Agobard Quotes
No one doubts that each servant, although he owes the work of his body's members to his carnal lord, owes the religion of his mind to the Creator alone.
In what may have been amongst the lowest intellectual discussions regarding religion, the mores of the time was that slaves belonged to the slave owners and just as the owner had all power over the slave, he could also select the religion of the slaves as well. From a Christian point of view, freedom to be a Christian was critical, so what was to be the position and law regarding non-Christian slave owners, especially the Jews. Should property rights be dominant as was the tradition or should the Church have the right to dictate the religion of slaves? At no point in the discussion was the possibility even considered that the individual slave might have the right to select his/her religion. As a practical matter, at the time there were relatively few Jewish slave-holders, but as the Jews integrated into Christian society many assimilated—especially the wealthy who also traded and bartered with slaves. Muslims were not a problem as the newly emerging religion prohibited Muslims from holding other Muslims as slaves—although Christians and Jews could be held in servitude and were.
Agobard, 779-840, Saint & Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lyons, France, On the Baptism of Slaves Belonging to Jews
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Husayn Ali Nuri. This quotation illustrates one of the reasons that the Muslim Iranian fundamentalists are so fearful of Bahai, a reform offshoot of Islam. For the orthodox Muslim there must be no separation of church and state—they are one and the same. The Bahai minority of Iran have been hunted down and in many cases killed on the grounds that they were heretics and blasphemers.
Olivi was a brilliant scholar who ran afoul of the religious authorities on several occasions. He was accused of being a heretic for his writings, but was exonerated after intensive trials and debates. In this quotation, he attributed the religious error of Jews and others, not to the anti-Christ, human venality, or even fault of character, but from a difference in human perspective. He was a pioneering original thinker, who while not well appreciated in his lifetime, had a significant cult following including several cardinals of The Church that arose after his death. However, other conservative forces then decided that he was a heretic after all. They burned his writings and destroyed his tomb. Today, there is a street in France named for him.
Niemoller, a World War I U-boat commander and clergyman, was jailed for rejecting the National Socialist ideology and for appealing to German Christians not to embrace the new paganism of Nazism and Fascism.
The wording was rejected and the delegates insisted upon the original proposed language: “Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free …” This is a very important historical quotation because it shows that Henry and a few others wanted to make the society Christian centric, However, the majority insisted that it be non-sectarian. Many of the delegates rejecting the “Jesus Christ” language were themselves practicing Christians, but they were aware of the terrible religious wars and strife in Europe and between Christians and Muslims as well as the persecution of Jews, Quakers, and other sects; they did not want that in America so they rejected the idea of an established Christian Church or culture.
Joseph ben Matthias. There a different kinds of theocracy, There can be a Pope, a King, or a Supreme Leader who acts as the chief magistrate using a religious tract as the law of the land. The Ancient Jews had a Republican Theocracy were the leaders were chosen by the people but they did not promulgate any laws. The Torah—the first 5 books of the Old Testament—was the law of the land. In comparison. 21st century Iran recognized the Koran as the source of Laws. However, their chief magistrate was a cleric—the supreme leader who is not elected but appointed by a few other clerics. None of the other Iranian leaders are chosen by the people because all candidates must be approved by the Supreme Leader in order to even stand for election. So the ancient Jews had a republican theocracy, while Iran was an autocratic theocracy.
She was running for the United States Senate. God must have chosen her opponent as she lost.
See {586039} for a quotation that goes further and seeks to punish and humiliate the non believers. This sura is often used by those wishing to illustrate the intolerance of Islam—especially of other religions. They fail to put this into the context of the Old Testament which proscribed death for heretics or the history of Christianity regarding the murder of nonbelievers. The difference is however, that a very small proportion of Jews or Christians today believe in following Biblical instructions in this respect while the proportion of Muslims who believe in the literal interpretation of scripture on these points is much larger. However there are Islamic modernists and moderates throughout the world who reject this notion of warring on all other religions and there is a struggle going on within Islam itself.
This is one of the passages of the Bible that Christian Kings cited in expecting obedience. Most of the monarchs took this passage to mean that God had selected and appointed them to rule.
Alfonso the Learned. He personally wrote a History of Spain up to the time.
Agobard of Lyon (c. 779–840) was a Spanish-born priest and archbishop of Lyon, during the Carolingian Renaissance. The author of multiple treatises, ranging in subject matter from the iconoclast controversy to Spanish Adoptionism to critiques of the Carolingian royal family, Agobard is best known for his critiques of Jewish religious practices and political power in the Frankish realm. He was succeeded by Amulo of Lyons.
