html#Ilink0003:~:text=So%20our%20fathers,signed%20by%20man." target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 222 (1820)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/colton-charles-caleb/74236/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/colton-charles-caleb/74236/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jan 2025 02:30:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Colton, Charles Caleb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cruelty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[divine inspiration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fanaticism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holy war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[self-delusion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[self-righteousness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zealotry]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[There is no cruelty so inexorable and unrelenting, as that which proceeds from a bigoted and presumptuous supposition of doing service to God. Under the influence of such hallucination, all common modes of reasoning are perverted, and all general principles are destroyed.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There is no cruelty so inexorable and unrelenting, as that which proceeds from a bigoted and presumptuous supposition of doing service to God. Under the influence of such hallucination, all common modes of reasoning are perverted, and all general principles are destroyed.</p>
<br><b>Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton</b> (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist<br><i>Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words</i>, Vol. 1, § 222 (1820) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lacon_Or_Many_Things_in_Few_Words/PHMlAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22there%20is%20no%20cruelty%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech (1876-07-04), &#8220;Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],&#8221; Peoria, Illinois</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/74228/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:06:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church and state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coercion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[faith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[influence]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[The religion that has to be supported by law is without value, not only, but a fraud and curse. The religious argument that has to be supported by a musket, is hardly worth making. A prayer that must have a cannon behind it, better never be uttered. Forgiveness ought not to go in partnership with [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The religion that has to be supported by law is without value, not only, but a fraud and curse. The religious argument that has to be supported by a musket, is hardly worth making. A prayer that must have a cannon behind it, better never be uttered. Forgiveness ought not to go in partnership with shot and shell. Love need not carry knives and revolvers.</p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Speech (1876-07-04), &#8220;Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],&#8221; Peoria, Illinois 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38813/pg38813-images.html#Ilink0003:~:text=Religion%20should%20have,knives%20and%20revolvers." target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Montesquieu -- Persian Letters [Lettres Persanes], Letter  86, Usbek to Mirza (1721) [tr. Mauldon (2008), # 83]</title>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Apr 2024 19:35:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Montesquieu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[freedom of conscience]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[In fact, even were it not inhuman to trouble another man&#8217;s conscience, even were there none of the bad effects that spring up by the thousands, one would have to be deranged to engage in such a purpose. He who tries to make me change my religion only does so, presumably, because he would never [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In fact, even were it not inhuman to trouble another man&#8217;s conscience, even were there none of the bad effects that spring up by the thousands, one would have to be deranged to engage in such a purpose. He who tries to make me change my religion only does so, presumably, because he would never change his own, even were someone to try to force him to do so; so how can he find it strange that I should refuse to do something that he himself would not do, even perhaps were  he offered the world as his empire?</p>
<p><em>[Car, enfin, quand il n’y auroit pas de l’inhumanité à affliger la conscience des autres, quand il n’en résulteroit aucun des mauvais effets qui en germent à milliers, il faudroit être fou pour s’en aviser. Celui qui veut me faire changer de religion ne le fait sans doute que parce qu’il ne changeroit pas la sienne, quand on voudroit l’y forcer : il trouve donc étrange que je ne fasse pas une chose qu’il ne feroit pas lui-même, peut-être pour l’empire du monde.]</em></p>
<br><b>Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu</b> (1689-1755) French political philosopher<br><i>Persian Letters [Lettres Persanes]</i>, Letter  86, Usbek to Mirza (1721) [tr. Mauldon (2008), # 83] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Persian_Letters/BT7dISXhzowC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22were%20it%20not%20inhuman%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

(<a href="https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Lettres_persanes/Lettre_86#:~:text=Car%2C%20enfin%2C%20quand,l%E2%80%99empire%20du%20monde.">Source (French)</a>). Alternate translations:<br><br>

<blockquote>For, in short, though there was nothing of inhumanity in forcing the consciences of others; though it occasioned none of those ill effects which spring up from it by thousands; a man must be a fool to offer at it. He that would have me change my religion, does it, no doubt, because he would not change his own if he were to be forced to it: so that he wonders I will not do a thing, which perhaps he would not do himself for the empire of the universe.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Persian_Letters_Translated_by_Mr_Ozell_T/LEZiAAAAcAAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=%22TRANSLATED%20FROM%20THE%20FRENCH%22">Ozell</a> (1760  ed.)] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For indeed, if there was nothing of inhumanity in forcing the conscience of another, though there did not arise from it any of those bad effects which spring from it by thousands, it would be folly to advise it. He who would have me change my religion, no doubt, desires me to do so, because he would not change his own if he were forced to do it: he yet thinks it strange, that I will not do a thing which he himself would not do, perhaps, for the empire of the world.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_persian-letters-by-m-_montesquieu-charles-de-_1762_1/page/250/mode/2up?q=%22nothing+of+inhumanity%22&view=theater">Floyd</a> (1762), # 85]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>In conclusion, even if there were no inhumanity in distressing the consciences of others, even if there did not result from such a course any of the evil effects which do spring from it in thousands, it would still be foolish to advise it. He who would have me change my religion is led to that, without doubt, because he would not change his own although force were employed; and yet he finds it strange that I will not do a thing which he himself would not do, perhaps for the empire of the world.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Persian_Letters/Letter_86#:~:text=In%20conclusion%2C%20even,of%20the%20world.">Davidson</a> (1891)] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote><span class="tab">For, in fine, even if the attempt to trouble the conscience of our neighbor was not in itself inhuman, if the manifold evil effects which spring from it had no existence, the mere contemplation of such a course would be an evidence of mental unsoundness.<br>
<span class="tab">The man who would have me change my religion does so doubtless because he would never change his own, no matter what force was brought to bear upon him: yet he thinks it strange that I should refuse to do a thing he would not himself do for the empire of the whole world!<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/persianletters00degoog/page/n210/mode/2up?q=%22attempt+to+trouble+the+conscience%22&view=theater">Betts</a> (1897)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Finally, even if it were not inhumane to afflict another’s conscience, and even if there did not result from such an act those bad effects which spring up by the thousands, it would still be foolish to advise it. Whoever would have me change my religion doubtlessly acts as he does because he would not change his, however he was forced; yet he finds it strange that I will not do something which he would not do himself, perhaps for the entire world.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/montesquieu-persian-letters-healy/page/n157/mode/2up?q=%22were+not+inhumane%22">Healy</a> (1964), # 85]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Finally, even if it were inhumane to make such an assault on the consciences of others, with its thousands of self-replicating evil consequences, one would have to be mad to advise it. The man who wants me to change my religion does so only because he would never change his, no matter how much he was forced. And thus he thinks it strange that I will not do a thing he would not do for all the kingdoms of the world.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Persian_Letters/UK5aBAAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=%22finally%22%20%22not%20inhumane%22">MacKenzie</a> (2014), # 85]</blockquote><br>
						</span>
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		<title>Montesquieu -- Persian Letters [Lettres Persanes], Letter  60, Usbek to Ibben (1721) [tr. Davidson (1891)]</title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Feb 2024 23:54:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Montesquieu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hatred]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Christians are beginning to lose the spirit of intolerance which animated them: experience has shown the error of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and of the persecution of those Christians in France whose belief differed a little from that of the king. They have realized that zeal for the advancement of religion is [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Christians are beginning to lose the spirit of intolerance which animated them: experience has shown the error of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and of the persecution of those Christians in France whose belief differed a little from that of the king. They have realized that zeal for the advancement of religion is different from a due attachment to it; and that in order to love it and fulfill its behests, it is not necessary to hate and persecute those who are opposed to it.</p>
<p><em>[On commence à se défaire parmi les chrétiens de cet esprit d’intolérance qui les animoit : on s’est mal trouvé en Espagne, de les avoir chassés, et en France, d’avoir fatigué des chrétiens dont la croyance différoit un peu de celle du prince. On s’est aperçu que le zèle pour les progrès de la religion est différent de l’attachement qu’on doit avoir pour elle ; et que, pour l’aimer et l’observer, il n’est pas nécessaire de haïr et de persécuter ceux qui ne l’observent pas.] </em></p>
<br><b>Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu</b> (1689-1755) French political philosopher<br><i>Persian Letters [Lettres Persanes]</i>, Letter  60, Usbek to Ibben (1721) [tr. Davidson (1891)] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Persian_Letters/Letter_60#:~:text=Christians%20are%20beginning,opposed%20to%20it." target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Referring to the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, and the persecution of the Huguenots (Protestants) in France culminating under Louis XIV in the late 17th Century (and who were still being persecuted while Montesquieu was writing this).<br><br>

