Curtis Dahlgren
The sages of the ages regarding the relevance of religion (a future classic)
By Curtis Dahlgren
"Religion is the opium of the people [the masses]." – Karl Marx (Critique of Hegelian Philosophy, 1844)
"Religia opium dia naroda." – Bolshevik slogan (1919, attributed to Lenin)
"Marxism is the opiate of the stupid few." – C. Dahlgren (2017)
"Tyrants have no conscience, and reformers have no feeling; and the world suffers both by the plague and by the cure." – Horace Walpole (1790)
SOMEONE SAID that white man's greed rules a world in need, but usually the cure is worse than the problem. In an ideal world, the world would be ideal, but in the real world the real problem is: human nature unbridled rules. SO- let's take a look at the words of some of the past witnesses to the Existence of God:
"Religion is a disease, but it is a noble disease." – Heracletus (500 BC)
"As iron is eaten away by rust, so are the envious by their own passion." – Antisthenes (375 BC)
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." – James (44 AD)
"There is no age which religion does not become." – Erasmus (1524)
"I find no quality so easy to counterfeit as religious devotion." – Montaigne (1595)
"He that lives without religion sayles without a compasse." – Sir Thomas Overbury (1613)
"Justice and religion are the two chief props of a commonwealth . . as Sabellicus delivers, a man without religion is like a horse without a bridle." – Robert Burton (1621)
"Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant religion." – Sir Thomas Browne (1643)
"Envy never enriched any man." – John Ray (English Proverbs, 1678)
"We have just enough religion to make us Hate, but not enough religion to make us love one another." – Jonathan Swift (1714)
"An envious Man is a [big fat] fool." – Thomas Fuller (1732)
"Talking against Religion is unchaining a Tyger; the Beast let loose may worry his Deliverer . . Many have quarrel'd about Religion that never practiced it. . . True Religion, like the Sun's blest Beam, Darts thro' the conscious Mind a heav'nly Gleam." – Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanac, 1751-1753)
"It is a general error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for it." – Edmund Burke (on "Present State of the Nation," 1769)
"A man who has never had religion before, no more grows religion when he is sick, than a man who has never learnt figures can count, when he has need of calculation." – Samuel Johnson Boswell ("Life," 1783)
"Man is by his constitution a religious animal." – Edmund Burke (Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790)
"To do good is my religion." – Thomas Paine (1794)
"I must ever believe that religion substantially good which produces an honest life." – Thomas Jefferson (1814)
"Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; die for it; anything but live for it . . There are only two things in which the false professors of all religions have agreed: to persecute all other sects, and to plunder their own." – C.C. Colton (1820)
"Envy writhes; it don't laugh." – Byron (1821)
"Religion's in the heart, not in the knees . . . Monday religion is better than Sunday profession." – Douglas Jerrold (1857)
"Erasmus laid the egg of the Reformation and Luther hatched it." – R.C. Trench (1877)**
"Educate men without religion and you make them but clever devils." Duke of Wellington (1900s)
"Man without God is a beast, and never more beastly than when he is most intelligent about his beastliness." – Whittaker Chambers (mid-1900s)
"We have had our last chance . . The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence, and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science . . It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh." – General Douglas MacArthur (1960s, address to Congress)
P.S. As you know, religion has faced suppression and ridicule for thousands of years from pointy-headed "intellectuals." George Washington said, to paraphrase, the educated progressive class has always believed that an equitable and lasting society can be built upon nothing more than "learning," without religion. In other words, they believe that the world can be "redeemed" without a Redeemer, a ransom-payer. Washington warned them that they were wrong!
PPS: Better take that to heart. We are living in the time of "wars and rumors of wars," a time when wicked men become worse and worse, more Beastly, in the words of Chambers, who was much- hated by the "educated" (over-educated?) Left. Yes, there are some smart professors in the hard sciences, but there are a lot of stupid ones in the soft sciences (which are more "art" than science).
** BTW, the reference to Luther was for historical purposes, not to show a preference. I agree with Paine: "My religion is to do good." Could we please disable the "point-counter point" function for at least one week? There must be an app for that.
