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Clergy Quotes

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Clergy Quotes

“During a frustrating argument with a Roman Catholic cardinal, Napoleon Bonaparte supposedly burst out: “Your eminence, are you not aware that I have the power to destroy the Catholic Church?” The cardinal, the anecdote goes, responded ruefully: “Your majesty, we, the Catholic clergy, have done our best to destroy the church for the last 1,800 years. We have not succeeded, and neither will you.””

YearsDoneLastsChurchArgumentCatholicCatholicismFrustratingMajestyCatholic ChurchCardinalsClergyAnecdotesEminenceRoman CatholicBonaparte
Author:Ross Douthat
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“You mean am I for it or against it? You think this is a key question I'm going to be asked on Vega, and you want to make sure I give the right answer? Okay. Overpopulation is why I'm in favor of homosexuality and a celibate clergy. A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.”

ThinkingWantGivingMeanIdeasAnswersKeysOkayFavorsGood IdeasHomosexualityVegasFanaticismClergyPropensityRight AnswersHereditaryOverpopulation
Book:Contact
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“If all those magnificent cathedrals with their valuable lands in Boston, Philadelphia and New York were taxed as they should be, the taxes of women who hold property would be proportionately lightened....I cannot see any good reason why wealthy churches and a certain amount of property of the clergy should be exempt from taxation, while every poor widow in the land, struggling to feed, clothe, and educate a family of children, must be taxed on the narrow lot and humble home.”

IfsShouldChildrenReasonHomeWould BeCertainChurchPoorStruggleLandNew YorkAmountTaxesPropertyHumbleValuableReason WhyWealthyEducateMagnificentTaxationBostonWidowsPhiladelphiaCathedralsClergy
Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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“If all Church power vests in the clergy, then the people are practically bound to passive obedience in all matters of faith and practice; for all right of private judgment is then denied.”

PeopleIfsMatterChurchPracticeJudgmentBoundsObedienceDeniedPassiveClergyVests
Book:What is Presbyterianism?: An Address Delivered Before the Presbyterian Historical Society at Their Anniversary Meeting in Philadelphia, on Tuesday Evening, May 1, 1855
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“I never liked the Hierarchy of the Church-an equality in the teacher of Religion, and a dependence on the people, are republican sentiments-but if the Clergy combine, they will have their influence on Government”

PeopleIfsGovernmentChurchTeacherInfluenceRepublicanSentimentsDependenceHierarchyChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateFounding Fathers ChristianClergyFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers Anti ReligionChristian Father
Book:The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King: 1755-1794
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“Laypeople are a kind of nuclear energy in the Church on a spiritual level. A layperson caught up with the gospel and living next to other people can "contaminate" two others, and these two, four others, etc. Since lay Christians number not only tens of thousands like the clergy but hundreds of millions, they can truly play a decisive role in spreading the beneficial light of the gospel in the world.”

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Author:Raniero Cantalamessa
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“Rediscovering the controversies that occupied early Christianity sharpens our awareness of the major issue in the whole debate, then and now: What is the source of religious authority? For the Christian the question takes more specific form: What is the relation between the authority of ones own experience and that claimed for the scriptures, the ritual and the clergy?”

WholeChristianFormReligiousChristianityIssuesAwarenessSourceAuthorityMajorsRelationDebateScriptureRitualControversyClergy
Book:The Gnostic Gospels
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“The church is only the church when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others.”

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Book:Bonhoeffer for a New Generation
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“The system of fathers of the world church, the clergy system of the state church, and the pastoral system of the independent churches are all the same in nature. They are all Nicolaitans. In the Bible there are only brothers. There is the gift of a pastor, but no system of pastors. The pastoral system is man's tradition. If the children of God are not willing to return to the position of that in the beginning, no matter what they do, it will not be right.”

IfsMenWorldChildrenMatterStatesPastFatherChurchPositionWillingBrotherReturnTraditionIndependentNo Matter WhatPastorChild Of GodClergy
Book:The Orthodoxy of the Church
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“I have sworn upon the altar of God Eternal, hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

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Author:Thomas Jefferson
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“How deep a wound to morals and social purity has that accursed article of the celibacy of the clergy been! Even the best and most enlightened men in Romanist countries attach a notion of impurity to the marriage of a clergyman. And can such a feeling be without its effect on the estimation of the wedded life in general? Impossible! and the morals of both sexes in Spain, Italy, France, and. prove it abundantly.”

MenCountryFeelingsSocialSexMoralImpossibleEffectsProveNotionWoundsFrancePurityEnlightenedArticlesSpainProve ItClergyCelibacyClergymenEstimationImpurity
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Illustrated)
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“They all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point.”

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Book:Democracy in America
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“One of the primary questions in a state-church arrangement is, 'which controls which?' . . . In Norway, for example, the liberal labor government has regularly angered Church officials by making controversial ministerial appointments against the wishes of the clergy. . . . These and other actions have strained the church-state relationship almost to the breaking point. As a result, some of the bishops have advocated disestablishment.”

StatesGovernmentActionWishChurchResultsExampleLaborPrimariesOfficialsArrangementsControversialBishopsAppointmentsClergyNorwayPoint Break
Author:Dan Barker
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“There is one tradition in America I am proud to inherit. It is our first freedom and the truest expression of our Americanism: the ability to dissent without fear. It is our right to utter the words, 'I disagree.' We must feel at liberty to speak those words to our neighbors, our clergy, our educators, our news media, our lawmakers and, above all, to the one among us we elect - President.”

FeelsFirstsAmericaSpeakPresidentAbilityLibertyMediaExpressionProudNewsTraditionNeighborDisagreeDissentTruestEducatorClergyNews MediaAmericanismLawmakers
Author:Natalie Merchant
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