(Source (French)). <a href="https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Lettres_persanes/Lettre_60#:~:text=On%20commence%20%C3%A0,ne%20l%E2%80%99observent%20pas.">Alternate translations</a>:<br><br>

<blockquote>The Christians begin to lay aside that untolerating Spirit, which used to sway them: the Spaniards are sensible how much they have lost by driving the Jews out, and the French by vexing of Christians whose Belief differed a little from that of the Prince. They are now convinced that the Zeal for the Progress of a Religion, is very different form the Devotion she requires; and that to love and observe her, there is no manner of Necessity for hating and persecuting those who do not.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Persian_Letters/jwE6AAAAcAAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=%22begin%20to%20lay%22">Ozell</a> (1736), Letter 58]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Christians begin to lay aside that intolerating spirit which formerly influenced them. Spain hath experienced the bad consequence of having expelled the Jews, and France of having worried the Christians, whose faith differed a little from that of the prince. They are nos sensible that a zeal for the progress of religion is different from that attachment which ought to be preserved towards her; and that, in order to love and obey her, it is not necessary to hate and persecute those who do not regard her.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_persian-letters-by-m-_montesquieu-charles-de-_1762_1/page/170/mode/2up?q=%22Chri%C5%BFtians+begin+to+lay%22">Floyd</a> (1762)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Christians are fast losing that spirit of intolerance which formerly animated them: they are beginning to find out that the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was a mistake, and that the persecution of Christians in France whose beliefs differed a little from those of their sovereign was another. They have discovered that fanatic zeal for the advancement of a religion is far different from the attachment which every one ought to feel towards it, and that, in order to love and practise its precepts, it is not necessary to hate and afflict those who refuse to do so.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/persianletters00degoog/page/n150/mode/2up?view=theater&q=%22losing+that+spirit%22">Betts</a> (1897)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>The Christians are beginning to lose that spirit of intolerance which animated them. It is now seen that it was a mistake to chase the Jews from Spain, and to persecute French Christians whose belief differed a bit from that of the king. They now perceive that zeal for the expansion of religion is different from dutiful devotion to it, and that love and observance of a religion need not require hatred and persecution of those who do not so believe.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/montesquieu-persian-letters-healy/page/100/mode/2up?q=%22Christians+are+beginning%22">Healy</a> (1964)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Christians are beginning to abandon that spirit of intolerance which formerly inspired them; the Spanish regret having banished the Jews, and the French regret having persecuted Christians whose beliefs differed slightly from those of their monarch. They have realized that zeal for the advancement of religion is different form the love one should bear it, and that in order to love it, and observe its precepts, there is no need to hate and persecute those who do not do so.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Persian_Letters/BT7dISXhzowC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22abandon%20that%20spirit%20of%20intolerance%22">Mauldon</a> (2008), Letter 58]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>The Christians are beginning to abandon that old spirit of religious intolerance; it was a mistake to expel the Jews from Spain, just as it was to persecute the Christians in France whose beliefs differed only slightly from those of their king. They have realized here that zeal for the advancement of one's religion is different from the attachment one ought to have for it, and that to love and observe one's faith, it is not necessary to hate and persecute those who do not observe it.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Persian_Letters/UK5aBAAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=%22the%20christians%20are%20beginning%22">MacKenzie</a> (2014)]</blockquote><br>						</span>
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		<title>Thomas a Kempis -- The Imitation of Christ [De Imitatione Christi], Book 3, ch.  5, v.  2 (3.5.2) (c. 1418-27) [tr. Sherley-Price (1952)]</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Oct 2023 18:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Thomas a Kempis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[burden]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[For love of God, cheerfully endure everything &#8212; labour, sorrow, temptation, provocation, anxiety, necessity, weakness, injury and insult; censure, humiliation, disgrace, contradiction and contempt. All these things foster your growth in virtue, for they test the unproved servant of Christ, and form the jewels of his heavenly crown. [Pro amore Dei debes omnia libenter subire [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For love of God, cheerfully endure everything &#8212; labour, sorrow, temptation, provocation, anxiety, necessity, weakness, injury and insult; censure, humiliation, disgrace, contradiction and contempt. All these things foster your growth in virtue, for they test the unproved servant of Christ, and form the jewels of his heavenly crown. </p>
<p><em>[Pro amore Dei debes omnia libenter subire , labores scilicet et dolores, tentationes et vexationes, anxietates et necessitates , infirmitates , injurias, oblocutiones , reprehensiones, humiliationes, confusiones, correctiones et despectiones. Haec juvant ad virtutem , haec probant Christi tironem, haec fabricant coelestem coronam.]</em></p>
<br><b>Thomas à Kempis</b> (c. 1380-1471) German-Dutch priest, author<br><i>The Imitation of Christ [De Imitatione Christi]</i>, Book 3, ch.  5, v.  2 (3.5.2) (c. 1418-27) [tr. Sherley-Price (1952)] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://archive.org/details/imitationofchris00sher/page/140/mode/2up?q=%22cheerfully+endure+everything%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

(<a href="https://archive.org/details/deimitationechri00thom/page/206/mode/2up?q=%22vexationes%2C+anxietates+et+necessitates%22">Source (Latin)</a>). Alternate translations:<br><br>

