Emma Goldman Quotes
Everywhere and always, since its very inception, Christianity has turned the earth into a vale of tears; always it has made of life a weak, diseased thing, always it has instilled fear in man, turning him into a dual being, whose life energies are spent in the struggle between body and soul. In decrying the body as something evil, the flesh as the tempter to everything that is sinful, man has mutilated his being in the vain attempt to keep his soul pure, while his body rotted away from the injuries and tortures inflicted upon it.
Goldman, Emma. "The Philosophy of Atheism." Mother Earth, vol. 10, no. 12, Feb. 1916, p. 414.
Wycliffe had come down with a serious illness and appeared to be dying. The friars gathered at his bedside assuming that he would repent his attacks on the church, the friars and the Pope with his last rites. Instead, he pronounced this famous line. The churchmen left in disgust waiting for him to die. But he did not and vexed the established church and its representatives for a few more years. Wycliffe was castigated and had his books burned for his attacks on priests and bishops. A thousand years earlier another man was canonized as a Saint for similar attacks. See {618186}
He was officially hanged for his offence of making this statement on January 8, 1697. His execution, which raised considerable concern, was the last execution for blasphemy in Britain.
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century.
