Although attributed on the internet to a number of people, including James Anthony Froude and Willy Bach, the quote originated with BERTRAND RUSSELL (1872-1970).
SOURCE:
The quote about which you ask comes from an essay titled, "Why I Am Not a Christian," delivered as a lecture by Bertrand Russell on March 6, 1927, at the Battersea Town Hall, under the auspices of the South London Branch of the National Secular Society of England. The lecture was published in pamphlet form in that same year. The essay subsequently achieved additional notoriety with Paul Edwards’ edition of Russell’s book, "Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays" (1957).
THE QUOTE AS IT APPEARS IN CONTEXT:
"…Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing — fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. FEAR IS THE PARENT OF CRUELTY [emph. added], and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand-in-hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things. In this world we can now begin a little to understand things, and a little to master them by the help of science, which has forced its way step by step against the Christian religion, against the churches, and against the opposition of all the old precepts…."
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{ 3 comments }
Although attributed on the internet to a number of people, including James Anthony Froude and Willy Bach, the quote originated with BERTRAND RUSSELL (1872-1970).
SOURCE:
The quote about which you ask comes from an essay titled, "Why I Am Not a Christian," delivered as a lecture by Bertrand Russell on March 6, 1927, at the Battersea Town Hall, under the auspices of the South London Branch of the National Secular Society of England. The lecture was published in pamphlet form in that same year. The essay subsequently achieved additional notoriety with Paul Edwards’ edition of Russell’s book, "Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays" (1957).
THE QUOTE AS IT APPEARS IN CONTEXT:
"…Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing — fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. FEAR IS THE PARENT OF CRUELTY [emph. added], and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand-in-hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things. In this world we can now begin a little to understand things, and a little to master them by the help of science, which has forced its way step by step against the Christian religion, against the churches, and against the opposition of all the old precepts…."
For verification, please see:
http://users.drew.edu/~jlenz/whynot.html
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/russell0.htm
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/john_murphy/bertrandrussell.html
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/russell.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDw89oDXEdc [The audio of the quote begins at the 23 second mark.]
NOTE: I should add that in searching James Anthony Froude’s "Short Studies on Great Subjects," I was unable to locate the quote attributed to him by some. Please see:
http://books.google.com/books?id=BItmAAAAMAAJ&dq=James+Anthony+Froude+Source:+Short+Studies+on+Great+Subjects–Party+Politics&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=3gEqTMifFcmjnQf1oN3VDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=11&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q&f=false
Good luck!
James Anthony Froude
in "Short Studies on Great Subjects"
“Fear is the parent of cruelty.”
James Anthony Froude
http://thinkexist.com/quotes/james_anthony_froude/
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