<blockquote>For the love of God thou oughtest to suffer gladly all things, that is to say, all labours, sorrows, temptations, vexations, anguishes, neediness, sickness, injuries, evil sayings, reprovings, oppressions, confusions, corrections, and despisings. These help a man greatly to virtue, these prove the true knight of Christ, and make ready for him the heavenly crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219519/page/n227/mode/2up?q=%22labours+sorrows%22">Whitford/Raynal</a> (1530/1871)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>You ought gladly to suffer all things for the love of God: all labors, sorrows, temptations, vexations; all anguish, need, sickness, injuries, evil sayings, reproaches; all oppressions, confusions, corrections, and despisings. These greatly help a man to virtue; these prove the true knight of Christ and prepare for him a heavenly crown. <br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/imitationofchri200thom/page/116/mode/2up?q=%22labors%2C+sorrows%22">Whitford/Gardiner</a> (1530/1955)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Thou oughtest for the love of God willingly to undergoe whatsoever labours, to endure whatsoever griefes, temptations, vexations, anxieties, necessities, infirmities, onjuries, detractions, reprehensions, humiliations, confusions, corrections, and contempts. These helpe to the attaining of vertue: these try a Novice of Christ, these make up an heavenly Crowne.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A13699.0001.001/1:6.35?rgn=div2;view=fulltext#:~:text=Thou%20oughtest%20for,an%20heavenly%20Crowne.">Page</a> (1639), 3.35.8-9]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>In obedience to his Will, you should contentedly undergo Labour and Toil, Tryals and Troubles, Distress and Anguish of Heart, Poverty and Want, Infirmities and Diseases, Injuries and Affronts, Scandal and Reproach, Disparagement and Disgrace, Punishment and Torture. These whet and brighten a Christian's Virtue, exercise and distinguish him. These Thorns are woven into Wreaths of Glory.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/christianspatte00thomgoog/page/n235/mode/2up?q=%22Xabour+3h%285+Toil%22">Stanhope</a> (1696; 1706 ed.), 3.40]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For the love of God, therefore, thou must cheerfully and patiently endure labor and sorrow, persecution, temptation, and anxiety, poverty, and want, pain and sickness, detraction, reproof, humiliation, confusion, correction and contempt. By these the virtues of <i>the new man Christ Jesus</i> are exercised and strengthened; these form the ornaments of his celestial crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/imitationchrist01kempgoog/page/n200/mode/2up?q=%22endure+labor+and+forrow%22">Payne</a> (1803), 3.27.8] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For the love of God thou oughtest cheerfully to undergo all things, that is to say, all labour and pain, temptation, vexation, anxiety, necessity, infirmity, injury, obloquy, reproof, humiliation, confusion, correction, and scorn [of every kind and degree.] These help to virtue; these are the trial of a novice in Christ; these frame the heavenly Crown.<br>
[ed. <a href="https://archive.org/details/ofimitationofchr00thom_0/page/198/mode/2up?q=%22temptation%2C+vexation%22">Parker</a> (1841)] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For the love of GOD, therefore, thou must cheerfully and patiently endure all things: labour and sorrow, temptation, vexation and anxiety, poverty and want, pain and sickness, detraction, reproof, humiliation, confusion, correction, and contempt. These help to virtue; these prove "the new man in Christ Jesus; these obtain for him the celestial crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Of_the_Imitation_of_Jesus_Christ/qBZwsQJdQ2QC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22labour%20and%20forrow,%20temptation%22">Dibdin</a> (1851), 3.31.2]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Thou must be willing, for the love of God, to suffer all things, <em>viz.,</em> labours and sorrows, temptations and vexations, anxieties, necessities, sicknesses, injuries, obloquy, reproof, humiliation, shame, correction, and contempt. These things help to obtain virtue; these prove the young soldier of Christ; these weave a heavenly crown.<br>
[ed. <a href="https://archive.org/details/ofimitationofchr00thom_2/page/160/mode/2up?q=%22labours+and+sorrows%2C+temptations%22">Bagster</a> (1860)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For the love of God thou must willingly undergo all things, whether labours or sorrows, temptations, vexations, anxieties, necessities, infirmities, injuries, gainsayings, rebukes, humiliations, confusions, corrections, despisings; these things help unto virtue, these things prove the scholar of Christ; these things fashion the heavenly crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1653/pg1653-images.html#chap72:~:text=For%20the%20love%20of%20God%20thou%20must,Christ%3B%20these%20things%20fashion%20the%20heavenly%20crown.">Benham</a> (1874)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For the love of God thou oughtest cheerfully to undergo all labour, grief, temptation, vexation, anxiety, necessity, infirmity, injury, detraction, reproof, humiliation, shame, correction, and scorn. These help to virtue; these are the trial of a babe in Christ; of these consist the heavenly crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Of_the_Imitation_of_Christ/Book_III/Chapter_XXXV#:~:text=For%20the%20love,the%20heavenly%20crown.">Anon.</a> (1901)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For love of God you should undergo all things cheerfully, all labors and sorrows, temptations and trials, anxieties, weaknesses, necessities, injuries, slanders, rebukes, humiliations, confusions, corrections, and contempt. For these are helps to virtue. These are the trials of Christ's recruit. These form the heavenly crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/imitation/imb3c31-40.html#RTFToC226:~:text=For%20love%20of,the%20heavenly%20crown.">Croft/Bolton</a> (1940)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For love of God you should undergo everything cheerfully: for example, toils and pains, trials, vexations, anxieties, wants, sickness, wrongs, contradictions, reproofs, humiliations, distresses, corrections, and contempt. These are aids to character: these test the soldier of Christ: these shape the heavenly crown. <br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/imitationofchris0000unse_r2o4/page/104/mode/2up?q=%22undergo+everything+cheerfully%22">Daplyn</a> (1952)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For the love of God you ought to endure with gladness all that befalls you: toil and sorrow, temptations, afflictions, anxiety, want, weakness, injury and slander, rebuke, humiliation, shame, correction and scorn. All these things are aids to holiness; they test the man who has newly entered the service of Christ, and go to the making of his heavenly crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/imitationofchris00knox/page/156/mode/2up?q=%22toil+and+sorrow%2C+temptations%22">Knox-Oakley</a> (1959)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>For love of God you should be prepared to endure anything -- toil, pain, temptation, vexation, anxiety, need, weakness, injustice, slander, blame, humiliation, shame, censure and contempt. Such things strengthen virtue; they test the soldier of Christ and make up his heavenly crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/imitationofchris0000thom_o4e9/page/166/mode/2up?q=%22temptation%2C+vexation%22">Knott</a> (1962)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>The love of God should make you put up with everything: toil and sorrow, trials, annoyance, anxiety, restriction, weakness, injury, detraction, criticism, humiliation, shame, correction and contempt. These are aids to virtue. They are tests for one newly committed to Christ. They are the things that make up the heavenly crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/imitationofchris0000unse_e5i0/page/118/mode/2up?q=%22trials%2C+annoyance%22">Rooney</a> (1979)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Certainly you should willingly endure labor and sorrows, temptations, vexations, anxieties, necessities, illnesses, injuries, contradictions, rebukes, humiliations, doubts, chastisements and contempt. These things are all aids to virtue; these test one who has begun to follow Christ; these mold a heavenly crown.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Imitation_of_Christ/JI7AA0GAbUgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22certainly%20you%20should%20willingly%22">Creasy</a> (1989)]</blockquote><br>						</span>
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		<title>Black, Hugo -- James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/black-hugo/59392/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/black-hugo/59392/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Mar 2023 16:21:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Black, Hugo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bill of rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom of religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[political power]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Unfortunately, our own colonial history also provided ample reasons for people to be afraid to vest too much power in the national government. There had been bills of attainder here; women had been convicted and sentenced to death as &#8220;witches&#8221;; Quakers, Baptists, and various Protestant sects had been persecuted from time to time. Roger Williams [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Unfortunately, our own colonial history also provided ample reasons for people to be afraid to vest too much power in the national government. There had been bills of attainder here; women had been convicted and sentenced to death as &#8220;witches&#8221;; Quakers, Baptists, and various Protestant sects had been persecuted from time to time. Roger Williams left Massachusetts to breathe the free air of new Rhode Island. Catholics were barred from holding office in many places. Test oaths were required in some of the colonies to bar any but &#8220;Christians&#8221; from holding office. In New England Quakers suffered death for their faith. Baptists were sent to jail in Virginia for preaching, which caused Madison, while a very young man, to deplore what he called that &#8220;diabolical hell-conceived principle of persecution.&#8221;</p>
<br><b>Hugo Black</b> (1886-1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937-71)<br>James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.sabhlokcity.com/2014/02/justice-hugo-blacks-james-madison-lecture-asserting-absolute-freedom-of-speech/#:~:text=Unfortunately%2C%20our%20own,principle%20of%20persecution.%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

