The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church. Wherever the Bible and sword are in partnership, man is a slave. All laws for the purpose of making man worship God, are born of the same spirit that kindled the fires of the auto da fe, and lovingly built the dungeons of the Inquisition. All laws defining and punishing blasphemy -- making it a crime to give your honest ideas about the Bible, or to laugh at the ignorance of the ancient Jews, or to enjoy yourself on the Sabbath, or to give your opinion of Jehovah, were passed by impudent bigots, and should be at once repealed by honest men. An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment. It strikes me that God might write a book that would not necessarily excite the laughter of his children. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that a real God could produce a work that would excite the admiration of mankind.Robert G. Ingersoll
About This Quote
"The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church." In this quote, Thomas Jefferson makes a statement about the value of freedom. He argues that churches should not have the right to dictate how people live their lives. In other words, those things which are not directly prohibited by the Bible should be allowed. For example, if a person does not partake in a religion's religious ritual or ceremony then that religion should not have a say in that person's life.
Source: Some Mistakes Of Moses
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