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Clergy Quotes

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Clergy Quotes

“It has not been without bitter resistance by the clergy that woman's property and educational rights have advanced. Woman's anti-slavery work, her temperance work, her demand for personal rights, for political equality, for religious freedom and every step of kindred character has met with opposition from the church as a body and from the clergy as exponents of its views.”

CharacterBodyPoliticalReligionChurchReligiousViewsStepsRightsMetsDemandSlaveryPropertyEducationalResistanceBitterOppositionWomens RightsEvery StepReligious FreedomTemperanceClergyKindredExponentsAnti SlaveryPolitical EqualityPersonal Rights
Author:Matilda Joslyn Gage
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“I have sworn upon the altar of god.”

GovernmentAmericaReligionReligiousLibertyChristianityLibertarianTyrannyAmerican HistorySkepticismHostilityAltarsChurch And StateFreedom And LibertySeparation Of Church And StateFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersProperty RightsLimited GovernmentFounding Fathers ChristianUs Founding FathersClergyForefathersFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateIndividual LibertyFounding Fathers ReligiousAmerican GovernmentReligion GodFree GovernmentLimiting GovernmentRights And FreedomsFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistDeismLimited FreedomChristianity From Founding FathersGreat PatrioticReligion ChristianFaith ReligionPrice Of FreedomRevolution Founding FathersLimiting FreedomGovernment And SocietyChristian GodDeistThinking GodPatriotic GunLiberty Tree
Author:Thomas Jefferson
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“the most grievous wrong of that day ... was to be found in the establishment of the celibacy of the clergy. ... This hideous doctrine of a celibate priesthood was maintained only by a constant struggle against the better and truer instincts of the heart.”

HeartReligionFoundStruggleConstantInstinctSexualityDoctrineEstablishmentHideousPriesthoodClergyCelibacyConstant Struggle
Book:Woman's Place To-day: Four Lectures, in Reply to the Lenten Lectures on
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“[On women as priests:] It has always seemed very odd to me that this particular sphere of activity should remain a male closed shop, seeing that, to judge from church attendance, women are the more religious sex - while our criminal statistics make quite clear that they are the least wicked.”

ShouldSexChurchReligiousClearSeeingParticularJudgingActivityMalesCriminalsOddWickedShopsPriestsStatisticsSpheresClergyAttendanceChurch Attendance
Author:Mary Stocks, Baroness Stocks
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“I have a work presently in the Press named 'Six Months in Hell' which you may one day read. I consider it will be worth perusing, bruising badly the morals of Britain and America, while Royalty, clergy, critics, society and bloodhounds of law must all incur its censure.”

MayAmericaLawMoralHellMonthsOne DaySixPressesCriticsBritainSix MonthsRoyaltyClergyCensureBloodhoundsBritain And America
Book:Thine in storm and calm: an Amanda McKittrick Ros reader
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“The grateful applause of the clergy has consecrated the memory of a prince, who indulged their passions and promoted their interest. Constantine gave them security, wealth, honours, and revenge; and the support of the orthodox faith was considered as the most sacred and important duty of the civil magistrate. The edict of Milan, the great charter of toleration, had confirmed to each individual of the Roman world the privilege of choosing and professing his own religion.”

WorldImportantPassionIndividualInterestMemoriesWealthHistorySupportSecurityDutyGratefulSacredPrivilegeRevengeOrthodoxHonourApplauseRoman EmpireClergyCharterTolerationMagistratesMilanConstantine
Book:History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Yet the people, and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often surrounded, and so often dismissed the implacable enemy of the republic. The first moment of the public safety is devoted to gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy and calumny.”

PeopleFirstsWarMomentsJoyEnemyHistoryPolicyGratitudeJudgmentSafetyEnvyRationalRepublicDevotedIncapableRoman EmpireClergyCalumnyPublic Safety
Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition
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“The pastoral labours of the archbishop of Constantinople provoked and gradually united against him two sorts of enemies; the aspiring clergy, who envied his success, and the obstinate sinners, who were offended by his reproofs. When Chrysostom thundered from the pulpit of St. Sophia against the degeneracy of the Christians, his shafts were spent among the crowd, without wounding or even marking the character of any individual.”

TwoCharacterChristianPastIndividualUnitedEnemyHistoryCrowdsLabourSinnerOffendedRoman EmpireClergyPulpitEnviedObstinateProvokedSophiaReproofConstantinople
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state'... is absolutely essential in a free society.”

StatesReligionChurchReligiousWallEssentialsSeparationChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateFree SocietyReligious FreedomFounding Fathers ChristianClergySeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers AtheistReligion ChristianChristian FatherReligion In SocietyUnresponsiveChristian FreedomHate Religion
Author:Thomas Jefferson
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“[If] the nature of ... government [were] a subordination of the civil to the ecclesiastical power, I [would] consider it as desperate for long years to come. Their steady habits [will] exclude the advances of information, and they [will] seem exactly where they [have always been]. And there [the] clergy will always keep them if they can. [They] will follow the bark of liberty only by the help of a tow-rope.”

IfsYearsLongHelpingSeemsGovernmentLibertyAtheismInformationHabitPositive AtheismDesperateSteadyRopeBarkClergySubordinationTow
Author:Thomas Jefferson
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“Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not.”

NeedsMayGovernmentFoundLibertyAtheismPositive AtheismSecureRulersSecularFoundingConvenientChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateOur Founding FathersFounding Fathers ChristianUs Founding FathersClergyFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers ReligiousReligion GodReligious LibertyFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaFederalist PapersAmerican Founding FathersChristianity From Founding FathersChristian FatherReligion And GovernmentChristianity And Government
Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
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“... your spiritual teachers caution you against enquiry--tell you not to read certain books; not to listen to certain people; to beware of profane learning; to submit your reason, and to receive their doctrines for truths. Such advice renders them suspicious counsellors.”

