Why not give Christianity a trial? The question seems a hopeless
one after 2,000 years of resolute adherence to the old cry
of 'Not this man, but Barabbas.' Yet it is beginning to look
as if Barabbas was a failure, in spite of his strong right
hand, his victories, his empires, his millions of money, and
his moralities and churches and political constitutions. 'This
man' has not been a failure yet; for nobody has ever been
sane enough to try his way.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
Women, for the sake of their children and parents, submit
to slaveries and prostitutions that no unattached woman would
endure.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
The great danger of conversion in all ages has been that
when the religion of the high mind is offered to the lower
mind, the lower mind, feeling its fascination without understanding
it, and being incapable of rising to it, drags it down to
its level by degrading it.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no
more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier
than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and
dangerous quality, and by no means a necessity of life.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
Christianity as a specific doctrine was slain with Jesus,
suddenly and utterly. He was hardly cold in his grave, or
high in his heaven (as you please), before the apostles dragged
the tradition of him down to the level of the thing it has
remained ever since.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
Every man to whom salvation is offered has an inalienable
natural right to say 'No, thank you: I prefer to retain my
full moral responsibility: it is not good for me to be able
to load a scapegoat with my sins: I should be less careful
how I committed them if I knew they would cost me nothing.'
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
I must remind you that our credulity is not to be measured
by the truth of the things we believe. When men believed that
the earth was flat, they were not credulous: they were using
their common sense, and, if asked to prove that the earth
was flat, would have said simply, 'Look at it.' Those who
refuse to believe that it is round are exercising a wholesome
skepticism.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
If it could be proved today that not one of the miracles
of Jesus actually occurred, that proof would not invalidate
a single one of his didactic utterances; and conversely, if
it could be proved that not only did the miracles actually
occur, but that he had wrought a thousand other miracles a
thousand times more wonderful, not a jot of weight would be
added to his doctrine.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
The primitive idea of justice is partly legalized revenge
and partly expiation by sacrifice. It works out from both
sides in the notion that two blacks make a white, and that
when a wrong has been done, it should be paid for by an equivalent
suffering. It seems to the Philistine majority a matter of
course that this compensating suffering should be inflicted
on the wrongdoer for the sake of its deterrent effect on other
would-be wrongdoers; but a moment's reflection will shew that
this utilitarian application corrupts the whole transaction.
For example, the shedding of blood cannot be balanced by the
shedding of guilty blood. Sacrificing a criminal to propitiate
God for the murder of one of his righteous servants is like
sacrificing a mangy sheep or an ox with the rinderpest: it
calls down divine wrath instead of appeasing it. In doing
it we offer God as a sacrifice the gratification of our own
revenge and the protection of our own lives without cost to
ourselves; and cost to ourselves is the essence of sacrifice
and expiation.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
The seriousness of throwing over hell whilst still clinging
to the Atonement is obvious. If there is no punishment for
sin there can be no self-forgiveness for it. If Christ paid
our score, and if there is no hell and therefore no chance
of our getting into trouble by forgetting the obligation,
then we can be as wicked as we like with impunity inside the
secular law, even from self-reproach, which becomes mere ingratitude
to the Savior. On the other hand, if Christ did not pay our
score, it still stands against us; and such debts make us
extremely uncomfortable. The drive of evolution, which we
call conscience and honor, seizes on such slips, and shames
us to the dust for being so low in the scale as to be capable
of them. The 'saved' thief experiences an ecstatic happiness
which can never come to the honest atheist: he is tempted
to steal again to repeat the glorious sensation. But if the
atheist steals he has no such happiness. He is a thief and
knows that he is a thief. Nothing can rub that off him. He
may try to sooth his shame by some sort of restitution or
equivalent act of benevolence; but that does not alter the
fact that he did steal; and his conscience will not be easy
until he has conquered his will to steal and changed himself
into an honest man.
Androcles and the Lion
Preface
THE CAPTAIN: A martyr, Lavinia, is a fool. Your death will
prove nothing.
LAVINIA: Then why kill me?
Androcles and the Lion
Act 1
I'm glad he's hungry. Not that I want him to suffer, poor
chap! But then he'll enjoy eating me much more. There's a
cheerful side to everything.
Androcles and the Lion
Act 2
No, really: I can't fight, I never could. I can't bring myself
to dislike anyone enough.
Androcles and the Lion
Act 2
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