"Those who can make you believe absurdities"

[InternalDialogue]

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
-Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)

(Today's quotation from Anu Garg's A.Word.A.Day listserv http://wordsmith.org/words/nirvana.html)

[Canuckistanian]

1. That's my sig line

Wise man, that Voltaire.

[tocqueville]

2. yep, ever read "Mahomet" ?

if he had been living today, he'll had a death fatwa on him

[Canuckistanian]

6. Here's an interesting article on that subject

http://www.banned-books.com/truth-seeker/1994archive/121_4/ts214d.html

Voltaire was criticizing religious fanatics in general.

Voltaire preached "natural religion." Rejecting the cruel, terrorizing, vindictive Jehovah portrayed by most Christian clergy in his time, he turned to the remote mild God of the British deists. And, in "Mahomet," he attacked fraudulent and persecuting priests.


Sound familiar?

[InternalDialogue]

3. That's why I love DU, Canuck --

If it's a brilliant idea, someone nearby is ready to share it. If it's a cogent saying, someone else is ready to relate. If there's ever a hole in your day, DUers are always ready to fill it.

[Canuckistanian]

5. Actually, I saw it on someone else's sig

And I looked it up later and found out it was Voltaire.

[Candide]

4. Brilliant!

Vive Voltaire!