PeopleBookReasonSpiritualCertainReligionTeacherAdviceDoctrineCensorshipSubmitCautionSuspiciousYou AgainClergyProfaneEnquirySpiritual TeachersCounsellors
Book:Course of popular lectures; with 3 addresses on various public occasions, and a reply to the charges against the French reformers of 1789
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“The great object was to get rid of Christianity, and to convert our churches into halls of science. The plan was not to make open attacks on religion, although we might the clergy and bring them into contempt where we could: but to establish a system of state - we said national - schools, from which all religion was to be excluded.”

SaidStatesMightSchoolChristianChurchReligiousChristianityPlansObjectsHallsContemptExcludedClergy
Book:An Address on Intemperance: Delivered in Walpole, N.H. February 26, 1833
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“The first reform must be the attitude. The ministers of the Gospel must be people who can warm the hearts of the people, who walk through the dark night with them, who know how to dialogue and to descend themselves into their people's night, into the darkness, but without getting lost. The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials.”

PeopleKnowsWantFirstsHeartGovernmentNightReligionLostCommunityLeadershipChurchDarkWalksActingAttitudeDarknessKnow HowHuman NatureWarmSeparationDialogueIdeologyReformMinistersOfficialsPastorChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateBureaucratsClergyDark NightGetting LostGovernment Officials
Author:Pope Francis
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“I am not afraid of the priests in the long-run. Scientific method is the white ant which will slowly but surely destroy their fortifications. And the importance of scientific method in modern practical life--always growing and increasing--is the guarantee for the gradual emancipation of the ignorant upper and lower classes, the former of whom especially are the strength of the priests.”

LongRunningWhiteClassGrowingModernImportanceMethodPracticalsIgnorantFormerGuaranteesPriestsNot AfraidLong RunsAntsEmancipationScientific MethodClergyLower ClassSlowly But SurelyPractical LifeFortification
Book:Aphorisms and reflections
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“Only men of moral and mental force, of a patriotic regard for the relationship of the two races, can be of real service as ministers in the South. Less theology and more of human brotherhood, less declamation and more common sense and love for truth, must be the qualifications of the new ministry that shall yet save the race from the evils of false teaching.”

MenHumansTwoRealEvilForceCommonRaceMoralTeachingAnd LoveRelationRegardSouthTheologyCommon SenseMinistersPatrioticBrotherhoodMinistryRace RelationsQualificationsClergyDeclamation
Author:Fannie Barrier Williams
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“Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies. When they fail to come off its clergy simply say that they will be realized later on. Thus, if we have another boom, they will argue that the collapse of capitalism is only postponed. The fact that the greatest booms ever heard of followed Marx's formal prophecy of the downfall of capitalism is already forgotten, just as millions have long since forgotten the early Christian prophecy that the end of the world was at hand. The first Christians accepted postponements as docilely as the Communists of today.”

IfsWorldFirstsLongMadeEndsFactsHandsTodayChristianChristianityMillionsFailingHeardCapitalismForgottenArguingAcceptedCommunismCommunistCollapseFormalProphecyEnd Of The WorldDownfallClergyPostponement
Book:Minority Report
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“All live by seeming. The beggar begs with it, and the gay courtier Gains land and title, rank and rule, by seeming; The clergy scorn it not, and the bold soldier Will eke with it his service.--All admit it, All practise it; and he who is content With showing what he is, shall have small credit In church, or camp, or state.--So wags the world.”

WorldStatesChurchLandGayGainsSoldierCreditTitlesHypocrisyLive ByCampsScornBeggarSeemingClergyPractiseWagsCourtiers
Book:The Waverley novels. 25 vols.
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“I do deeply deplore, of the sake of the cause, the prevalent notion, that the clergy must be had, either by persuasion or by bribery. They will not need persuasion or bribery, if their hearts are with us; if they are not, we are better without them. It is idle to suppose that the kingdom of heaven cannot come on earth, without their cooperation.”

IfsNeedsHeartEarthHeavenCausesFeminismNotionSakeKingdomsCooperationIdlePersuasionKingdom Of HeavenClergyBribery
Author:Sarah Moore Grimke
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“I come to the categorical conclusion that precisely at this moment we must give battle to the Black Hundred clergy in the most decisive and merciless manner and crush its resistance with such brutality that it will not forget it for decades to come. The greater the number of representatives of the reactionary clergy and reactionary bourgeoisie we succeed in executing for this reason, the better.”

GivingReasonMomentsBlackForgetNumbersGreaterBattleSucceedHundredDecadesResistanceConclusionCrushRepresentativesForget ItBrutalityReactionariesClergyBourgeoisieExecuting
Author:Vladimir Lenin
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“Who is telling us about the false self today? Who is even equipped tell us? Many clergy have not figured this out for themselves, since even ministry can be a career decision or an attraction to "religion" more than the result of an encounter with God or themselves. Formal religious status can maintain the false self rather effectively, especially if there are a lot of social payoffs like special respect, titles, salaries, a good self image, or nice costumes. It is no accident that the religious "Pharisees" became the symbolic bad guys in the Jesus story.”

IfsSelfStoriesTodayGuyJesusSocialReligiousDecisionResultsCareersNiceSpecialAccidentsAttractionTitlesEncountersMinistryFormalCostumesBad GuysSalarySymbolicClergyPayoffPharisees
Book:Immortal Diamond: The search for our true self
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