It probably will not be long until the churches will divide as sharply upon
political, as upon theological questions; and when that day comes, if there are
not liberals enough to hold the balance of power, this Government will be
destroyed. The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church. Wherever
the Bible and sword are in partnership, man is a slave. All laws for the
purpose of making man worship God, are born of the same spirit that kindled the
fires of the auto da fe, and lovingly built the dungeons of the Inquisition.
All laws defining and punishing blasphemy — making it a crime to give your
honest ideas about the Bible, or to laugh at the ignorance of the ancient Jews,
or to enjoy yourself on the Sabbath, or to give your opinion of Jehovah, were
passed by impudent bigots, and should be at once repealed by honest men. An
infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership
with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become
necessary to keep him from being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting
Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment. It strikes
me that God might write a book that would not necessarily excite the laughter
of his children. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that a real God could
produce a work that would excite the admiration of mankind. Surely politicians
could be better employed than in passing laws to protect the literary
reputation of the Jewish God. --- Robert Ingersoll (1879) (You can substitute
other related concepts for Bible, God, and can substitute Christian, or Hindu,
or Quaker, Islamist, etc., for Jewish. [This quotation is from a work that
focuses on Moses])