The inaugural Madison lecture. Reprinted as "The Bill of Rights," <i>NYU Law Review</i>, Vol. 35 (Apr 1960). The Madison reference is in a <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-01-02-0029#:~:text=That%20diabolical%20Hell%20conceived%20principle%20of%20persecution">letter to William Bradford</a> (24 Jan 1774).





						</span>
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                <!-- DCH Modify the title to give the category (quote author) at the beginning of it. -->
		<title>Black, Hugo -- James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/black-hugo/58940/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/black-hugo/58940/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Feb 2023 20:40:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Black, Hugo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[oppression]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tyranny]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Today most Americans seem to have forgotten the ancient evils which forced their ancestors to flee to this new country and to form a government stripped of old powers used to oppress them. But the Americans who supported the Revolution and the adoption of our Constitution knew firsthand the dangers of tyrannical governments. They were [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today most Americans seem to have forgotten the ancient evils which forced their ancestors to flee to this new country and to form a government stripped of old powers used to oppress them. But the Americans who supported the Revolution and the adoption of our Constitution knew firsthand the dangers of tyrannical governments. They were familiar with the long existing practice of English persecutions of people wholly because of their religious or political beliefs. They knew that many accused of such offenses had stood, helpless to defend themselves, before biased legislators and judges.</p>
<br><b>Hugo Black</b> (1886-1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937-71)<br>James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.sabhlokcity.com/2014/02/justice-hugo-blacks-james-madison-lecture-asserting-absolute-freedom-of-speech/#:~:text=Today%20most%20Americans,legislators%20and%20judges." target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

