“Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool.” – Mark Twain
Archive for the ‘Mark Twain’ Category
Mark Twain On Religion
Posted: December 1, 2012 in Mark Twain, Mark Twain On Religion, ReligionTags: 19th Century, Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, American, Arts, con man, God, literature, Mark Twain, Science, theology, United States, videogames, World Literature
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THE CHRISTIAN’S BIBLE IS A DRUG STORE | Mark Twain
Posted: December 1, 2012 in Bible, Mark TwainTags: Bible, Christendom, Christian, Christianity, foul blood, God, hell fire, Human Rights, Mark Twain, New International Version, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, theology, thumb screws
THE CHRISTIAN’S BIBLE IS A DRUG STORE
Mark Twain
The Christian’s Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same; but the medical practice changes…The world has corrected the Bible. The church never corrects it; and also never fails to drop in at the tail of the procession- and take the credit of the correction. During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. the Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church, after eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumb-screws, and firebrands, and set about its holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood.
Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry…..There are no witches. The witch text remains; only the practice has changed. Hell fire is gone, but the text remains. Infant damnation is gone, but the text remains. More than two hundred death penalties are gone from the law books, but the texts that authorized them remain.
- “Bible Teaching and Religious Practice,” Europe and Elsewhere
