Barge In Where You Don't Belong

"But then the Church came to the front, with an ax to grind; and she was wise, subtle, and knew more than one way to skin a cat - or a nation;

She invented "divine right of kings," and propped it all around, brick by brick, with the Beatitudes - wrenching them from their good purpose to make them fortify an evil one;

She preached (to the commoner) humility, obedience to superiors, the beauty of self-sacrifice;

She preached (to the commoner) meekness under insult;

Preached (still to the commoner, always to the commoner) patience, nonresistance under oppression...

Even down to [the nineteenth century] that poison was still in the blood of Christendom..."

Also, taken from the preface of the above book...

"That the executive head of a nation should be a person of lofty character and extraordinary ability was manifest and indisputable;

That none but the Deity could select that head unerringly was also manifest and indisputable;

That the Deity ought to make that selection, then, was likewise manifest and indisputable;

Consequently, that He does make it, as claimed, was an unavoidable deduction."

~Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, 1889.

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 2/22/2006 10:30:00 PM