The inaugural Madison lecture. Reprinted as "The Bill of Rights," <i>NYU Law Review</i>, Vol. 35 (Apr 1960).						</span>
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		<title>Swift, Jonathan -- &#8220;Thoughts on Religion&#8221; (1726)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/swift-jonathan/58703/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/swift-jonathan/58703/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2023 18:36:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Swift, Jonathan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church and state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clergy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[establishment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[popularity]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[I never saw, heard, nor read, that the clergy were beloved in any nation where Christianity was the religion of the country. Nothing can render them popular, but some degree of persecution.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I never saw, heard, nor read, that the clergy were beloved in any nation where Christianity was the religion of the country. Nothing can render them popular, but some degree of persecution.</p>
<br><b>Jonathan Swift</b> (1667-1745) English writer and churchman<br>&#8220;Thoughts on Religion&#8221; (1726) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Works_of_the_Rev._Jonathan_Swift/Volume_10/Thoughts_on_Religion#:~:text=I%20never%20saw%2C%20heard%2C%20nor%20read%2C%20that%20the%20clergy%20were%20beloved%20in%20any%20nation%20where%20Christianity%20was%20the%20religion%20of%20the%20country.%20Nothing%20can%20render%20them%20popular%2C%20but%20some%20degree%20of%20persecution." target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Swift, Jonathan -- &#8220;Thoughts on Religion&#8221; (1726)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/swift-jonathan/58346/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/swift-jonathan/58346/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2023 18:22:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Swift, Jonathan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[appearances]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[belief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coercion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conformity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[force]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom of conscience]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[oath]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[religious freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[You may force men, by interest or punishment, to say or swear they believe, and to act as if they believed; you can go no farther.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You may force men, by interest or punishment, to say or swear they believe, and to act as if they believed; you can go no farther.</p>
<br><b>Jonathan Swift</b> (1667-1745) English writer and churchman<br>&#8220;Thoughts on Religion&#8221; (1726) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Works_of_the_Rev._Jonathan_Swift/Volume_10/Thoughts_on_Religion#:~:text=You%20may%20force%20men%2C%20by%20interest%20or%20punishment%20to%20say%20or%20swear%20they%20believe%2C%20and%20to%20act%20as%20if%20they%20believed%3B%20you%20can%20go%20no%20farther." target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1711-10-02), The Spectator, No. 185</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/addison-joseph/53567/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/addison-joseph/53567/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2022 14:54:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Addison, Joseph]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[faith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inquisition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intolerance]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[religious intolerance]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[torture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zeal]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[I love to see a Man zealous in a good Matter, and especially when his Zeal shews it self for advancing Morality, and promoting the Happiness of Mankind: But when I find the Instruments he works with are Racks and Gibbets, Gallies and Dungeons; when he imprisons Mens Persons, confiscates their Estates, ruins their Families, [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I love to see a Man zealous in a good Matter, and especially when his Zeal shews it self for advancing Morality, and promoting the Happiness of Mankind: But when I find the Instruments he works with are Racks and Gibbets, Gallies and Dungeons; when he imprisons Mens Persons, confiscates their Estates, ruins their Families, and burns the Body to save the Soul, I cannot stick to pronounce of such a one, that (whatever he may think of his Faith and Religion) his Faith is vain, and his Religion unprofitable.</p>
<br><b>Joseph Addison</b> (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman<br>Essay (1711-10-02), <i>The Spectator</i>, No. 185 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spectator/3rpDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22see%20a%20man%20zealous%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1711-10-02), The Spectator, No. 185</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/addison-joseph/53201/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/addison-joseph/53201/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 May 2022 15:19:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Addison, Joseph]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[belief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bloodshed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holy war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ideology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[murder]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[We are told by some of the Jewish Rabbins, that the first Murder was occasioned by a religious Controversy; and if we had the whole History of Zeal from the Days of Cain to our own Times, we should see it filled with so many Scenes of Slaughter and Bloodshed, as would make a wise [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We are told by some of the Jewish Rabbins, that the first Murder was occasioned by a religious Controversy; and if we had the whole History of Zeal from the Days of Cain to our own Times, we should see it filled with so many Scenes of Slaughter and Bloodshed, as would make a wise Man very careful how he suffers himself to be actuated by such a Principle, when it only regards Matters of Opinion and Speculation.</p>
<br><b>Joseph Addison</b> (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman<br>Essay (1711-10-02), <i>The Spectator</i>, No. 185 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spectator/3rpDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22we%20are%20told%20by%20some%20of%20the%20jewish%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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                <!-- DCH Modify the title to give the category (quote author) at the beginning of it. -->
		<title>Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1711-10-02), The Spectator, No. 185</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/addison-joseph/53093/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/addison-joseph/53093/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2022 13:57:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Addison, Joseph]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[commitment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dedication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[determination]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[fanaticism]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[zeal]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[There is nothing in which Men more deceive themselves than in what the World calls Zeal. There are so many Passions which hide themselves under it, and so many Mischiefs arising from it, that some have gone so far as to say it would have been for the Benefit of Mankind if it had never [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There is nothing in which Men more deceive themselves than in what the World calls Zeal. There are so many Passions which hide themselves under it, and so many Mischiefs arising from it, that some have gone so far as to say it would have been for the Benefit of Mankind if it had never been reckoned in the Catalogue of Virtues. It is certain, where it is once Laudable and Prudential, it is an hundred times Criminal and Erroneous; nor can it be otherwise, if we consider that it operates with equal Violence in all Religions, however opposite they may be to one another, and in all the Subdivisions of each Religion in particular.</p>
<br><b>Joseph Addison</b> (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman<br>Essay (1711-10-02), <i>The Spectator</i>, No. 185 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spectator/3rpDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22what%20the%20World%20calls%20Zeal%22%5C" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Stanley, Jason -- How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, ch.  2 (2018)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/stanley-jason/50386/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/stanley-jason/50386/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2021 16:09:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Stanley, Jason]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anti-semitism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fascism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[islamophobia]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[order]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[To many white Americans, President Obama must have been corrupt, because his very occupation of the White House was a kind of corruption of the traditional order. When women attain positions of political power usually reserved for men &#8212; or when Muslims, blacks, Jews, homosexuals, or “cosmopolitans” profit or even share the public goods of [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To many white Americans, President Obama must have been corrupt, because his very occupation of the White House was a kind of corruption of the traditional order. When women attain positions of political power usually reserved for men &#8212; or when Muslims, blacks, Jews, homosexuals, or “cosmopolitans” profit or even share the public goods of a democracy, such as healthcare &#8212; that is perceived as corruption.</p>
<br><b>Jason Stanley</b> (b. 1969) American philosopher, epistemologist, academic<br><i>How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them</i>, ch.  2 (2018) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_Fascism_Works/bDTgDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=stanley%20%22how%20fascism%20works%22&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover&bsq=%22Obama%20must%20have%20been%20corrupt%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech to the Jury, Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, Morristown, New Jersey (May 1887)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/48624/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/48624/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 Sep 2021 18:54:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blasphemy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coersion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[force]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[proselytization]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[You can stand with the lash over a man, or you can stand by the prison door, or beneath the gallows, or by the stake, and say to this man: &#8220;Recant, or the lash descends, the prison door is locked upon you, the rope is put about your neck, or the torch is given to [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You can stand with the lash over a man, or you can stand by the prison door, or beneath the gallows, or by the stake, and say to this man: &#8220;Recant, or the lash descends, the prison door is locked upon you, the rope is put about your neck, or the torch is given to the fagot.&#8221; And so the man recants. Is he convinced? Not at all. Have you produced a new argument? Not the slightest. And yet the ignorant bigots of this world have been trying for thousands of years to rule the minds of men by brute force. They have endeavored to improve the mind by torturing the flesh &#8212; to spread religion with the sword and torch. They have tried to convince their brothers by putting their feet in iron boots, by putting fathers, mothers, patriots, philosophers and philanthropists in dungeons. And what has been the result? Are we any nearer thinking alike to-day than we were then?</p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Speech to the Jury, Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, Morristown, New Jersey (May 1887) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38103/38103-h/38103-h.htm#:~:text=You%20can%20stand,we%20were%20then%3F" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Pinker, Steven -- The Better Angels of Our Nature, ch. 4 (2011)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/pinker-steven/47091/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/pinker-steven/47091/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 May 2021 14:37:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pinker, Steven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[belief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[skepticism]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[No one gets upset about the belief that rocks fall down as opposed to up, because all sane people can see it with their own eyes. Not so for the belief that babies are born with original sin or that God exists in three persons or that Ali was the second-most divinely inspired man after [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>No one gets upset about the belief that rocks fall down as opposed to up, because all sane people can see it with their own eyes. Not so for the belief that babies are born with original sin or that God exists in three persons or that Ali was the second-most divinely inspired man after Muhammad. When people organize their lives around these beliefs, and then learn of other people who seem to be doing just fine without them &#8212; or worse, who credibly rebut them &#8212; they are in danger of looking like fools. Since one cannot defend a belief based on faith by persuading skeptics it is true, the faithful are apt to react to unbelief with rage, and may try to eliminate that affront to everything that makes their lives meaningful.</p>
<br><b>Steven Pinker</b> (b. 1954) Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, author<br><i>The Better Angels of Our Nature</i>, ch. 4 (2011) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature/8-vYCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=pinker%20%22better%20angels%20of%20our%20nature%22&pg=PA140&printsec=frontcover&bsq=%22no%20one%20gets%20upset%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #126 (21 Sep 1747)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/chesterfield-lord/45453/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/chesterfield-lord/45453/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2021 22:55:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Chesterfield (Lord)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[belief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[charity]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[opinion]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Errors and mistakes, however gross, in matters of opinion, if they are sincere, are to be pitied, but not punished nor laughed at. The blindness of the understanding is as much to be pitied as the blindness of the eye, and there is neither jest nor guilt in a man&#8217;s losing his way in either [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Errors and mistakes, however gross, in matters of opinion, if they are sincere, are to be pitied, but not punished nor laughed at. The blindness of the understanding is as much to be pitied as the blindness of the eye, and there is neither jest nor guilt in a man&#8217;s losing his way in either case. Charity bids us set him right if we can, by arguments and persuasions; but charity, at the same time, forbids, either to punish or ridicule his misfortune.</p>
<br><b>Lord Chesterfield</b> (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]<br>Letter to his son, #126 (21 Sep 1747) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://archive.org/details/letterstohisson00ches/page/124/mode/2up?q=%22errors+and+mistakes%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

