“I do not say that this is true in every case, but I do say that if priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrificed to God. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always so happened that God wanted what his agents liked.”

— Robert G. Ingersoll

A Christmas Sermon (1890)
Context: Back of all these superstitions you will find some self-interest. I do not say that this is true in every case, but I do say that if priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrificed to God. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always so happened that God wanted what his agents liked. Now, I will not say that all priests have been priests “for revenue only,” but I must say that the history of the world tends to show that the sacerdotal class prefer revenue without religion to religion without revenue.

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Robert G. Ingersoll 439

Union United States Army officer 1833–1899

Louis Tylka (1970) American Catholic bishop (born 1970)

Bishop Tylka shares hopes for ordination, explains motto in Catholic Post interview https://thecatholicpost.com/2020/07/16/bishop-tylka-shares-hopes-for-ordination-explains-motto-in-catholic-post-interview/ (16 July 2020)

“You’re like a priest who awakens one day and realizes that his god has been replaced by a cardboard cut-out, and he’s no longer able to ignore his own disbelief. And, like the priest, you’ve sacrificed all hope of a normal life on the altar of something you no longer believe in.”

Charles Stross book Rule 34

Source: Rule 34 (2011), Chapter 20, “Liz: Bereavement Counselling” (p. 229)

“They, like many priests, had been much too fanatical and not nearly as clever as the god they served.”

Fritz Leiber book Swords Against Death

The Seven Black Priests (pp. 175-176)
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series (1939-1988), Swords Against Death (1970)

“God picks the least in order to do His most wonderful work. In this way there's no boasting that can happen in the Lord's vineyard. So sometimes young people look at a priest and say, "Oh, he must be an angel."”

Eduardo Nevares (1954) Roman Catholic bishop

No, we’re no angels — angels are only in heaven. We're men doing the very best we can to serve God and to serve His holy people and to fall in love with God and with the people. If you really hear the call of the Lord, be generous because it’s a wonderful life. After 34 years as a priest, I can really and honestly say I have no regrets.
Five years a bishop — Q&A with Bishop Nevares https://www.catholicsun.org/2015/07/17/five-years-a-bishop-qa-with-bishop-nevares/ (17 July 2015)

“Only priests and fools are fearless and I've never been on the best of terms with God.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“If He had been Antichrist, Creeping Jesus,
He’d have done anything to please us;
Gone sneaking into synagogues,
And not us’d the Elders and Priests like dogs;
But humble as a lamb or ass
Obey’d Himself to Caiaphas.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

1810s, The Everlasting Gospel (c. 1818)

“We have women priests now. What do y'all think of that, women priests? [scattered applause] I think that's fine. So what? Now we've got priests of both sexes that I don't listen to.”

Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian

Arizona Bay (1997)

“I have always been proud of my association with Temple University. I have always wanted to do what would be in the best interests of the university and its students. As a result, I have tendered my resignation from the Temple University Board of Trustees.”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

The Hollywood Reporter, Bill Cosby Resigns From Temple University Board of Trustees, THR Staff, December 1, 2014, December 1, 2014, December 1, 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20141201220716/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bill-cosby-resigns-temple-university-753043 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bill-cosby-resigns-temple-university-753043,

“Let the inner god that is in each one of us speak. The temple is your body, and the priest is your heart: it is from here that every awareness must begin.”

Alejandro Jodorowsky (1929) Filmmaker and comics writer

“Now I tell what is very strong magic. I woke in the midst of the night. When I woke, the fire had gone out and I was cold. It seemed to me that all around me there were whisperings and voices. I closed my eyes to shut them out. Some will say that I slept again, but I do not think that I slept. I could feel the spirits drawing my spirit out of my body as a fish is drawn on a line.
Why should I lie about it? I am a priest and the son of a priest. If there are spirits, as they say, in the small Dead Places near us, what spirits must there not be in that great Place of the Gods? And would not they wish to speak? After such long years? I know that I felt myself drawn as a fish is drawn on a line. I had stepped out of my body — I could see my body asleep in front of the cold fire, but it was not I. I was drawn to look out upon the city of the gods.
It should have been dark, for it was night, but it was not dark. Everywhere there were lights — lines of light — circles and blurs of light — ten thousand torches would not have been the same. The sky itself was alight — you could barely see the stars for the glow in the sky. I thought to myself "This is strong magic" and trembled. There was a roaring in my ears like the rushing of rivers. Then my eyes grew used to the light and my ears to the sound. I knew that I was seeing the city as it had been when the gods were alive.”

Stephen Vincent Benét book By the Waters of Babylon

Source: By the Waters of Babylon (1937)

“I do not say that this is true in every case, but I do say that if priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrificed to God. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always so happened that God wanted what his agents liked.”

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Robert G. Ingersoll 439

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