| Getting Into Heaven Author Unknown |
| Christ is upon his throne, his secretary by his side. A soul appears. This is what happens - "What is your name?" Torquemada. "Were you a Christian?" I was. "Did you endeavor to convert your fellow-men?" I did. I tried to convert them by persuasion, by preaching and praying and even by force. "What did you do?" I put the heretics in prison, in chains. I tore out their tongues, put out their eyes, crushed their bones, stretched them upon racks, roasted their feet, and if they remained obdurate I flayed them alive or burned them at the stake. "And did you do all this for my glory?" Yes, all for you. I wanted to leave some, I wanted to protect the young and the weak minded. "Did you believe the Bible, the miracles- that I was God, that I was born of a virgin and kept money in the mouth of a fish?" Yes, I believed it all. My reason was the slave of faith. "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys of thy Lord. I was hungry and you gave me meat, naked and you clothed me." Another soul arises. "What is your name?" Giordano Bruno. "Were you a Christian?" At one time I was, but for many years I was a philosopher, a seeker after truth. "Did you seek to convert your fellow-men?" Not to Christianity, but to the religion of reason. I tried to develop their minds, to free them from the slavery of ignorance and superstition. In my day the church taught the holiness of credulity- the virtue of unquestioning obedience, and in your name tortured and destroyed the intelligent and courageous. I did what I could to civilize the world, to make men tolerant and merciful, to soften the hearts of priests, and banish torture from the world. I expressed my honest thoughts and walked in the light of reason. "Did you believe the Bible, the miracles? Did you believe that I was God, that I was born of a virgin and that I suffered myself to be killed by the Jews to appease the wrath of God- that is, of myself- so that God could save the souls of a few?" No I did not. I did not believe that God was ever born into my world, or that God learned the trade of a carpenter, or that he "increased in knowledge," or that he cast devils out of men, or that his garments could cure diseases, or that he allowed himself to be murdered, and in the hour of death "forsook" himself. These things I did not and could not believe. But I did all the good I could. I enlightened the ignorant, comforted the afflicted, defended the innocent, divided even my property with the poor, and did the best I could to increase the happiness of my fellow-men. I was a soldier in the army of progress.- I was arrested, imprisoned, tried, and convicted by the church- by the "Triumphant Beast." I was burned at the stake by ignorant and heartless priests and my ashes given to the winds. Then Christ, his face growing dark, his brows contracted with wrath, with uplifted hands, with half averted face, cries or rather shrieks: "Depart from ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devils and his angels." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These files, and many more are available at the Secular Web: http://www.infidels.org/ |
|
|
|
|