#martyr

It's an insidious idea, this notion that there is life after death. The promise of a reward in the afterlife has been used as an excuse to deny help to the poor, helpless and oppressed; to explain away human misery rather than deal with it. It is an idea that is used to encourage young men and women to kill themselves, and others, so that they can become martyrs. It allows victims of injustice to be told not to worry because justice will be done in the afterlife. It depresses me to think that so many people on the planet live their lives with this notion. Can we truly fulfill our potential as a species as long as we hold on to, and encourage, the perpetuation of the lie of life after death? ↗

— Alom Shaha

#atheism #injustice #justice #life-after-death #martyrs

The faithful clamoured to be buried alongside the martyrs, as close as possible to the venerable remains, a custom which, in anthropological terms, recalls Neolithic beliefs that certain human remains possessed supernatural properties. It was believed that canonized saints did not rot, like lesser mortals, but that their corpses were miraculously preserved and emanated an odour of sanctity, a sweet, floral smell, for years after death. In forensic terms, such preservation is likely to be a result of natural mummification in hot, dry conditions. ↗

— Catharine Arnold

#death #martyrs #preservation #saints #sanctity

We can always be sure of one thing—that the messengers of discomfort and sacrifice will be stoned and pelted by those who wish to preserve at all costs their own contentment. This is not a lesson that is confined to the Testaments. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#bible #brave-new-world #history #martyrs #old-testament

This, he said, touching his chest lightly with his fingertips, 'you must cease to love. We must love with our immortal souls which have no father save God Almighty.' He took my hand again. 'John Boreman has my Bible; I'd like you to have it. Study it well, Jenny, for the truth is there, and the truth shall make you free, so that when the time comes, as it will, as it must, when the old things are done away with, you will be ready. The seed is planted, soon there will be a great harvest. I and those like me will not have died in vain. Walter Rancon Norah Lofts ↗

— Norah Lofts

#norah-lofts #the-house-at-old-vine #love

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom. ↗

— Voltaire

#fond #i #i am #martyrdom #truth

You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know. ↗

— George Eliot

#best #happen #history #kind #know

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr, the man who will not act until he knows all will never act at all. ↗

— Jim Elliot

#deacon #feast #first #knows #man

Acquiring a repertoire in these days, when the vocal literature is so immense, so overwhelming, that the student with sense will devote all his energies to work and not imagine himself a martyr to art. ↗

— Alma Gluck

#art #days #devote #energies #himself

Beyond all the other reasons not to do it, free speech assaults always backfire: they transform bigots into martyrs. ↗

— Glenn Greenwald

#censorship #freedom-of-speech #martyrdom #twitter #freedom

I want to be able to raise my kid. I was totally being a martyr about it at first, thinking I could totally do it on my own, which I did for a while. I've hired a babysitter before, but as for a full-time caregiver... for a control freak like me, it ain't gonna happen! ↗

— Keri Russell

#about #babysitter #before #being #control