Lysander Spooner: “And they taught, and a servile and corrupt priesthood taught, that it…”

On the record

And they taught, and a servile and corrupt priesthood taught, that it was a religious duty of the people to obey them.

Said by

Lysander Spooner

Source

This passage highlights Spooner's belief in the manipulation of religious duty to enforce obedience to government.

More from Lysander Spooner

Yet the codes of the most celebrated kings are very small, and were little more than compilations of immemorial customs.

The people considered their jurisprudence as a part of their inheritance.

They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.

It was simply, that they would neither convict the innocent, nor acquit the guilty.

Lysander Spooner: “And they taught, and a servile and corrupt priesthood taught, that it was a religious duty of the people to obey them.”