The Deadly Sanctions of Religion: The priests should not alone bear the infamy of these laws of persecution and death, instigated by them. To the Devil his due! The "Holy Ghost" itself, it is claimed by the Bible and the Church, inspired and decreed by positive command all the bloody murders and tortures by the priests from Moses to the last one committed; and the spirit of them lives and is but hibernating to-day. The Holy God of Israel, whose name is merciful, thus decreed on Sinai:" He that sacrificeth to any gods[ Elohim],save unto Yahweh only, he shall be utterly destroyed"[ Ex.22:20]. And hear this, which the ancient priests attributed to their God: If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thy own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Lets us go serve other gods, and...Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor harken unto him, neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare him, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him, thine hand shalt be the first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die"[ Deut. 13:6-10]. And the tergiversant  slaughter-breathing persecutor for pay of the early Christians,now turned for profit their chief apostle of persecution, pronounces time and again the anathema of the new dispensation against all dissenters from his superstitious, tortuous doctrines and dogmas, all such "whom I have delivered unto Satan"[ 1 Tim.1-20] as he writes to advise hid adjutant Timothy. He flings at the scoffing Hebrews this question" He that despised Moses, law died without mercy... Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?[ Heb. 10:28-29]. All such "are set fourth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."[ Jude 7];" that they might all be damned who believe not the truth"[ 2 Thess.2:12]; and even"he that doubteth is damned"[ Rom.14:23]. This Paul, who with such bigoted presumption"deals damnation around the land on all he deems the foe"of his dogmas, is first seen"consenting to the death"of the first martyr Stephen[ Acts.8:1];then he blusters through the country"breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord"[ Acts.9:1], the new converts to the new faith. Then,when he suddenly professed miraculous"conversion"himself, his old master turned on him and sought to kill, and he fled to these same disciples for safety, to their great alarm[ Acts.9:23-26],and straightway began to bully and threaten all who would not now believehis new preachment. To Elymas,who"withstood them"the doughty new dogmatist"set his eyes on him,"and thus blasted him with inflated vituperation:" O full of all subtilty  and all mischief, thou child of the devil,thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord"?[ Acts 13:8-10]. Even the "meek and loving Jesus"is quoted as giving the fateful admonition:"fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell"[ Matt. 10:28]--hear first invented and threatened by Jesus the Christ himself, for added terror unto belief. Paul climaxes the terror," It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"[ Heb.10:31]. Thus"breathing out threatening and slaughter"against all who would not believe their gospel of miracles and damnation, the founders of the new faith forged and fastened the fetters of the new superstition upon the already superstitious pagans about them, and gradually throughout the Roman world. By fear of hell, pagan individuals, and in later times, by the choice proffered by"Christian"conquerors between the Cross and the sword,whole pagan people fell under the domination of the new militant faith. Whole tribes and nations were given the choice between Christianity and death; early history abounds in instances. The Hungarians adopted Christianity as the alternative to extermination in A.D. 1000;also the pagan Wends when conquered in 1144, and most of the pagan Teutonic tribes. Charlemagne required every male subject of the Holy Roman Empire above the age twelve to renew his oath of allegiance and swear to not only be good subjects but also good Christians. To refuse baptism and to retract after baptism were crimes punishable with death. It was indeed fearful danger and death by torture, rack, and fire to show the faintest symptoms of doubt in the faith of the Holy Church...IS IT GODS WORDS?..J.Wheless...