Emma Goldman Quotes
I was called before the head matron, a tall woman with a stolid face. She began taking my pedigree. What religion? was the first question. None, I am an atheist. Atheism is prohibited here. You will have to go to church. I replied that I would do nothing of the kind. I did not believe in anything the Church stood for and, not being a hypocrite, I would not attend.
Goldman, Emma. Living My Life. Alfred A. Knopf, 1931, p. 132.
In the early stages of Islam, Muhammad had hoped to convert the Jews and others on the Arabian Peninsula. When they refused to be converted, he warred against them usually killing the men, and taking the women and children as slaves. The result was that non-believing tribes were “cleansed” from the Arabian Peninsula. The Muslims at the time preferred children as slaves. For then they could convert the children against their will. Adults in Islam must accept Islam in order to convert. Children are regarded as having no such maturity of decision making and therefore opposition to conversion may be ignored and they may be forced. Critics of Islam and those who argue that Islam is at odds with all other religions point to this quotation. They claim that it is the only religion whose founder and fundamental scriptures demand war against others for no other reason than that they believe in a different religion. The Catholic Church during the Crusades and the Inquisition had a similar philosophy as did Christian missionaries colonizing Africa later. One difference is that most Christians today repudiate the doctrine as against the true spirit and teachings of Christ and view it as historical error, while very few modern Muslims repudiate this quotation of the Prophet.
The Governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, was a bigoted Protestant of the Dutch Orthodox church and did not want to allow non-Protestants into the Colony, However, he was overruled by the Directors of the Dutch West India Company which rolled the colony designed to be a money making enterprise. Jews and others were allowed to enter and become citizens, however while they could worship in any way they chose in their own homes, they could not build any places of worship of have any public prayer of other aspects of their religion. This was the hypocrisy to which Bangs refers. However, at the time, it was more liberality and tolerance than most of the Christian world.
A portion of this quote can be found in the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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.
