Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

“ Before the religious doctrine was breaking apart into different sects, and the sects fiercely defended each own understanding, and now this is no longer the case. Even if there are various sects among the various lovers of a word exchange, no one is seriously interested in these sects. The whole mass of the people - from scientists themselves, and up to the most uneducated workers - do not believe, not only in that Christian religion which once moved people, but they do not believe in any religion, and they believe that the concept of religion itself is something outdated and unnecessary. ”

“ The salvation is not to make an arrangement of lives invented by us for other people - as people without faith understand this salvation now, each in their own way: some in parliamentarism, others Republic, socialism, anarchism - but to understand one and the same by all people, each for their own self, of the meaning of life and its law, and to live based on this law, in love with other people, but without defining in ahead of a certain social order of people. ”

“ But the further the life progressed, the more people educated themselves, the more apparent and obvious the internal contradiction of this religion became, - it being groundless, unsound, and useless. So it lasted for centuries and nowadays has reached the point when this religion survives only by inertia, no longer accepted by anybody, and does not fulfill the main inherent to a religion external influence on people: connecting people by a single ideology in one common to all understanding of the destination and the purpose of life. ”

“ The essence of the teaching of Paul is that Christ's death and resurrection saves people from their sins and cruel punishments intended by God to people currently living for the sins of their predecessors.
While the foundation of Christ’s teaching in that the main and the only obligation of a human is the fulfillment of God's will, that is to love people, - the single foundation of Paul’s teaching is: that the only human obligation is to believe that Christ, by his death, has atoned for and redeemed the sins of people. ”

“ Although at all times among the Christian people there were people who understood the Christian teaching in its true meaning, but those were just the exceptions. The majority of so-called Christians, especially after the Church, with its power, has recognized all the writings of Paul, and even his advises to his pals on how to drink wine to recuperate stomach, as indisputable work of the Holy Spirit, the majority of people believed that this same immoral and convoluted and therefore pliable to the most arbitrary interpretations doctrine is the true teaching the God-Christ Himself. ”

“ The social order of life for all people will be good only when people won't care about this structure, but would only care about having each of them, before their own consciousness, fulfilled a requirement of their faith. ”

“ All these three reasons of the perversions of religions are common to all religious teachings, and have distorted the teachings of Brahmanism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Mohammedism; but these reasons have not destroyed faith in these teachings. And the people of Asia, despite the perversions which undermined these teachings, continue to believe in them and are connected among themselves and defend their independence. Only one, so-called Christian, religion has lost its necessity for people professing it, and ceased to be a religion. ”

“ Educated people believe in science, socialism, anarchism, progress. Uneducated people believe in rituals, in the church service, in Sunday inactivity, but they believe in them as in tradition, decency; there is absolutely no faith as faith that connects people, drives them, or only its disappearing remnants left. ”

“ It would seem that it should be simple and easy for the suffering people to free themselves from that gross superstition, perverted Christianity, in which they lived and live, and assimilate the religious teaching which was perverted and which invariably produces complete satisfaction for both bodily and spiritual natures of human. ”

“ Whoever lives in the Christian world, cannot fail to see that, no matter how bad the current situation of Christendom is now, what waits for it is even worse.
Mutual animosity is growing, and all patches, allegedly offered by both Governments and revolutionaries, Socialists, anarchists, cannot bring people - having before them no other purpose than their personal well-being, and therefore not being able not to be jealous of each other and hate each other - toward nothing else except toward all kind of external and internal fighting and toward the greatest disasters. ”

“ The further Christian mankind lived, than more education was spread, and as braver and braver there became, based on the perverted and recognized as infallible belief, both as secular and spiritual rulers, the more and more there were exposed the false proclamation of the perverted religion, all its groundlessness, and internal contradiction of the teaching recognizing love as the basis of life and at the same time justifying wars and all kinds of violence. ”

