Eric Gill Quotes
Catholics are necessarily at war with this age. That we are not more conscious of the fact, that we so often endeavor to make an impossible peace with it -- that is the tragedy. You cannot serve God and Mammon.
Gill, Eric. Autobiography. Jonathan Cape, 1940, p. 248.
This Sura of the Koran warns the faithful that the non-Muslims of the world have as a major objective the Conversion of Muslims. While this was and has been the case in times past starting even before the Crusades, many Christians felt it as an obligation to either convert the Muslims or to kill them. In modern times there have been Christian missionaries who have had an objective of converting Muslims, but no Christian government has had that as a policy for a long time now. But most Muslims are told this is so today and the Koran warned of this. The result is that many Muslims—particularly those who have not had much contact with other religions—believe that because of this, they will be forever fighting heretics like Christians. For this reason, Islam’s future is under attack.
Most fundamentalist Muslims view advocacy of any religion other than Islam as an “aggression” against Islam. While Americans are used to evangelizing and very aggressive attempts to convert others to and from various religion, the lack of freedom in most Islamic societies makes this a foreign notion. Also, Muslims read the works of some Christian missionaries and generalize this view to the West in its entirety. For example, See {607979}
Reflection on the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1850
The anti-intellectualism of many Protestant sects has its roots in this view of Martin Luther’s. The notion of reason as practiced by scientists as a hindrance to religion is not a new notion. Religious leaders have been trying to silence and discredit philosophers and scientists as long as there has been religion. Socrates was killed long before Christianity.
English history has been replete with Catholic-Protestant conflict and because of the British Empire, the British historians were very familiar with the Islamic conflict with Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and other religions. Toynbee was very worried about the future religious struggles and he turned out to be right. Freedom isi amenable to different interpretations and compromise. Religion also has different interpretations, but many of the religious fundamentalists see compromise as an offence to God and his word. So religion is less amenable to political, civil or social structuring and compromise.
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill ARA RDI was an English sculptor, typeface designer, and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. His religious views and subject matter contrast with his sexual behaviour, including his erotic art, and (as mentioned in his own diaries) his extramarital affairs and sexual abuse of his daughters, sisters, and dog.