On religious tolerance.						</span>
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		<title>Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #126 (21 Sep 1747)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/chesterfield-lord/45164/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/chesterfield-lord/45164/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Jan 2021 20:25:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Chesterfield (Lord)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[belief]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Every man&#8217;s reason is, and must be, his guide; and I may as well expect that every man should be of my size and complexion, as that he should reason just as I do. Every man seeks for truth; but God only knows who has found it. It is, therefore, as unjust to persecute as [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Every man&#8217;s reason is, and must be, his guide; and I may as well expect that every man should be of my size and complexion, as that he should reason just as I do. Every man seeks for truth; but God only knows who has found it. It is, therefore, as unjust to persecute as it is absurd to ridicule people for those several opinions which they cannot help entertaining upon the conviction of their reason.</p>
<br><b>Lord Chesterfield</b> (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]<br>Letter to his son, #126 (21 Sep 1747) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://archive.org/details/letterstohisson00ches/page/124/mode/2up?q=%22Every+man+seeks%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Speaking of religious beliefs.						</span>
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		<title>Adams, John Quincy -- Speech, Plymouth (22 Dec 1802)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/adams-john-quincy/35666/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/adams-john-quincy/35666/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2016 05:31:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adams, John Quincy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[apostasy]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[dissent]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[trivia]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Religious discord has lost her sting; the cumbrous weapons of theological warfare are antiquated: the field of politics supplies the alchymists of our times with materials of more fatal explosion, and the butchers of mankind no longer travel to another world for instruments of cruelty and destruction. Our age is too enlightened to contend upon [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Religious discord has lost her sting; the cumbrous weapons of theological warfare are antiquated: the field of politics supplies the alchymists of our times with materials of more fatal explosion, and the butchers of mankind no longer travel to another world for instruments of cruelty and destruction. Our age is too enlightened to contend upon topics, which concern only the interests of eternity; and men who hold in proper contempt all controversies about trifles, except such as inflame their own passions, have made it a common-place censure against your ancestors, that their zeal was enkindled by subjects of trivial importance; and that however aggrieved by the intolerance of others, they were alike intolerant themselves. Against these objections, your candid judgment will not require an unqualified justification; but your respect and gratitude for the founders of the State may boldly claim an ample apology. The original grounds of their separation from the church of England, were not objects of a magnitude to dissolve the bonds of communion; much less those of charity, between Christian brethren of the same essential principles.</p>
<br><b>John Quincy Adams</b> (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)<br>Speech, Plymouth (22 Dec 1802) 
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		<title>Adams, John -- Letter (1814-12-14) to John Taylor</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/adams-john/32341/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/adams-john/32341/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2016 16:59:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adams, John]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[book]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[What havoc has been made of Books through every Century of the Christian Æra? Where are fifty Gospells condemned as spurious by the Bull of Pope Gelasius. Where are the forty Waggon Loads of Hebrew Manuscripts burned in France by order of another Pope, because suspected of Heresy? Remember the Index expurgatorius, the Inquisitions, the [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What havoc has been made of Books through every Century of the Christian Æra? Where are fifty Gospells condemned as spurious by the Bull of Pope Gelasius. Where are the forty Waggon Loads of Hebrew Manuscripts burned in France by order of another Pope, because suspected of Heresy? Remember the Index expurgatorius, the Inquisitions, the Stake, the Axe the halter and the Guillotine; and Oh! horrible the Rack. This is as bad if not worse than a slow fire.</p>
<br><b>John Adams</b> (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)<br>Letter (1814-12-14) to John Taylor 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-6369#:~:text=What%20havoc%20has,a%20slow%20fire." target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Washington, George -- Letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (May 1789)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/washington-george/29160/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/washington-george/29160/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:53:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Washington, George]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church and state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom of religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intolerance]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.</p>
<br><b>George Washington</b> (1732–1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789–1797)<br>Letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (May 1789) 
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		<title>Bible, Vol. 2. New Testament -- 2 Corinthians  4:  8-9 [JB (1966)]</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/bible-nt/28914/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/bible-nt/28914/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2015 12:51:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bible, Vol. 2. New Testament]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[difficulty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[endurance]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[hardship]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down, but never killed. [ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι ἀλλ’ οὐ στενοχωρούμενοι ἀπορούμενοι ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐξαπορούμενοι διωκόμενοι ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐγκαταλειπόμενοι καταβαλλόμενοι ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἀπολλύμενοι.] (Source (Greek)). Alternate translations: We [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down, but never killed.</p>
<p>[ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι ἀλλ’ οὐ στενοχωρούμενοι ἀπορούμενοι ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐξαπορούμενοι διωκόμενοι ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐγκαταλειπόμενοι καταβαλλόμενοι ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἀπολλύμενοι.] </p>
<br><b>The Bible (The New Testament)</b> (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture<br>2 Corinthians  4:  8-9 [JB (1966)] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://bibledoctrine.us/2_corinthians/#:~:text=We%20are%20in,but%20never%20killed%3B" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

(<a href="https://biblehub.com/psb/2_corinthians/4.htm">Source (Greek)</a>). Alternate translations:<br><br>

<blockquote>We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.<br>
[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+4%3A8-9&version=KJV">KJV</a> (1611)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed.<br>
[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+4%3A8-9&version=GNT">GNT</a> (1976)]</blockquote><br>



<blockquote>We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us.<br>
[<a href="https://www.bibliacatolica.com.br/en/new-jerusalem-bible/2-corinthians/4/#:~:text=We%20are%20subjected,life%20in%20us%3B">NJB</a> (1985)]</blockquote><br>



<blockquote>We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.<br>
[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+4%3A8-9&version=NIV">NIV</a> (2011 ed.)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren’t crushed. We are confused, but we aren’t depressed. We are harassed, but we aren’t abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren’t knocked out.<br>
[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+4%3A8-9&version=CEB">CEB</a> (2011)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.<br>
[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+4%3A8-9&version=NRSVUE">NRSV</a> (2021 ed.)]</blockquote><br>

						</span>
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		<title>Schopenhauer, Arthur -- Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 2, ch. 15 &#8220;On Religion [Ueber Religion],&#8221; § 174 &#8220;A Dialogue [Ein Dialog]&#8221; (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/schopenhauer-arthur/24905/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/schopenhauer-arthur/24905/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2014 13:33:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Schopenhauer, Arthur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[atrocity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[morality]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[You are certainly right in insisting on the strong metaphysical needs of mankind; but religion appears to me to be not so much a satisfaction as an abuse of those needs. At any rate we have seen that in regard to the furtherance of morality, its utility is, for the most part, problematical, its disadvantages, [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You are certainly right in insisting on the strong metaphysical needs of mankind; but religion appears to me to be not so much a satisfaction as an abuse of those needs. At any rate we have seen that in regard to the furtherance of morality, its utility is, for the most part, problematical, its disadvantages, and especially the atrocities which have followed in its train, are patent to the light of day.</p>
<p><em>[So hast du gewiß Recht, das starke metaphysische Bedürfniß des Menschen zu urgiren: aber die Religionen scheinen mir nicht sowohl die Befriedigung, als der Mißbrauch desselben zu seyn. Wenigstens haben wir gesehn, daß in Hinsicht auf Beförderung der Moralität ihr Nutzen großentheils problematisch ist, ihre Nachtheile hingegen und zumal die Gräuelthaten, welche in ihrem Gefolge sich eingestellt haben, am Tage liegen.]</em></p>
<br><b>Arthur Schopenhauer</b> (1788-1860) German philosopher<br><i>Parerga and Paralipomena</i>, Vol. 2, ch. 15 &#8220;On Religion <i>[Ueber Religion],&#8221;</i> § 174 &#8220;A Dialogue <i>[Ein Dialog]&#8221;</i> (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=C2LrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT196" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

(<a href="https://archive.org/details/schopenhauerssam05scho/page/390/mode/2up?q=%22So+hast+du+gewi%C3%9F+Recht%22">Source (German)</a>). Alternate translation:<br>

