Montesquieu Quotes
Religious wars are not caused by the fact that there is more than one religion, but by the spirit of intolerance... the spread of which can only be regarded as the total eclipse of human reason.
Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat. Persian Letters. Translated by C. J. Betts, Penguin Books, 1973, p. 165.
He commonly incites Muslims to violence against other religions which he believes totally false. Therefore, in his interpretation of Islam, it is the obligation of Muslims to kill the heretics and blasphemers. See {620307}. He was one of the leading inciters of the Bali bombing which killed so many tourists. Notice the classic attempt to first dehumanize the people who are to be the targets of violence and atrocities to overcome the normal inhibitions of most humans to do violence to another.
Most Muslims believe that Islam is a religion of peace. A small minority of fanatic extremists believe as Al-Buti does. They are the ones who are the most dangerous for all.
Pandita Indrani Rampersad. She is the first Hindu woman who ever became a pundit—a religious expert who guides Hindus. She is also a professor in the United States.
Son of Reverend Billy Graham. The statement was made in the aftermath of September 11.
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 King, a religious exremist fanatic, was a great supporter of the Inquisition whose excesses were horrible during his reign.
Toleration is a relative term. The Muslim Moors made Christians (and Jews) pay a special tax. At times they were forced to wear special clothing so that they could be readily identified. And they could not build churches larger or taller than the smallest mosque in the community. At times, their occupations were restricted but at other times Christians and Jews were appointed to the highest positions like Vizier. The Inquisition, in contrast, forced all Muslims (and Jews) to leave the country without any of their property or money or be tortured and killed—usually by burning at the stake unless of course that they converted to Christianity.
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, and political philosopher.
