Today, as ever, the few are misunderstood, hounded, imprisoned, tortur — Persecution

"Bigotry may be called the appalling frenzy of the indifferent. This frenzy of the indifferent is in truth a terrible thing; it has made all monstrous and widely pervading persecutions. In this degree it was not the people who cared who ever persecuted; the people who cared were not sufficiently numerous. It was the people who did not care who filled the world with fire and oppression. It was the hands of the indifferent that lit the faggots; it was the hands of the indifferent that turned the rack. There have come some persecutions out of the pain of a passionate certainty; but these produced, not bigotry, but fanaticism — a very different and a somewhat admirable thing. Bigotry in the main has always been the pervading omnipotence of those who do not care crushing out those who care in darkness and blood."

"As I sang hymns on stage, one phrase echoed continuously in my mind: “If one member suffers, all members suffer together.” This is not a slogan, but the fundamental logic of the church as the body of Christ. Persecution is not “their problem,” but “our shared wound.” …the most insidious aspect of persecution isn’t a single “disruption,” but the gradual fragmentation of people’s lives—leaving them exhausted, scattered, doubting, and retreating—forcing faith to [withdraw slowly] from public expression until it can only be “hidden in the heart.” …the cruelty of persecution lies not only in stripping away freedom, but in attempting to sever people’s connection to truth—robbing them of their voice, their testimony, and their network of mutual support."

"Persecution cannot harm him who stands by Truth. Did not Socrates fall proudly a victim in body? Was not Paul stoned for the sake of the Truth? It is our inner selves that hurt us when we disobey it, and it kills us when we betray it."

"The religious persecution of the ages has been done under what was claimed to be the command of God. I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do to their fellows, because it always coincides with their own desires."

"It has become a settled principle that nothing which is good and true can be destroyed by persecution, but that the effect ultimately is to establish more firmly, and to spread more widely, that which it was designed to overthrow. It has long since passed into a proverb that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

"Can we agree that having an irresistible urge to ridicule other people’s beliefs is not generally a sign of good mental health?"