WIST Quotations<p><a href="https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/5613/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">A quotation from <b>Robert Ingersoll</b></a></p><blockquote>Men and women have been burned for thinking there is but one God; that there was none; that the Holy Ghost is younger than God; that God was somewhat older than his son; for insisting that good works will save a man without faith; that faith will do without good works; for declaring that a sweet babe will not be burned eternally, because its parents failed to have its head wet by a priest; for speaking of God as though he had a nose; for denying that Christ was his own father; for contending that three persons, rightly added together, make more than one; for believing in purgatory; for denying the reality of hell; for pretending that priests can forgive sins; for preaching that God is an essence; for denying that witches rode through the air on sticks; for doubting the total depravity of the human heart; for laughing at irresistible grace, predestination and particular redemption; for denying that good bread could be made of the body of a dead man; for pretending that the pope was not managing this world for God, and in the place of God; for disputing the efficacy of a vicarious atonement; for thinking the Virgin Mary was born like other people; for thinking that a man’s rib was hardly sufficient to make a good-sized woman; for denying that God used his finger for a pen; for asserting that prayers are not answered, that diseases are not sent to punish unbelief; for denying the authority of the Bible; for having a Bible in their possession; for attending mass, and for refusing to attend; for wearing a surplice; for carrying a cross, and for refusing; for being a Catholic, and for being a Protestant; for being an Episcopalian, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and for being a Quaker. In short, every virtue has been a crime, and every crime a virtue. The church has burned honesty and rewarded hypocrisy. And all this, because it was commanded by a book.</blockquote><p><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator<br>Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago</p> <p>Sourcing, notes: <a href="https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/5613/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…</a></p><p><a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=quote" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>quote</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=quotes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>quotes</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=quotation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>quotation</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=belief" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>belief</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=Bible" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Bible</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=burning" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>burning</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=Christianity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Christianity</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=church" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>church</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=denomination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>denomination</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=disbelief" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>disbelief</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=doubt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>doubt</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=execution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>execution</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=heresy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>heresy</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=intolerance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>intolerance</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=miracle" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>miracle</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=orthodoxy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>orthodoxy</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=persecution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>persecution</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=punishment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>punishment</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=questioning" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>questioning</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=religion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>religion</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=religiousintolerance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>religiousintolerance</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=religiouspersecution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>religiouspersecution</span></a></p>