© Curtis Dahlgren
December 22, 2017
"Religion is the opium of the people [the masses]." – Karl Marx (Critique of Hegelian Philosophy, 1844)
"Religia opium dia naroda." – Bolshevik slogan (1919, attributed to Lenin)
"Marxism is the opiate of the stupid few." – C. Dahlgren (2017)
"Tyrants have no conscience, and reformers have no feeling; and the world suffers both by the plague and by the cure." – Horace Walpole (1790)
SOMEONE SAID that white man's greed rules a world in need, but usually the cure is worse than the problem. In an ideal world, the world would be ideal, but in the real world the real problem is: human nature unbridled rules. SO- let's take a look at the words of some of the past witnesses to the Existence of God:
"Religion is a disease, but it is a noble disease." – Heracletus (500 BC)
"As iron is eaten away by rust, so are the envious by their own passion." – Antisthenes (375 BC)
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." – James (44 AD)
"There is no age which religion does not become." – Erasmus (1524)
"I find no quality so easy to counterfeit as religious devotion." – Montaigne (1595)
"He that lives without religion sayles without a compasse." – Sir Thomas Overbury (1613)
"Justice and religion are the two chief props of a commonwealth . . as Sabellicus delivers, a man without religion is like a horse without a bridle." – Robert Burton (1621)
"Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant religion." – Sir Thomas Browne (1643)
"Envy never enriched any man." – John Ray (English Proverbs, 1678)
"We have just enough religion to make us Hate, but not enough religion to make us love one another." – Jonathan Swift (1714)
"An envious Man is a [big fat] fool." – Thomas Fuller (1732)
"Talking against Religion is unchaining a Tyger; the Beast let loose may worry his Deliverer . . Many have quarrel'd about Religion that never practiced it. . . True Religion, like the Sun's blest Beam, Darts thro' the conscious Mind a heav'nly Gleam." – Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanac, 1751-1753)
"It is a general error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for it." – Edmund Burke (on "Present State of the Nation," 1769)
"A man who has never had religion before, no more grows religion when he is sick, than a man who has never learnt figures can count, when he has need of calculation." – Samuel Johnson Boswell ("Life," 1783)
"Man is by his constitution a religious animal." – Edmund Burke (Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790)
"To do good is my religion." – Thomas Paine (1794)
"I must ever believe that religion substantially good which produces an honest life." – Thomas Jefferson (1814)
"Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; die for it; anything but live for it . . There are only two things in which the false professors of all religions have agreed: to persecute all other sects, and to plunder their own." – C.C. Colton (1820)
"Envy writhes; it don't laugh." – Byron (1821)
"Religion's in the heart, not in the knees . . . Monday religion is better than Sunday profession." – Douglas Jerrold (1857)
"Erasmus laid the egg of the Reformation and Luther hatched it." – R.C. Trench (1877)**
"Educate men without religion and you make them but clever devils." Duke of Wellington (1900s)
"Man without God is a beast, and never more beastly than when he is most intelligent about his beastliness." – Whittaker Chambers (mid-1900s)
"We have had our last chance . . The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence, and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science . . It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh." – General Douglas MacArthur (1960s, address to Congress)
P.S. As you know, religion has faced suppression and ridicule for thousands of years from pointy-headed "intellectuals." George Washington said, to paraphrase, the educated progressive class has always believed that an equitable and lasting society can be built upon nothing more than "learning," without religion. In other words, they believe that the world can be "redeemed" without a Redeemer, a ransom-payer. Washington warned them that they were wrong!
PPS: Better take that to heart. We are living in the time of "wars and rumors of wars," a time when wicked men become worse and worse, more Beastly, in the words of Chambers, who was much- hated by the "educated" (over-educated?) Left. Yes, there are some smart professors in the hard sciences, but there are a lot of stupid ones in the soft sciences (which are more "art" than science).
** BTW, the reference to Luther was for historical purposes, not to show a preference. I agree with Paine: "My religion is to do good." Could we please disable the "point-counter point" function for at least one week? There must be an app for that.
© Curtis Dahlgren
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
