Sunday, December 03, 2006

"The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country. A calm and dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused against the state and even of convicted criminals against the state, a constant heart-searching by all charged with the duty of punishment, a desire and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry of all those who have paid their dues in the hard coinage of punishment, tireless efforts towards the discovery of curative and regenerating processes and an unfaltering faith that there is a treasure, if only you can find it in the heart of every person – these are the symbols which in the treatment of crime and criminals mark and measure the stored up strength of a nation, and are the sign and proof of the living virtue in it." - Winston Churchill

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Quotes from Tertullian:

- Plane nihil deo difficile: sed si tam abrupte in praesumptionibus nostris hac sententia utamur, quidvis de deo confingere poterimus quasi fecerit, quia facere potuerit. (Certainly nothing is difficult for God: but if in our assumptions we so rashly make use of this judgement, we shall be able to invent any manner of thing concerning God, as that he has done it, on the ground that he was able to do it.)
- Exigo rationem bonitas, quia nec aliud quid bonum haberi liceat quod non rationaliter bonum sit, nedum ut ipsa bonitas irrationalis deprehendatur. (I demand reason in his [Marcion's god] goodness, because nothing ought to be accounted good which is not rationally good: far less should goodness itself be found irrational.)
- ... facilius est, ut aliquam rationem habeat unum illud capitulum, quae cum ceteris apiat, quam ut apostolus diversa inter se docuisse videatur. (... it is easier (of belief) that that one passage should have some explanation agreeable with the others, than that an apostle should seem to have taught (principles) mutually diverse.)
- Nihil enim mali necessarium. (Nothing that is evil is necessary.)
- Si dii eliguntur ut bulbi, utique ceteri reprobi iudicantur. (If gods are selected like onions, certainly the rest are rejected as bad.)

How excellent. More apologists should follow these principle.
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