“The idea is that the savior came, and simply by the coming of the savior you're saved. Nonsense, human beings wish! If that were the case, we'd live in a perfect world.” IfsWorldHumansIdeasWishHuman BeingsPerfectChristianityCasesSavedNonsenseSaviorA Perfect World Author:Frederick Lenz
“Even today many educated people think that the victory of Christianity over Greek philosophy is a proof of the superior truth of the former - although in this case it was only the coarser and more violent that conquered the more spiritual and delicate. So far as superior truth is concerned, it is enough to observe that the awakening sciences have allied themselves point by point with the philosophy of Epicurus, but point by point rejected Christianity.” PeopleThinkingEnoughPhilosophyTodaySpiritualChristianityCasesVictoryTruth IsConcernedAwakeningProofViolentSuperiorsEducatedFormerGreekDelicateRejectedGreek Philosophy Book:Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits Source: Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
“Christianity, just as much as Islam, teaches children that unquestioned faith is a virtue. You don't have to make the case for what you believe. If somebody announces that it is part of his faith, the rest of society, whether of the same faith, or another, or of none, is obliged, by ingrained custom, to "respect" it without question; respect it until the day it manifests itself in a horrible massacre like the destruction of the World Trade Center, or the London or Madrid bombings.” IfsWorldBelieveChildrenChristianityTeachCasesVirtueDestructionTradeIslamLondonHorribleCustomsObligedBombingMassacresWorld TradeWorld Trade CenterMadrid Author:Richard Dawkins
“What stands most explicitly as critique in Nietzsche's late work in not a development from earlier interests but a return to two problems of enduring personal involvement for him, those of Wagner and of Christianity. Der Antichrist , to take one case, is not a response to a resuscitating public interest in Christian religion; it is primarily a renewed attempt to resolve for himself the question of piety.” TwoProblemChristianInterestChristianityCasesDevelopmentReturnLateResponseEndureResolveInvolvementPietyCritiqueAntichristPublic InterestWagner Author:John Carroll
“The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight against spiritual apathy in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a brief round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare - its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests - of all things they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not our own.” KnowsCareChristianSpiritualFightingReligiousChristianityCasesStruggleWeekDrinkBattleConflictAnxietyAll ThingsDressesRoundsTake CareAbsenceApathyAgonyWarfareFormalContestsSymptomsSaddestGet MoneySpiritual WarfareGreat Spiritual Author:J. C. Ryle
“If there were a reason for preferring the Christian religion to natural religion, it would be because the former offers us, on the nature of God and man, enlightenment that the latter lacks. Now, this is not at all the case; for Christianity, instead of clarifying, gives rise to an infinite multitude of obscurities and difficulties.” IfsMenGivingReasonWould BeChristianNaturalChristianityCasesAtheismOffersEnlightenmentDifficultyInfinitePositive AtheismFormerLatterMultitudesObscurityClarifying Author:Denis Diderot
“If a man cannot serve two masters, neither can Christianity, or several thousand of them as the case may be.” IfsMenMayTwoChristianityCasesMastersThousandTwo Masters Author:E. A. Bucchianeri
“If one takes full account of the persecution of heretics, the frequency and savagery of the religious wars which Christianity had endangered, the harm caused, especially to children, by the pernicious doctrine of original sin, a case could be made for saying that the world would have been better off without Christianity.” IfsWorldChildrenHas BeensMadeWarEvilReligiousSinChristianityCasesAccountsOriginalsHarmDoctrinePersecutionBetter OffFrequencyHereticPerniciousOriginal SinSavageryReligious Wars Author:A.J. Ayer
“Many argue that Christianity is "different" from other religions - that it is primarily about love of one's fellow man. The Crusades, The Inquisition, Calvin's Geneva all prove that this is not the case. These events were pre-eminently about obedience to authority.” MenDifferentChristianityCasesAtheismEventsProveAuthorityFellowsPositive AtheismArguingObedienceFellow ManCrusadesInquisitionGenevaObedience To Authority Author:Andrew Bernstein
