“One would have thought that those who have professed Christianity would be indefatigable in exposing deception in this matter [of the sophisticated justification of violence]; for in such exposure lay one of the chief manifestations of Christianity. What really happened was just the reverse. People who profited by violence and who did not wish to give up their advantages took on themselves a monopoly of Christian preaching and declared that, as cases can be found in which nonresistance causes more harm than the use of violence (the imaginary criminal killing the imaginary child), therefore Christ’s doctrine of nonresistance need not always be followed; and that one may deviate from his teaching to defend one’s life or the life of others; or to defend one’s country, to save society from lunatics and criminals, and in many other cases.” —Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) from Tolstoy on Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 05:32:15 +0000
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