<blockquote>You are certainly right in advocating the strong metaphysical needs of mankind; but religions appear to me to be not so much a satisfaction as an abuse of those needs. At any rate we have seen that, in view of the progress of morality, its advantages are for the most part problematical, while its disadvantages, and especially the enormities which have appeared in its train, are obvious.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11945/11945-h/11945-h.htm#:~:text=you%20are%20certainly,train%2C%20are%20obvious.">Dircks</a>]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>You are certainly right in insisting on man's strong metaphysical need. Religions, however, seem to me to be not so much a satisfaction but an abuse thereof. at any rate, we have seen that, as regards the encouragement of morality, their use is to a great extent problematical, whereas their disadvantages, and especially the atrocities that have followed in their train, are as clear as the light of day.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/23341891SchopenhauerParergaAndParalipomenaV2/23341891-Schopenhauer-Parerga-and-Paralipomena-V-2/page/n365/mode/2up?q=%22strong+metaphysical%22">Payne</a> (1974)]</blockquote><br>




						</span>
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		<title>Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1816-11-11) to Matthew Carey</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/jefferson-thomas/22187/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/jefferson-thomas/22187/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Aug 2013 14:40:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Jefferson, Thomas]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[On the dogmas of religion as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarrelling, fighting, burning and torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind. Were I to enter on that arena, [&#8230;]]]></description>
        <!-- DCH Insert author info (category description) then (Source) and then put the extra info (MORE) below that. -->
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On the dogmas of religion as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarrelling, fighting, burning and torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind. Were I to enter on that arena, I should only add an unit to the number of Bedlamites.</p>
<br><b>Thomas Jefferson</b> (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)<br>Letter (1816-11-11) to Matthew Carey 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-10-02-0385#:~:text=on%20the%20dogmas,number%20of%20Bedlamites." target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Mistakenly identified in some sources as Archibald Carey.						</span>
					]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Black, Hugo -- Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 424-425 (1962) [majority opinion]</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/black-hugo/19453/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/black-hugo/19453/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:53:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Black, Hugo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[establishment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[first amendment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom of religion]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Another purpose of the Establishment Clause rested upon an awareness of the historical fact that governmentally established religions and religious persecutions go hand in hand. The Founders knew that only a few years after the Book of Common Prayer became the only accepted form of religious services in the established Church of England, an Act [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Another purpose of the Establishment Clause rested upon an awareness of the historical fact that governmentally established religions and religious persecutions go hand in hand. The Founders knew that only a few years after the Book of Common Prayer became the only accepted form of religious services in the established Church of England, an Act of Uniformity was passed to compel all Englishmen to attend those services and to make it a criminal offense to conduct or attend religious gatherings of any other kind &#8212; a law which was consistently flouted by dissenting religious groups in England and which contributed to widespread persecutions of people like John Bunyan who persisted in holding &#8220;unlawful [religious] meetings &#8230; to the great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this kingdom &#8230;.&#8221; And they knew that similar persecutions had received the sanction of law in several of the colonies in this country soon after the establishment of official religions in those colonies. It was in large part to get completely away from this sort of systematic religious persecution that the Founders brought into being our Nation, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights with its prohibition against any governmental establishment of religion.</p>
<br><b>Hugo Black</b> (1886-1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937-71)<br><i>Engel v. Vitale</i>, 370 U.S. 421, 424-425 (1962) [majority opinion] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/370/421#:~:text=Another%20purpose%20of,establishment%20of%20religion." target="_blank">Source</a>)
				]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1874-05-03), &#8220;Heretics and Heresies,&#8221; Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/16932/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/16932/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:48:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bible]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heresy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holy war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[killing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[According to the theologians, God, the Father of us all, wrote a letter to his children. The children have always differed somewhat as to the meaning of this letter. In consequence of these honest differences, these brothers began to cut out each other&#8217;s hearts. In every land, where this letter from God has been read, [&#8230;]]]></description>
        <!-- DCH Insert author info (category description) then (Source) and then put the extra info (MORE) below that. -->
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span class="tab">According to the theologians, God, the Father of us all, wrote a letter to his children. The children have always differed somewhat as to the meaning of this letter. In consequence of these honest differences, these brothers began to cut out each other&#8217;s hearts.<br />
<span class="tab">In every land, where this letter from God has been read, the children to whom and for whom it was written have been filled with hatred and malice. They have imprisoned and murdered each other, and the wives and children of each other. In the name of God every possible crime has been committed, every conceivable outrage has been perpetrated. Brave men, tender and loving women, beautiful girls, and prattling babes have been exterminated in the name of Jesus Christ.</span></span></p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Lecture (1874-05-03), &#8220;Heretics and Heresies,&#8221; Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38813/pg38813-images.html#Alink0006:~:text=According%20to%20the%20theologians%2C%20God%2C%20the,in%20the%20name%20of%20Jesus%20Christ." target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Collected in Ingersoll, <i>The Gods and Other Lectures</i> (1876).
						</span>
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		<title>Welch, John -- Board of Education of Cincinnati v. Minor, Ohio Supreme Court (1872)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/welch-john/14961/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/welch-john/14961/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:14:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Welch, John]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church and state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom of religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[majority]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[theocracy]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[True Christianity never shields itself behind majorities. Nero, and the other persecuting Roman emperors, were amply supported by majorities; and yet the pure and peaceable religion of Christ in the end triumphed over them all; and it was only when it attempted itself to enforce religion by the arm of authority, that it began to [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>True Christianity never shields itself behind majorities. Nero, and the other persecuting Roman emperors, were amply supported by majorities; and yet the pure and peaceable religion of Christ in the end triumphed over them all; and it was only when it attempted itself to enforce religion by the arm of authority, that it began to wane. A form of religion that can not live under equal and impartial laws ought to die, and sooner or later must die.</p>
<br><b>John Welch</b> (1805-1891) American politician, jurist<br><i>Board of Education of Cincinnati v. Minor</i>, Ohio Supreme Court (1872) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=bWk7AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA211" target="_blank">Source</a>)
				]]></content:encoded>
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                <!-- DCH Modify the title to give the category (quote author) at the beginning of it. -->
		<title>Welch, John -- Board of Education of Cincinnati v. Minor, Ohio Supreme Court (1872)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/welch-john/14871/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/welch-john/14871/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:16:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Welch, John]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church and state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crusade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[tolerance]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[True Christianity asks no aid from the sword of civil authority.  It began without the sword, and wherever it has taken the sword it has perished by the sword. To depend on civil authority for its enforcement is to acknowledge its own weakness, which it can never afford to do.  It is able to fight [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>True Christianity asks no aid from the sword of civil authority.  It began without the sword, and wherever it has taken the sword it has perished by the sword. To depend on civil authority for its enforcement is to acknowledge its own weakness, which it can never afford to do.  It is able to fight its own battles.  Its weapons are moral and spiritual, and not carnal. Armed with these, and these alone, it is not afraid or &#8220;ashamed&#8221; to be compared with other religions, and to withstand them single-handed.</p>
<br><b>John Welch</b> (1805-1891) American politician, jurist<br><i>Board of Education of Cincinnati v. Minor</i>, Ohio Supreme Court (1872) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=bWk7AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA247#v=onepage&q=%22sword%20of%20civil%20authority%22&f=false" target="_blank">Source</a>)
				]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Jefferson, Thomas -- Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17 (1782)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/jefferson-thomas/10736/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/jefferson-thomas/10736/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:13:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Jefferson, Thomas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[belief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church and state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coercion]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[difference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heterodoxy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketplace of ideas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[opinion]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[uniformity]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and as there is danger that the great men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and as there is danger that the great men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a <em>Censor morum</em> over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women,  and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.</p>
