If a man really believes that ...

If a man really believes that God once upheld slavery; that he commanded soldiers to kill women and babes; that he believed in polygamy; that he persecuted for opinion\'s sake; that he will punish forever, and that he hates an unbeliever, the effect in my judgment will be bad. It always has been bad. This belief built the dungeons of the Inquisition. This belief made the Puritan murder the Quaker.
If a man really believes that God once upheld slavery; that he commanded soldiers to kill women and babes; that he believed in polygamy; that he persecuted for opinion's sake; that he will punish forever, and that he hates an unbeliever, the effect in my judgment will be bad. It always has been bad. This belief built the dungeons of the Inquisition. This belief made the Puritan murder the Quaker.
 Robert Green Ingersoll

Quotes from the same author

Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his country, and the maligners of his honor.
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 Robert Green Ingersoll
The myth of hell represents all the meanness, all the revenge, all the selfishness, all the cruelty, all the hatred, all the infamy of which the heart of man is capable.
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 Robert Green Ingersoll
The greatest superstition now entertained by public men is that hypocrisy is the royal road to success.
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 Robert Green Ingersoll
What light is to the eyes - what air is to the lungs - what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man.
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 Robert Green Ingersoll
He loves his country best who strives to make it best.
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 Robert Green Ingersoll