Quotes

Quote 104 of 521

The Christians, retaining the Judaic belief in a special revelation,
added to it the Roman desire for world-wide dominaion and the Greek
taste for metaphysical subtleties.  The combination produced the
most fiercely persecuting religion that the world has yet known.  In
Japan and China, Buddhism was peaceably accepted and allowed to
exist along with Shinto and Confucianism; in the Mohammedan world,
Christians and Jews were not molested so long as they paid the
tribute; but throughout Christendom death was the usual penalty for
even the smallest deviation from orthodoxy.

Bertrand Russell, "Western Civilization" (1935)

Tags: metaphysicalsubtleties worldchristians mohammedan christiansandjews confucianism shinto orthodoxy christendom buddhism revelation belief desire tribute religion japan china