Tolerance and Intolerance

We need to live a moral and virtuous life and remember the terrible torments that were used to suppress people. Ruthless extermination of people of all sexes and ages has been because of their misfortune not to understand or believe in the creed of some religion. The thumb screws, the racks, the whip, the gallows, and the stake were used against those who did not submit to the authority of the Church.

We should remember those who have been martyred for the truth. Those who were tortured and murdered for standing up truth and challenging the authority of the Christian Emperors and Papists. We should all remember those of all ages who have suffered from hunger, nakedness, prison, the rack, the stake, and the sword in the name of religion.

Oppression is still practised in the name of religion. There are countries with laws forbidding freedom of speech on matters relating to religion. The harsh mutilations have been in the name of God, including the barbarities of imperial torturers, the torments of the inquisition, where Roman Catholics heaped atrocious cruelties towards those considered heathen. History should be a warning of the unspeakable evils in the matter of religion, investing the God of Love with the cruel and vindictive passions of erring humanity. We should remember the multitude who were tried, tortured, and burned according to the authority of the Church.

No one has the right to usurp God and condemn and punish others for their beliefs. The religion in which we are raised is often an accident of birth. If we are born in a Protestant land or family then it is likely that we are of that faith. If we had first opened our eyes in Rome, we might be devout Catholics. If born in Israel, we might call Christ an imposter. When born in Istanbul, we would cry out, "Allah is great, and Mahomet is his prophet!"