Doc, Excellent post, bravo.
On Jun 21, 7:56 am, Doc Holliday <[email protected]> wrote: > Peace picks no sides; PERIOD! > > The destroyers of the old are the creators of the new. > > As time sweeps on the old passes away and the new in its turn becomes > old. > > There is in the intellectual world, as in the physical, decay and > growth, and ever by the grave of buried age stand youth and joy. > > The history of intellectual progress is written in the lives of > infidels, political rights have been preserved by traitors, the > liberty of mind by heretics. > > To attack the king was treason; to dispute the priest was blasphemy. > > For many centuries the sword and cross were allies. Together they > attacked the rights of man. They defended each other. > > The throne and altar were twins -- two vultures from the same egg. > > James I. said: "No bishop, no king." He might have added: "No cross, > no crown." The king owned the bodies of men; the priest, the souls. > One lived on taxes collected by force, the other on alms collected by > fear -- both robbers, both beggars. > > These robbers and these beggars controlled two worlds. The king made > laws, the priest made creeds. Both obtained their authority from God, > both were the agents of the Infinite. > > With bowed backs the people carried the burdens of one, and with > wonder's open mouth received the dogmas of the other. > > If the people aspired to be free, they were crushed by the king, and > every priest was a Herod who slaughtered the children of the brain. > > The king ruled by force, the priest by fear, and both by both. > > The king said to the people. "God made you peasants, and He made me > king; He made you to labor, and me to enjoy; He made rags and hovels > for you, robes and palaces for me. He made you to obey, and me to > command. Such is the justice of God." > > And the priest said; "God made you ignorant and vile; He made me holy > and wise; you are the sheep, I am the shepherd; your fleeces belong to > me. If you do not obey me here, God will punish you now and torment > you forever in another world. Such is the mercy of God." > > "You must not reason. Reason is a rebel. You must not contradict -- > contradiction is born of egotism; you must believe. He that hath ears > to hear let him hear." Heaven was a question of ears. > > Fortunately for us, there have been traitors and there have been > heretics, blasphemers, thinkers, investigators, lovers of liberty, men > of genius who have given their lives to better the condition of their > fellow-men. > > It may be well enough here to ask the question: What is greatness? > > A great man adds to the sum of knowledge, extends the horizon of > thought, releases souls from the Bastille of fear, crosses unknown and > mysterious seas, gives new islands and new continents to the domain of > thought, new constellations to the firmament of mind. A great man does > not seek applause or place; he seeks for truth; he seeks the road to > happiness, and what he ascertains he gives to others. > > A great man throws pearls before swine, and the swine are sometimes > changed to men. If the great had always kept their pearls, vast > multitudes would be barbarians now. > > A great man is a torch in the darkness, a beacon: in superstition's > night, an inspiration and a prophecy. > > Greatness is not the gift of majorities; it cannot be thrust upon any > man; men cannot give it to another; they can give place and power, but > not greatness. > > The place does not make the man, nor the scepter the king. Greatness > is from within. > > The great men are the heroes who have freed the bodies of men; they > are the philosophers and thinkers who have given liberty to the soul; > they are the poets who have transfigured the common and filled the > lives of many millions with love and song. > > They are the artists who have covered the bare walls of weary life > with the triumphs of genius. > > They are the heroes who have slain the monsters of ignorance and fear, > who have out-gazed the Gorgon and driven the cruel gods from their > thrones. > > They are the inventors, the discoverers, the great Mechanics, the > kings of the useful who have civilized this world. > > At the head of this heroic army, foremost of all, stands Voltaire, > whose memory we are honoring tonight.>end > > Peace, > Doc > > On Jun 20, 12:05 pm, mouslim girl <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Thank you for your interest and your response on the issue > > But it must be pointed out that Iran did not represent true Islam > > Since they belong to the Shiites and the teams outside of Islam > > It calls for violence, in contrast to the true Islam > > Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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