Fundamentalists Quotes
The origin of the quotation is with Philosopher George Santayana--{634038}
Original French: “Croyez ceux qui cherchent la vérité, doutez de ceux qui la trouvent.”
He was referring to governments that imposed some form of morality in their citizens. Free governments do no dictate a morality and require their citizens to follow it. He was very much opposed to Prohibition which he saw as a poor government—Herbert Hoover’s Administration—which was imposing its narrow morality on all. He was very suspicious of government actions where the government claimed that the action was for moral objectives. This is a classic Libertarian view. In general, it is Fundamentalists and ideologues who want to impose their particular morality on all. See {620693} for a related idea.
Pascal was himself a very religious man, but observed this phenomenon about many religious people.
This statement of the Prophet is often quoted by Yusuf al-Qaradawi and other moderate, modernist Islamic clerics and leaders urging people to eschew terrorism and Muslim fundamentalist extremism.
Hitler came to power arguing for the reform of the permissive society and the censorship of many aspects of the society, not unlike fundamentalist forces which exist today in America and other modern free societies.
With the exception of Israel and Lebanon, the Christians, like the Jews before them, are constantly discriminated against under threat of physical violence and death from Muslim fundamentalist extremists.
