After several weeks Constantine lost his patience and imposed his own compromise. ibid.
By the time Paul arrived in Corinth pilgrims had been worshipping for centuries at local shrines. From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians II, PBS 1998
According to the Book of Acts Christianity began at a single place at a single moment in time. Fifty days after the death of Jesus, now known as Pentecost, a miraculous event took place. ibid.
The Jesus Movement found a following in some synagogues. ibid.
In Mark what does set Jesus apart is that he is a peculiar kind of miracle worker. In one case he has to attempt the miracle twice to get it right. And at another time he can’t perform miracles at all. From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians III
Mark was the first to write the story of the life of Jesus. He took disparate elements of early tradition and a few written sources. ibid.
Mark is challenging the pre-war image of Jesus as an apocalyptic figure. ibid.
The Jesus in Mark’s Gospel both reveals and conceals his true identity. A paradox scholars call the Messianic Secret. ibid.
Jesus had preached the coming kingdom of God. Now Jesus himself became the message, and the source of eternal life. From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians IV
The Bible’s chapter divisions were created in the early 1200s. The Forbidden Book: History of the Bible, 1997
Jerome: in 382 he was commissioned to translate the Bible from the Greek into Latin: it became known as the Latin Vulgate. ibid.
The Church in Rome allowed only one language and that language was Latin. ibid.
The Pope was elevated to God’s sole agent to lead the Church. ibid.
Over 100,000 prostitutes being employed by the Church. ibid.
One such way was to extract enormous sums of money from parishes by granted pardon for penance to purgatory. ibid.
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. C S Lewis, Mere Christianity
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. C S Lewis
Christianity if false is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C S Lewis
No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ. Charles de Montesquieu
My story is the story of countless millions of children whose families and nations were torn apart for money in the name of Jesus Christ. Sinead O’Connor
‘If you don’t worship me you will burn forever’. I always thought that was ugly. Gore Vidal, cited Jonathan Miller 2005
Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian or an ordinary man has. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night I iii 81-82, Sir Andrew to Sir Toby and Maria
For the last twelve years with Reagan and Bush we have had fundamentalist Christians in the White House. Fundamentalist Christians who believe the Bible is the exact word of God including that wacky fire and brimstone Revelations ending – have had their finger on the fucking button for twelve years. Tell me when, Lord. Tell me when. Bill Hicks, Dominion Theatre London
Fundamentalist Christianity – fascinating. These people actually believe the world is 12,000 years old ... I got one word to ask you, one word question, ready? Dinosaurs. ibid.
Christianity is the weird one. Christianity is such an odd religion. You know I was raised that way. All those images of eternal suffering that awaits anyone who questions God’s love. Bill Hicks
I think everyone should treat one another in a Christian manner. I will not, however, be responsible for the consequences. George Carlin, Napalm and Silly Putty
I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a man nailed to two pieces of wood. George Carlin
Christians stand all amazed at the spectre of their religion plagiarised from the body of pagan beliefs. esias
Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded
That all the apostles would have done as they did. Lord Byron, Don Juan
Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan – spoiled. Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto, 1892
Christian theology is not only opposed to the scientific spirit, it is opposed to every other form of rational thinking. H L Mencken, 1880-1956
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good. H L Mencken
He who begins by loving Christianity better than Truth will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity, and end by loving himself better than all. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834, Aids to Reflection, 1825
Evidences of Christianity! I am weary of the word. Make a man feel the want of it; rouse him, if you can, to the self-knowledge of his need for it; and you may safely trust it to his own Evidence. ibid.
My earlier views on the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation have become clearer and stronger with advancing years. Abraham Lincoln
For the socialist, the New Ager and the Masons have declared war on the Christians. And as in every war the enemy must be defeated even by bloodshed of necessary. Bill Cooper, Hour of Our Time
For the New Age like the Masons feel that Christianity is the enemy. A force to be countered not by open debate but by contempt and ridicule. Bill Cooper
It is therefore a profound truth that Socialism is the natural enemy of religion. A Christian socialist is in fact an anti-socialist. Christianity is the antithesis of Socialism. Socialist Party of Great Britain, pamphlet Socialism & Religion 1911
The Christians believed that when they went to Hell they would be tortured. But not just tortured so as to inflict maximum pain, but tortured in a way that was appropriate for the sin that they committed. Jeff Wise, author Extreme Fear
The Resurrection is actually the primary story at the heart of Christianity without which you wouldn’t have a movement. Professor Elaine Pagels
It has come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious. Joseph Butler
Sir, the pretending to extraordinary revelations and gifts of the Holy Ghost is a horrid thing, a very horrid thing. Joseph Butler to John Wesley
It is very evident from their Epistles that it never entered the mind of any of the apostles that the church of this day would separate faith from charity by teaching that faith alone justifies and saves apart from the works of the law, and that charity therefore cannot be conjoined with faith, since faith is from God, and charity, so far as it is expressed in works, is from man. But this separation and division were introduced into the Christian church when it divided God into three persons, and many people like obedience and ritual. Their nominally Christian leaders – I mean Christ would not recognise them as Christian – could stop wars dead. David Halpin, lecture Alternative View II conference 31st May 2009, ‘The Vortex Sucks Ever Louder’
During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution. James Madison