“Monotheism at Sinai, primitive Christianity, messianic socialism: these are the three supreme moments in which Western culture is presented with what Ibsen termed "the claims of the ideal." These are the three stages, profoundly interrelated, through which Western consciousness is forced to experience the blackmail of transcendence.” MomentsCultureThreeConsciousnessChristianityStageIdealsClaimsWesternSupremeSocialismPrimitiveTranscendenceWestern CultureBlackmailMonotheismSinaiIbsen Author:George Steiner
“Monotheism is the primitive religion which centers human consciousness on Hive Authority. There is One God and His Name is _______ (substitute Hive-Label). If there is only One God then there is no choice, no option, no selection of reality. There is only Submission or Heresy. The word Islam means "submission". The basic posture of Christianity is kneeling. Thy will be done.” IfsHumansMeanDoneRealityChoicesNamesConsciousnessChristianityAuthorityIslamLabelsSubstitutesPrimitiveSelectionSubmissionHeresyPostureHuman ConsciousnessHivesMonotheismKneelingThy Will Be Done Author:Timothy Leary
“As I conceive this doctrine to be a gross misrepresentation of the character and moral government of God, and to affect many other articles in the scheme of Christianity, greatly disfiguring and depraving it; I shall show, ... that it has no countenance whatever in reason, or the Scriptures; and, therefore, that the whole doctrine of atonement, with every modification of it, has been a departure from the primitive and genuine doctrine of Christianity.” Has BeensReasonWholeCharacterShowsGovernmentMoralChristianityAtheismPositive AtheismScriptureGenuineDoctrineArticlesPrimitiveSchemesGrossAtonementDepartureCountenanceModificationMisrepresentation Author:Joseph Priestley
“[Religion is a] primitive insurance against disaster. ... Originally religion was merely a function of the self-preservative instinct. Offer sacrifices to the gods and save your crops. And even Christianity, after all, insures heavily against the flaws in this life by belief in another.” SelfBeliefChristianitySacrificeOffersFunctionInstinctDisasterThis LifeFlawsPrimitiveCrops Book:Told by an Idiot Source: Told by an Idiot
“Yet it would be unfair to the generality of our kind to ascribe to their intellectual and moral weakness the gradual divergence of Buddhism and Christianity from their primitive patterns. For it should not be forgotten that by their glorification of poverty and celibacy both these religions struck straight at the root not merely of civil society but of human existence. The blow was parried by the wisdom or the folly of the vast majority of mankind, who refused to purchase a chance of saving their souls with the certainty of extinguishing the species.” ShouldHumansKindSoulWould BeChanceExistenceMoralChristianityPovertyMankindBuddhismIntellectualWeaknessRootsMajoritySpeciesForgottenPatternsBlowSavingCertaintyFollyPrimitiveUnfairHuman ExistenceCivil SocietyCelibacyGeneralitiesGlorificationDivergenceBuddhism And Christianity Author:James G. Frazer
“Only a country that is based upon an extremely primitive religion, which is Christianity, I am a devoted enemy of monotheism in all of its forms, could have come with a categorizing of people as one thing or the other.” PeopleCountryFormChristianityEnemyOne ThingDevotedPrimitiveMonotheismCategorizing Author:Gore Vidal
“I said, well, it's a very primitive country, the United States, and it's full of superstitions, which come out of a very fundamental religious bias, which is primitive Christianity.” WellsSaidCountryStatesReligiousUnitedChristianityUnited StatesFundamentalsSuperstitionsPrimitiveBias Author:Gore Vidal
“Historically the customs and traditions of day-to-day life in Africa have been dismissed by Western cultural anthropologists as primitive, chaotic, pagan activities that should be replaced by Christianity, the only civilized religion. The West has also long assumed that it should convert tribal cultures to literacy, which is to say an entirely different way of looking at the world, of living in the world. Most Africans who have achieved a comfortable Western lifestyle are Christian. Why? Because it comes with the package: Christian-ity, literacy, and a material lifestyle all come together.” WorldLongDifferentChristianTogetherCultureChristianityTraditionWesternLifestyleCivilizedPrimitiveReplacedLiteracyPaganChaotic Author:Malidoma Patrice Some
“Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.” WorldFacesReligionChangeChurchEducationChristianityPrinciplesAffairIntroducingPrimitiveEncyclopediaChristian HeritagePublic AffairsGod And Country Author:Benjamin Franklin