02-23-2008, 01:16 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Since "the foundations of Judaism and Christianity" were not built on truth, but on "voluntary and involuntary errors," it is no wonder that "numberless fables have been invented [by ecclesiastical historians] to raise, to embellish, and to support" faith. Instead of providing historical truths, the Christian interpretation of history has led to the "abuse of history": "Deliberate, systematical lying has been practised and encouraged from age to age" by church historians, "and among all the pious frauds that have been employed to maintain a reverence and zeal for their religion in the minds of men, this abuse of history has been the principal and most successful."<b> Sadly, noted Bolingbroke, this "lying spirit has gone from ecclesiastical to other historians."</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->