“It would be strange, indeed, that the word of Christ should have produced such results if it had been properly understood.”

— Simone Weil , Letter to a Priest

Section 9
Letter to a Priest (1951)
Context: Besides, it is written that the tree shall be known by its fruits. The Church has borne too many evil fruits for there not to have been some mistake at the beginning. Europe has been spiritually uprooted, cut off from that antiquity in which all the elements of our civilization have their origin; and she has gone about uprooting the other continents from the sixteenth century onwards. Missionary zeal has not Christianized Africa, Asia and Oceania, but has brought these territories under the cold, cruel and destructive domination of the white race, which has trodden down everything. It would be strange, indeed, that the word of Christ should have produced such results if it had been properly understood.

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Simone Weil 193

French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist 1909–1943

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“It would be strange, indeed, that the word of Christ should have produced such results if it had been properly understood.”

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