Verses Across™

  • Atheist, agnostic, deist and skeptic writers. Verses Across shows each tradition in its own words. This section holds the classic public-domain writing of those who questioned or rejected religion.

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Freethought · Atheism

Superstition in All Ages 54Cxxviii.—Obscure and Suspicious Origin of Oracles

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Freethought · Atheism

Superstition in All Ages 54

Cxxviii.—Obscure and Suspicious Origin of Oracles

KnoopEnglish
The oracles which the Deity has revealed to the nations through His different mediums, are they clear? Alas! there are not two men who understand them alike. Those who explain them to others do not agree among themselves; in order to make them clear, they have recourse to interpretations, to commentaries, to allegories, to parables, in which is found a mystical sense very different from the literal one. Men are needed everywhere to explain the wishes of God, who could not or would not explain Himself clearly to those whom He desired to enlighten. God always prefers to use as mediums men who can be suspected of having been deceived themselves, or having reasons to deceive others.

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Superstition in All Ages 53Superstition in All Ages 55
Sources & credits: Knoop

Knoop — Superstition in All Ages (Jean Meslier, translated by Anna Knoop) (1729). Public Domain. Jean Meslier, translated by Anna Knoop, Superstition in All Ages; public domain in the US; text from Project Gutenberg #17607. Source

Freethought · Atheism

Superstition in All Ages 55

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