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c4675be
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Altho' I rarely waste time in reading on theological subjects, as mangled by our Pseudo-Christians, yet I can readily suppose Basanistos may be amusing. Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. If it could be understood it would not answer their purpose. Their security is in their faculty of shedding darkness, like the scuttlefish, thro' the element in which they move, and making it impenetrable to the eye of a pursuing enemy, and there they will skulk. [ ]
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christians
priests
ridicule
superstition
the-trinity
trinity
weapon
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Thomas Jefferson |
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2e2dc83
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I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved - the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced! With the rational respect that is due to it, knavish priests have added prostitutions of it, that fill or might fill the blackest and bloodiest pages of human history. { ]
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bloody
cross
grief
jefferson
priests
religious-violence
thomas-jefferson
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John Adams |
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05e2e68
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"When the late Pope John Paul II decided to place the woman so strangely known as on the fast track for beatification, and thus to qualify her for eventual sainthood, the Vatican felt obliged to solicit my testimony and I thus spent several hours in a closed hearing room with a priest, a deacon, and a monsignor, no doubt making their day as I told off, as from a rosary, the frightful faults and crimes of the departed fanatic. In the course of this, I discovered that the pope during his tenure had surreptitiously abolished the famous office of "Devil's Advocate," in order to fast-track still more of his many candidates for canonization. I can thus claim to be the only living person to have represented the Devil ."
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beatification
canonisation
deacons
devil
devil-s-advocate
fanatacism
monsignors
mother-teresa
pope
pope-john-paul-ii
priests
pro-bono
religion
sainthood
satan
testimony
vatican
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Christopher Hitchens |
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5bccfb5
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There exists indeed an opposition to it [ ] by the friends of William and Mary, which is not strong. The most restive is that of the . In this the Presbyterian clergy take the lead. The tocsin is sounded in all their pulpits, and the first alarm denounced is against the particular creed of Doctr. Cooper; and as impudently denounced as if they really knew what it is. [ ]
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creed
dread
duperies
fatal-harbinger
opposition
presbyterian
priests
pulpit
religious-sects
science
science-vs-religion
university-of-virginia
william-and-mary
witches
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Thomas Jefferson |
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6f8bebd
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[L]e philosophe n'a jamais tue de pretres et le pretre a tue beaucoup de philosophes... (The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.)
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priests
religious-violence
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Denis Diderot |
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e6d3d72
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...Turn our thoughts, in the next place, to the characters of learned men. The priesthood have, in all ancient nations, nearly monopolized learning. Read over again all the accounts we have of Hindoos, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Celts, Teutons, we shall find that priests had all the knowledge, and really governed all mankind. Examine Mahometanism, trace Christianity from its first promulgation; knowledge has been almost exclusively confined to the clergy. And, even since the Reformation, when or where has existed a Protestant or dissenting sect who would tolerate a free inquiry? The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooish brutality is patiently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will soon find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your legs and hands, and fly into your face and eyes. [ ]
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chaldeans
clergy
greeks
hindu
hinduism
islam
knowledge
monopoly
muslim
persians
priesthood
priests
protestant
reformation
romans
science-vs-religion
sect
teutons
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John Adams |
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57ef3fc
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First the priests arrive. Then the conquistadores.
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priests
religion
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James Clavell |
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d4b743b
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I didn't want to spent a lot of close time with someone who believed that fun is a bourgeois indulgence.
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fun
priests
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Howard Zinn |
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855f2dc
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Perfect, that's our plan then. But you'll have to give up being a priest first. I wouldn't want to just sit around whispering and sipping hot chocolate.
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priests
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Ted Dekker |
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2f53778
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That God is in truth the sort of bloodthirsty paranoid Who would rend to bits forty-two children for the crime of sassing one of his priests. Don't ask me about the Front Office's policies; I just work here.
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god
priests
religion
stranger-in-a-strange-land
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Robert A. Heinlein |
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6f49b65
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"Roman blinked again and smacked Aspid's nose with his hand. "What did I say about kisses? No kisses unless invited." Aspid's tongue contracted. He pulled Roman into his mouth. I sprinted. "Yes, I love you, too," Roman said from inside the forest of teeth. "I need to go now. Come on." The dragon opened his mouth and put Roman back into the mud."
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dragons
priests
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Ilona Andrews |
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b8e6c9f
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But my mother wanted her children to be educated by nuns and priests all dressed in black, the way it had been done down through the generations with her people. Taught by people who had a firm grasp of how big and awful the world could be.
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life
nuns
parochial-schools
priests
religion
religious-education
schools
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Edward P. Jones |