Benjamin Franklin Quotes
Do you sincerely declare that you love mankind in general, of what profession or religion soever? Do you think any person ought to be harmed in his body, name, or goods, for mere speculative opinions, or his external way of worship? Do you love truth for truth's sake; and will you endeavor impartially to find and receive it yourself, and communicate it to others.
Franklin, Benjamin. "Standing Queries for the Junto." 1728. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 1: January 6, 1706, through December 31, 1734, edited by Leonard W. Labaree, Yale UP, 1959, p. 258.
Pen name: Jack Nipps
This is the first American ordinance of freedom of conscience. Note that it only provided freedom of religion for Christians. However, that was an important first step as different sects of Christianity had been persecuting each other whenever the opportunity arose.
It is an error to say that. It is an error to say that He was the last Pope to hold temporal power. Years later, the Vatican rejected this view and adopted the modern concept of freedom of conscience. See {612714}.
The Soviet state had varied views regarding religion in different times. In the early days of the Russian Revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church was a major supporter of the Csar and serfdom. That caused a certain hostility to the Russian Church. That Church meanwhile had previously been extremely hostile to Jews and Roman Catholics and never recognized Protestant Churches. So Russians as a group were already discriminating against all religion except the Russian Orthodox Church before the Communist Revolution took place. When the Russian Communists were well entrenched in power, they saw the Russian Church as an obstacle to modernization and were hostile to any group that had a loyalty to any force or deity that was not the Soviet State.
Despite this clear statement, later the Colonial legislature withdrew the franchise from Roman Catholics. See {624149}. Despite this temporary restriction of religious freedom, Rhode Island and Connecticut were far ahead of the other New England colonies in freedom of conscience.
Historically, when Christian Europe was torturing and butchering people over differences of religious opinion, Islam was for the time, in most places, a model of tolerance. Suhrawardy died before Islam degenerated into an intolerance that almost rivaled in brutality that of the Christians centuries ago. And while his statement about the invention and initiation of brutal intolerance is correct, he would be shocked at the behavior of 21st century Iran, Pakistan and some other Islamic nations who from a traditional Islamic perspective had degenerated.
Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSA FRSE was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A polymath, he was a leading writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania.
