To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to
be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial
Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding,
women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity
of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one,
for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as
the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest
of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of "stealing the livery of
the court of heaven to serve the devil in." I am filled with unutterable
loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with
the horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We
have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries,
and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the
blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and
claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs
me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on
Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation.
He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as
the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to
read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the
God who made me. He who is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole
millions of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of
wholesale pollution.
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