RELIGION makes enemies instead of friends. That one word, "religion,"
covers all the horizon of memory with visions of war, of outrage, of
persecution, of tyranny, and death. That one word brings to the mind
every instrument with which man has tortured man. In that one word are
all the fagots and flames and dungeons of the past, and in that word is
the infinite and eternal hell of the future.
In the name of universal benevolence Christians have hated their
fellow-men. Although they have been preaching universal love, the
Christian nations are the warlike nations of the world. The most
destructive weapons of war have been invented by Christians. The
musket, the revolver, the rifled canon, the bombshell, the torpedo, the
explosive bullet, have been invented by Christian brains.
Above all other arts, the Christian world has placed the art of war.
A Christian nation has never had the slightest respect for the rights of
barbarians; neither has any Christian sect any respect for the rights
of other sects. Anciently, the sects discussed with fire and sword, and
even now, something happens almost every day to show that the old spirit
that was in the Inquisition still slumbers in the Christian breast.
Whoever imagines himself a favorite with God, holds other people in
contempt.
Whenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from God, there is
in that man no spirit of compromise. He has not the modesty born of
the imperfections of human nature; he has the arrogance of theological
certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance. Believing himself
to be the slave of God, he imitates his master, and of all tyrants, the
worst is a slave in power.
When a man really believes that it is necessary to do a certain thing
to be happy forever, or that a certain belief is necessary to ensure
eternal joy, there is in that man no spirit of concession. He divides
the whole world into saints and sinners, into believers and unbelievers,
into God's sheep and Devil's goats, into people who will be glorified
and people who will be damned.
A Christian nation can make no compromise with one not Christian; it
will either compel that nation to accept its doctrine, or it will wage
war. If Christ, in fact, said "I came not to bring peace but a sword,"
it is the only prophecy in the New Testament that has been literally
fulfilled.