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Christianity has taken the part of all the weak, the low, the botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism to all the self preservative instincts of sound life; it has corrupted even the faculties of those natures that are intellectually most vigorous, by representing the highest intellectual values as sinful, as misleading, as full of temptation.
Friedrich Nietzsche
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Nietzsche critiques Christianity for uplifting weakness and suppressing strong instincts.

In this quote, Nietzsche expresses his belief that Christianity has positioned itself as a protector of the weak and downtrodden, which he argues is detrimental to human flourishing. He suggests that this moral framework corrupts robust intellectual faculties by labeling the pursuit of knowledge and strength as sinful, thus fostering an antagonistic relationship between the values of life and religious ideals.

Themes

ChristianityWeaknessIntellectMoralityStrength

In practice

Example use cases

During a debate on the moral implications of religion in society.

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Reason is the cause of our falsification of the evidence of the senses. In so far as the senses show becoming, passing away, change, they do not lie.
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The anarchist and the Christian have a common origin.
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