Lynn Coady Quotes
A dominant misconception among believers is that their atheist brethren are a slavering pack of hell-bound debauchees, gleefully wining and wenching their way through life while loudly professing their amorality.
Coady, Lynn. "Atheism is a Moral Position." The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail Inc., 24 Oct. 2009.
This is a very important historical quotation in that it shows the extensive degree of anti-Catholic prejudice that existed in America in the late 1930s. Most of the anti-Catholic feeling was based in the absurd but real belief of millions of Protestants that the Pope was trying to control America. Then there was the fear and that American Catholics would take political direction from the Vatican and the Catholic bishops. The perception of the Church was hundreds of years out of date. Most of the anti-Catholic bias reduced along with anti-Semitism in the remainder of the 20th century as Americans became much more religiously tolerant. By the 21st century, religious prejudice still existed but it was limited to a small group of Americans whose views were generally condemned by the American mainstream of thought and opinion.
Just days before September 11. While in America, such a remark would just be considered an insensitive and inappropriate utterance, in France, he was brought before the courts and threatened with jail and a large monetary fine under a 1972 French law which bans hate speech. See {595311}
The images of the hostages in the Russian School:
Spinoza was one of the most feared intellectuals in human history—feared that is by the established power structures. He is the only known person who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims—all were forbidden to read his works. He was the enemy of authority and advocated personal reason as the guide for men.
Note that Madison’s criticism of Christianity is not theological, but humanistic and political. See {620779} for his view on religion in general.
The classic dilemma is that religious moderates and scientists do not argue to force everyone to follow the dictates of science, but in almost all societies and nations, religious fundamentalists strive to force their beliefs on all and make disagreement illegal.
He was too ill to read the speech himself and it was read by James Wilson for him.
Lynn Coady is a Canadian novelist and journalist.