“ The reason why the Christian people in general, and the Russian people in particular, are now in such distress, - is that people have not only lost the only necessary for the peaceful, agreeable, and happy cohabitation of people condition: belief in the same principles of life and in common to all people laws of actions, - not only deprived of the chief condition of good life, but also stagnate in gross superstition about possibility for people to live a good life without faith. ”

“ The weakening of faith, its replacement, or rather overshadowing of it - by both superstitious traditions for the masses and rationalistic interpretation of the pillars of faith by higher academic classes - occurs everywhere: in Brahmanism and in Confucianism, and in Buddhism, and in Mohammedism; yet there is nowhere such complete liberation of people from religion as it has happened and is happening with extraordinary speed in Christianity. ”

“ People will understand that they cannot live in society without one connecting them common understanding of life. And this common, which connects all the people, understanding life is vaguely carried in the minds of all Christian world partly because it is inherent to human consciousness in general, and partly because this understanding of life is expressed in the teaching which was perverted, but the essence of which has penetrated even through the perversion. ”

“ Overshadowing of the fundamentals of faith by superstitious interpretations and traditions is common phenomena to all religions. Common causes of overshadowing of the foundations of faith are, firstly, and most importantly, that it is always people who don’t understand it want to interpret a teaching, and by means of their interpretations they distort and weaken it; secondly, the majority looks for visible forms of manifestation of the teaching and translates the spiritual meaning of a teaching into the material one ”

“ And especially important obstacle is that the true teaching is unprofitable for the ruling people. The ruling people have the means, through both the false education and bribery, violence and hypnosis of adults, to spread the false doctrine that completely hides from people that true teaching, the only one that gives unquestionable and inalienable well-being to all people. ”

“ People of one nation live more or less peacefully among themselves, and together defend their common interests only while they live by one and the same ideology, recognized by all people of the nation. ”

“ It is enough to remove those veils that hide the truth from us, and it will open to us, that teaching of Christ which explains to people the meaning of their life and points to the manifestation of this teaching in life, and empowers people to a peaceful and reasonable life. ”

“ The main obstacle is that precisely because that the perversions of the false Christian teaching are too obvious, more and more gross superstition is lately spreading, many times more harmful than all ancient superstitions, the superstition that religion in general is something unnecessary, outdated, and that mankind can live a reasonable life without a religion. ”

“ The Gospel says that all people are equal; Paul recognizes slaves and tells them to obey their masters. Christ says: do not swear at all and give to Caesar only what is Caesar’s, and what is God’s – your soul - give to nobody. Paul says: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher authorities: for there is no power other than from God; the existing powers are ordained of God". (Romans 13, 1-2)
Christ says: "Who takes the sword will perish from the sword." Paul says: "The master is a minister of God, for your own good. But if you do evil, be afraid ”

“ While according to Christ’s teaching the reward for shifting one’s own life to the spiritual essence of each person is joyful freedom of the awareness of the connection with God, and according to Paul’s teaching the reward for the good life is not here but in the future, in the post mortem state. According to Paul’s teaching, one needs to live the good life chiefly in order to get a reward for it “there”. ”

“ Where Christ teaches that a person should always forgive, Paul calls for anathema to those who does not do what he commands, and advises to give drink and to feed the hungry enemy so that by this act to collect hot coals on the head of the enemy, and asks God to punish Alexander the Coppersmith for some personal disagreements with him. ”

“ Where in the Gospel the equality of all people is recognized, and is stated that what is significant before people, is abomination before God, but Paul teaches obedience to authorities, recognizing the establishment of them from God, so that the one who opposes the authorities, he opposes the godly establishment. ”

“ This teaching is simple, clear, easy to implement, one for all people of the world, and not only does not controvert the teachings of Krishna, Buddha, Lao-Tzu, Confucius in their non-perverted forms, as well as of Socrates, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and all the wise men who understood common to all people single purpose of a human, and common to all, one and the same law in all teachings, following from the awareness of this purpose, - but confirms and clarifies them. ”