“The religion of both Old and New Testaments is marked by fervent outspoken testimonies against evil. To speak smooth things in such a case may be sentimentalism, but it is not Christianity. It is a betrayal of the cause of truth and righteousness.” MayEvilSpeakCausesChristianityCasesBetrayalRighteousnessSmoothTestamentTestimonyNew TestamentFerventOutspokenOld And New Author:Charles Spurgeon
“I think I could make the case for any kind of organized religion, but I'm not an expert in those, so let me narrow my focus to talk about Christianity.” ThinkingKindChristianityCasesFocusLet MeExpertsOrganizedOrganized Religion Author:John Shelby Spong
“Although Christianity has a poor record on animals (as it does, it must be said, on the treatment of slaves, women, children, and gays), it is also the case that Christian theology, when creatively and critically handled, can provide a strong basis for animal rights.” ChildrenDoeSaidChristianStrongAnimalPoorChristianityCasesRecordsRightsGayBasesSlaveTheologyTreatmentAnimal RightsChristian Theology Author:Andrew Linzey
“I offer early Christianity as a case-study to show that the phenomena that we group under "religion(s)" comprise a somewhat artificial category, and that "religions" are not "all the same."” ShowsChristianityCasesStudyGroupsOffersCategoriesArtificialCase Studies Author:Larry Hurtado
“Take, say, the solidarity movement in Central America, which I think is what you probably had in mind. To a large extent, it comes out of mainstream Christianity, based on beliefs that have had outrageous human consequences in the past, and that I think are totally indefensible. In this case, they happen to lead to some of the most courageous, heroic, and honourable human action that's taking place anywhere in the world. Well, that's how life is, I guess. It doesn't come in neat little packages.” ThinkingWorldMindHumansWellsLittlesHappensActionAmericaPastLife IsBeliefChristianityCasesMovementConsequenceCourageousHeroicMainstreamSolidarityPackagesOutrageousNeatHuman ActionsCentral America Author:Noam Chomsky
“It's clearly the case that there's not some moment in American history when every evangelical is holding hands with every Catholic who is holding hands with every mainline Methodist, or what have you. Obviously, American Christianity was deeply divided in all kinds of ways at mid-century too. But there was a kind of convergence going on. Even though Reinhold Niebuhr, the great mainline Protestant theologian, didn't think highly of Billy Graham, he and Graham still, clearly, had more in common, both theologically and in their attitudes toward religion in public life.” ThinkingWayKindStillsMomentsHandsCommonAttitudeChristianityCasesCenturyCatholicAll KindsDividedAmerican HistoryTheologianPublic LifeProtestantsEvangelicalHolding HandsMethodistsConvergence Author:Ross Douthat
“"Both Christianity and Islam are logocentric," he told his students, "meaning they are focused on the Word. In Christian tradition, the Word became flesh in the book of John: 'And the Word was made flesh, and He dwelt among us. 'Therefore, it was acceptable to depict the Word as having a human form. In Islamic tradition, however, the Word did not become flesh, and therefore the Word needs to remain in the form of a word … in most cases, calligraphic renderings of the names of the holy figures of Islam."” NeedsHumansMadeBookChristianFormNamesChristianityCasesFiguresStudentsHolyTraditionIslamFocusedFleshIslamicAcceptableRenderingHuman FormChristianity And Islam Author:Dan Brown
“I have not been able to find a single useful institution which has not been founded either by an intensely religious man or by the son of a praying father or a praying mother. I have made the statement before the chambers of commerce of all the largest cities of the country and have asked them to bring forward a case that is an exception to this rule. Thus far, I have not heard of a single one.” MenMadeCountryAbleChristianMotherReligionFatherReligiousCitiesChristianityCasesHeardSonPrayingFindingsInstitutionsEntrepreneurMotherhoodStatementsExceptionCommerceFoundersChamberSingleChamber Of Commerce Author:Roger Babson
“The relation of faith between subject and object is unique in every case. Hundreds may believe, but each has to believe by himself.” BelieveMayFaithChristianityCasesSubjectsObjectsUniqueRelation Author:W. H. Auden
“Ministers of the Gospel are excluded [from serving as Visitors of the county Elementary Schools] to avoid jealousy from the other sects, were the public education committed to the ministers of a particular one; and with more reason than in the case of their exclusion from the legislative and executive functions.” ReasonSchoolReligiousChristianityCasesParticularFunctionCommittedMinistersExecutivesServingCountyVisitorsSectsExclusionExcludedPublic EducationElementary School Author:Thomas Jefferson