QuoteProject
The thing with Catholicism, the same as all religions, is that it teaches what should be, which seems rather incorrect. This is what should be. Now, if you're taught to live up to a what should be that never existed - only an occult superstition, no proof of this should be - then you can sit on a jury and indict easily, you can cast the first stone, you can burn Adolf Eichmann, like that!
Lenny Bruce
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote critiques religious teachings that impose ideals without evidence, leading to moral judgment and condemnation of others.

Lenny Bruce's quote explores the conflict between religious teachings and reality. He argues that religions often promote ideals of how life should be, based on faith rather than tangible proof. This adherence to 'what should be' can lead individuals to harshly judge and punish others without considering the complexity of human existence, ultimately questioning the validity and impact of these moral frameworks on society.

Themes

ReligionMoralityJudgmentTruthHuman Nature

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate about the role of religion in modern society.

More from Lenny Bruce

The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can't fake it... try to fake three laughs in an hour - ha ha ha ha ha - they'll take you away, man. You can't.
Lenny BruceRead
If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.
Lenny BruceRead
I'm not a comedian. I'm Lenny Bruce.
Lenny BruceRead
I'll die young, but it's like kissing God.
Lenny BruceRead
All my humor is based on destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, I'd be standing in the bread line - right in back of J. Edgar Hoover.
Lenny BruceRead
In the Halls of Justice the only justice is in the halls.
Lenny BruceRead

Similar quotes

Islamophobia, in all its guises, seeks to minimise the importance of the individual and maximise the importance of the group. Yet our instinctive stance ought to be one of suspicion towards such endeavours. For individuals are undeniably real. Groups, on the other hand, are assertions of opinion.
Mohsin HamidRead
As for me, I am deeply a democrat; this is why I am in no way a socialist. Democracy and socialism cannot go together. You can't have it both ways. Socialism is a new form of slavery.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
International affairs is very much run like the mafia. The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn't pay his protection money. You have to have obedience; otherwise, the idea can spread that you don't have to listen to the orders, and it can spread to important places.
Noam ChomskyRead
There could conceivably be circumstances in which an experiment on an animal stands to reduce suffering so much that it would be permissible to carry it out even if it involved harm to the animal... [even if] the animal were a human being.
Peter SingerRead
We spend our time envying people whom we wouldn't wish to be.
Jean RostandRead
Western Christians have imagined that, at the end of the day, God is going to throw the present space-time universe into a trashcan and we'll be sitting on clouds playing harps. The ultimate future that we're promised is much more interesting than that. It's new heavens and a new Earth with new bodies to live in.
N. T. WrightRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.