The idea of controlling thought or belief has,
in effect, been everywhere abandoned. Indeed, it may be questioned
whether any such control ever has been or could have been exercised; for
thought itself could never be known except through some outward
manifestation. It was therefore the _expression_ which was punished, and
not the inward consciousness. Opinions, it is true, have too often been
the avowed ground of oppression and persecution. Men have been injured
in various ways, on account of their known or suspected belief; even in
modern times and in communities claiming to be free, political
disabilities, social reprobation, and the stigma of disqualification as
witnesses have been imposed upon persons entertaining certain views on
theological questions. But these persecutions may have compelled the
suppression or disavowal of obnoxious opinions, and may have made
hypocrites; they never changed belief, or produced any other conviction
than that of wrong and outrage. The soul itself is beyond the reach of
any human authority, not to be conquered by any device of terror or
torture.
Difference of opinion is unfortunately the ground of natural aversion
among men; and it requires much enlightenment and liberal training to
enable society to overcome this universal prejudice and to inaugurate
complete and absolute toleration. 'In the present state of knowledge,'
says Buckle, the historian, 'the majority of people are so ill informed,
as not to be aware of the true nature of belief; they are not aware that
all belief is involuntary and is entirely governed by the circumstances
which produce it.
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