“Though he avoided outright endorsement of the view, fifth-century Church Father Saint Augustine was clearly familiar with the theory of the spherical earth: "They [those who believe that "there are men on the other side of the earth"] fail to observe that even if the world is held to be global or rounded in shape, or if some process of reasoning should prove this to be the case, it would still not necessarily follow that the land on the opposite side is not covered by masses of water."” IfsMenWorldShouldBelieveStillsEarthFatherProcessSidesWaterChurchViewsCasesFailingLandCenturyTheoryShapesProveMassOppositesSaintFamiliarReasoningCoveredFifthAvoidedEndorsementsAugustineChurch Fathers Author:Saint Augustine
“The Christian churches and Christianity have nothing in common save in name: they are utterly hostile opposites. The churches are arrogance, violence, usurpation, rigidity, death; Christianity is humility, penitence, submissiveness, progress, life.” ChristianNamesChurchCommonChristianityProgressViolenceHumilityOppositesChristian LifeArroganceHostileRigidityChristian ChurchUsurpationPenitence Author:Leo Tolstoy
“The clergy profession is fundamentally self-defeating. Its stated purpose is to nurture spiritual maturity in the church - a valuable goal. In actuality, however; it accomplishes the opposite by nurturing a permanent dependence of the laity on the clergy. Clergy become to their congregations like parents whose children never grow up, like therapists whose clients never become healed, like teachers whose students never graduate.” ChildrenSelfSpiritualPurposeGrowsParentGoalChurchGrowing UpTeacherStudentsOppositesValuableAccomplishProfessionPermanentMaturityGraduatesClientsNurtureDependenceHealedNurturingTherapistsCongregationClergyActualitySpiritual Maturity Author:Christian Smith
“For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate. But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power....When the revolutionary theory of government began to prevail, and Church and State found that they were educating for opposite ends and in a contradictory spirit, it became necessary to remove children entirely from the influence of religion.” ChildrenEndsStatesGovernmentSpiritFoundChurchInfluenceModernCenturyTheoryOppositesFunctionClaimsRevolutionaryRemoveEducateSovereignBehalfContradictoryChurch And StateAbsolutism Author:Lord Acton
“A State, in idea, is the opposite of a Church. A State regards classes, and not individuals; and it estimates classes, not by internal merit, but external accidents, as property, birth, etc. But a church does the reverse of this, and disregards all external accidents, and looks at men as individual persons, allowing no gradations of ranks, but such as greater or less wisdom, learning, and holiness ought to confer. A Church is, therefore, in idea, the only pure democracy.” MenLooksPersonsDoeIdeasStatesGovernmentIndividualChurchClassDemocracyGreaterOughtBirthPureOppositesRegardPropertyAccidentsMeritHolinessEtcInternalsAllowingReverseLook At MeDisregard Book:Golden Hours with Samuel Taylor Coleridge Source: Golden Hours with Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Bowing down in blind credulity, as is my custom, before mere authority and the tradition of the elders, superstitiously swallowing a story I could not test at the time by experiment or private judgment, I am firmly of the opinion that I was born on the 29th of May, 1874, on Campden Hill, Kensington; and baptised according to the formularies of the Church of England in the little church of St. George opposite the large Waterworks Tower that dominated that ridge.” MayLittlesBookStoriesBornChurchOpinionAuthorityJudgmentTraditionTestsOppositesEnglandBlindMereExperimentsHillsCustomsTowersEldersCredulitySwallowingRidgesChurch Of EnglandBowing Down Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
“It is time that the Protestant Church, the Church of the Son, should be one again with the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of the Father. It is time that man shall cease, first to live in the flesh, with joy, and then, unsatisfied, to renounce and to mortify the flesh.” MenShouldFirstsJoyFatherChurchChristianitySonOppositesCatholicFleshCeaseCatholic ChurchProtestantsRenounceUnsatisfiedProtestantismRoman CatholicRoman Catholic Church Book:Delphi Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated) Source: Delphi Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated)
“There're lots of musicians in my family, too. My mother sings incredibly well. I've got to make a record with my mother's voice on it. She sings a lyric soprano. We do the opposite. I'm a baritone. She's a star singer in her church. She always does her solo.” WellsDoeMotherStarsVoiceChurchRecordsMusicianMy FamilyOppositesSingersSoloSopranosBaritones Author:Grace Jones