RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE?
"Religious freedom is of course a fundamental human right and it is my fervent hope and prayer that respect for the inalienable rights and dignity of every man and woman will come to be increasingly affirmed and defended, not only throughout the Middle East, but in every part of the world." --Pope Benedict XVI, as reported on bbc.com, May 9, 2009.
"The equal toleration of all religions...is the same as atheism. --Pope Leo XIII, "Imortale Dei"
"It was once proposed that all religions persuasions should be free and their worship publicly exercised. We Catholics have rejected this article as contrary to Roman Catholic canon law." --Pope Pius VII, 1808
"When you arrive in a city, summon the bishops, clergy and people, and preach a solemn sermon on faith; then select certain men of good repute to help you in trying the heretics and suspects denounced before your tribunal. All who on examination are found guilty or suspected of heresy must promise to absolutely obey the commands of the Church. If they refuse, you must prosecute them." --Pope Gregory I, order to the Dominicans on their duties in the Inquisition, 1231
When Yahweh your god has settled you in the land you're about to occupy, and driven out many infidels before you...you're to cut them down and exterminate them. You're to make no compromise with them or show them any mercy. --Deut. 7:1 (KJV)
"You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them" --Pat Robertson, Fundamentalist Christian tele-minister.
"whatsoever person or persons withing this Province ... shall from henceforyth blaspheme God ... or shall deny our Saviour Jesus to be the Sonne of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Sonne and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the said Three persons of the Trinity or the Unity of the Godhead ... shall be punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands..." --Maryland's "Tolerance Act", 1649, often hailed as the first law for religious "freedom" in the colonies
"Scriptures: The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based." --Ambrose Bierce
"The state (the U.S. Constitution) has not the right to leave every man free to profess and embrace whatever religion he may desire." --Pope Pius IX
"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart." --- H.L. Mencken
"Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight." -- Mark Twain