“It seems to me quite disastrous that the idea should have got about that Christianity is an other-worldly, unreal, idealistic kind of religion that suggests that if we are good we shall be happy. On the contrary, it is fiercely and even harshly realistic, insisting that there are certain eternal achievements that make even happiness look like trash.” IfsShouldLooksKindIdeasSeemsCertainChristianityAchievementEternalShould HaveContraryRealisticWorldlyTrashUnrealInsistingIdealistic Author:Dorothy L. Sayers
“There are three means of believing--by inspiration, by reason, and by custom. Christianity, which is the only rational institution, does yet admit none for its sons who do not believe by inspiration. Nor does it injure reason or custom, or debar them of their proper force; on the contrary, it directs us to open our minds by the proofs of the former, and to confirm our minds by the authority of the latter.” MindBelieveMeanDoeReasonInspirationFaithThreeForceChristianitySonAuthorityInstitutionsProofContraryRationalFormerLatterCustoms Author:Blaise Pascal
“Why did the consensus of Christian churches not only accept these astonishing views but establish them as the only true form of Christian doctrine? . . . these religious debates - questions of the nature of God, or of Christ - simultaneously bear social and political implications that are crucial to the development of Christianity as an institutional religion. In simplest terms, ideas which bear implications contrary to that development come to be labeled as 'heresy'; ideas which implicitly support it become 'orthodox.'” IdeasChristianFormPoliticalReligionSocialTermChristChurchReligiousViewsAcceptingChristianitySupportDevelopmentBearsContraryDebateDoctrineOrthodoxCrucialSimplestConsensusAstonishingImplicationsHeresyChristian ChurchChristian Doctrine Author:Elaine Pagels
“You think Christianity is favorable to women? On the contrary. It is the Christian countries that have produced the prostitute and the most vile estimations of women in the world.” ThinkingWorldCountryChristianChristianityContraryEstimation Book:Pilgrimage Source: Pilgrimage
“Despite its protests to the contrary, modern Christianity has become willy-nilly the religion of the state and the economic status quo. Because it has been so exclusively dedicated to incanting anemic souls into Heaven, it has been made the tool of much earthly villainy. It has, for the most part, stood silently by while a predatory economy has ravaged the world, destroyed its natural beauty and health, divided and plundered its human communities and households.” WorldHumansHas BeensMadeSoulStatesHeavenCommunityNaturalChristianityEconomyEconomicModernToolsEnvironmentalContraryDespiteDestroyedProtestDividedDedicatedSustainabilityHouseholdStatus QuoPredatoryVillainyEconomic Status Book:The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry Source: The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry
“Surprisingly one of the forces for secularisation was Christianity itself. As soon as it accepted the idea of a contrary opinion, the moment that European opinion decided for toleration, it decided for eventual free marketing opinion.” IdeasMomentsForceChristianityOpinionDecidedMarketingContraryAcceptedFree MarketToleration Author:Ibn Warraq
“Christianity, righty understood, is utterly unlike religion that man invents. It is so completely contrary to the way man does things that it must have come from God. Take Christmas, for example; only God could have thought of that. When man invents a super being, he comes up with a Superman, or a Captain Marvel. God gives the world a baby.” MenWorldWayGivingDoeChristianityExampleBabyUnderstoodCome UpContraryCaptains Author:Richard Halverson
“Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror." "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." "Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense." "If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities.” IfsMenWorldBelieveReasonChristianCommonChristianityHorrorContraryRidiculousCommitCommon SenseAbsurdSensibleBloodyHonorableAbsurdityAtrocitiesSectsClergyHonorable Man Author:Voltaire