<br><b>Thomas Jefferson</b> (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)<br><i>Notes on the State of Virginia</i>, Query 17 (1782) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Notes_on_the_State_of_Virginia_(1802)/Query_17#:~:text=But%20is%20uniformity,over%20the%20earth." target="_blank">Source</a>)
				]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1874-05-03), &#8220;Heretics and Heresies,&#8221; Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/6136/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/6136/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:35:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ingersoll, Robert Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christians]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[damnation]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[religious intolerance]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[unbelievers]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[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 [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span class="tab">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.<br />
<span class="tab">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.</span></span></p>
<br><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator<br>Lecture (1874-05-03), &#8220;Heretics and Heresies,&#8221; Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38813/pg38813-images.html#Alink0006:~:text=I%20do%20not,sacrifice%20to%20heaven." target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Collected in <i>The Gods and Other Lectures</i> (1876).
						</span>
					]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Adams, John -- Letter (1815-01-24) to John Taylor</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/adams-john/6098/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/adams-john/6098/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:22:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adams, John]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blasphemy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clergy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dogma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heresy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[organized religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[priesthood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[truth]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The Priesthood, have in all ancient Nations, nearly monopolized Learning. Read over again all the Accounts We have of Hindoos Chaldeans, Persians Greeks, Romans, Celts, Teutons, We Shall find that Priests had all the Knowledge, and really governed all Mankind. Examine Mahometanism Trace Christianity from its first Promulgation, Knowledge has been almost exclusively confined to [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Priesthood, have in all ancient Nations, nearly monopolized Learning. Read over again all the Accounts We have of Hindoos Chaldeans, Persians Greeks, Romans, Celts, Teutons, We Shall find that Priests had all the Knowledge, and really governed all Mankind. Examine Mahometanism Trace Christianity from its first Promulgation, Knowledge has been almost exclusively confined to the Clergy. And even since the Reformation, when or where has existed a Protestant or dissenting Sect, who would tolerate, <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">A free Inquiry?</span> The blackest Billingate, the most ungentlemanly insolenc, the most yahooish brutality, is patiently endured countenanced propagated and applauded: But touch a solemn Truth in collission with a dogma of a Sect, though capable of the clearest proof; and you will Soon find you have disturbed a Nest, and the hornets will swarm about your legs and hands and fly into your face and Eyes.</p>
<br><b>John Adams</b> (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)<br>Letter (1815-01-24) to John Taylor 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-6400#:~:text=The%20Priesthood%2C%20have,face%20and%20Eyes" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Russell, Bertrand -- &#8220;Free Thought and Official Propaganda,&#8221; lecture, South Place Institute, London (1922-03-24)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/5552/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/5552/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:35:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Russell, Bertrand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[belief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[censorship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free thought]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heterodoxy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inquisition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intellectual freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[It is clear that the most elementary condition, if thought is to be free, is the absence of legal penalties for the expression of opinions. No great country has yet reached to this level, although most of them think they have. The opinions which are still persecuted strike the majority as so monstrous and immoral [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It is clear that the most elementary condition, if thought is to be free, is the absence of legal penalties for the expression of opinions.  No great country has yet reached to this level, although most of them think they have.  The opinions which are still persecuted strike the majority as so monstrous and immoral that the general principle of toleration can not be held to apply to them.  But this is exactly the same view as that which made possible the tortures of the Inquisition.  There was a time when Protestantism seemed as wicked as Bolshevism seems now.</p>
<br><b>Bertrand Russell</b> (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher<br>&#8220;Free Thought and Official Propaganda,&#8221; lecture, South Place Institute, London (1922-03-24) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Free_Thought_and_Official_Propaganda/OlMAAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22most%20elementary%20condition%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
				]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Penn, William -- Fruits of Solitude, #537-539 (1682)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/penn-william/5455/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/penn-william/5455/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Nov 2007 02:21:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Penn, William]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ends and means]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[godliness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[image of God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[self-righteousness]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[A good End cannot sanctifie evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it. Some Folks think they may Scold, Rail, Hate, Rob and Kill too; so it be but for God&#8217;s sake. But nothing in us unlike him, can please him.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A good End cannot sanctifie evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it. Some Folks think they may Scold, Rail, Hate, Rob and Kill too; so it be but for God&#8217;s sake. But nothing in us unlike him, can please him.</p>
<br><b>William Penn</b> (1644-1718) English writer, philosopher, politician, statesman<br><i>Fruits of Solitude,</i> #537-539 (1682) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1682penn-solitude.asp#:~:text=537.%20A%20good,can%20please%20him." target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Lec, Stanislaw -- Unkempt Thoughts [Myśli nieuczesane] (1957) [tr. Gałązka (1962)]</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/lec-stanislaw/5155/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/lec-stanislaw/5155/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:48:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lec, Stanislaw]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heresy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Burning stakes do not lighten the darkness.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Burning stakes do not lighten the darkness.</p>
<br><b>Stanislaw Lec</b> (1909-1966) Polish aphorist, poet, satirist<br><i>Unkempt Thoughts [Myśli nieuczesane]</i> (1957) [tr. Gałązka (1962)] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Unkempt_Thoughts/NTtiAAAAMAAJ?kptab=editions&gbpv=1&bsq=stakes" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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                <!-- DCH Modify the title to give the category (quote author) at the beginning of it. -->
		<title>Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, §  25 (1820)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/colton-charles-caleb/505/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/colton-charles-caleb/505/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Colton, Charles Caleb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[argument]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[contention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holy war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hypocrisy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but &#8212; live for it.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but &#8212; <em>live</em> for it.</p>
<br><b>Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton</b> (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist<br><i>Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words</i>, Vol. 1, §  25 (1820) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lacon_Or_Many_Things_in_Few_Words/PHMlAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22wrangle%20for%20religion%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Kennedy, John F. -- Letter (1960-10-26) to the National Conference of Christians and Jews Conference)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/kennedy-john/2252/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/kennedy-john/2252/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Kennedy, John F.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[belief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[commitment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[faith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom of religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[protection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious intolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious tolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tolerance]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one&#8217;s beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one&#8217;s beliefs.  Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.</p>
<br><b>John F. Kennedy</b> (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)<br>Letter (1960-10-26) to the National Conference of Christians and Jews Conference) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Freedom_of_Communications_The_joint_appe/txM4Y1NO3u8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=kennedy+%22tolerance+implies+no+lack+of+commitment%22&pg=PA517&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Don Juan, Canto  1, st.  83 (1818)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/byron/774/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/byron/774/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Byron, George Gordon, Lord]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[execution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heresy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rationalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious persecution]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded That all the Apostles would have done as they did.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded<br />
That all the Apostles would have done as they did.</p>
<br><b>George Gordon, Lord Byron</b> (1788-1824) English poet<br><i>Don Juan</i>, Canto  1, st.  83 (1818) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Don_Juan_(Byron,_unsourced)/Canto_the_First#:~:text=Christians%20have%20burnt%20each%20other%2C%20quite%20persuaded%0AThat%20all%20the%20Apostles%20would%20have%20done%20as%20they%20did." target="_blank">Source</a>)
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