I don't believe in the war god of the Israelites. He's a bogeyman. Jesus preached the golden rule, by and large.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the concept of a vengeful deity and emphasizes the importance of ethical teachings, particularly those of Jesus.
In this quote, Terry Pratchett expresses skepticism about the traditional depiction of a war-like deity associated with the Israelites, suggesting that such a figure is more of a fear-inducing myth than a true representation of divinity. Instead, he highlights the teachings of Jesus, particularly the golden rule, which advocates for treating others well, proposing that ethical principles should take precedence over fear-based religious narratives.
In practice
During a debate about the morality in religion, this quote could serve to highlight the importance of ethical teachings.
And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement, and trespass charges already mentioned, and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy anymore. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after, without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done...which proves that you can be excused for just about anything if you are a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions.
They've got something they do it with, I think it's called a mocracy, and it means everyone in the whole country can say who the new Tyrant is. One man ... one vet. ... Everyone has ... the vet. Except for women, of course. And children. And criminals. And slaves. And stupid people. And people of foreign extraction. And people disapproved of for, er, various reasons. And lots of other people. But everyone apart from them. It's a very enlightened civilization.
Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it.
You can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look.
Any fool could be a witch with a runic knife, but it took skill to be one with an apple corer.
People look down on stuff like geography and meteorology, and not only because they're standing on one and being soaked by the other. They don't look quite like real science. But geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it, and meteorology is full of excitingly fashionable chaos and complexity. And summer isn't a time. It's a place as well. Summer is a moving creature and likes to go south for the winter.
The laws only can determine the punishment of crimes, and the authority of making penal laws can only reside with the legislator, who represents the whole society united by the social compact.
One day humanity will play with law just as children play with disused objects, not in order to restore them to their canonical use but to free them from it for good.
The several states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government
Each American must remember and help America remember that the fellowship of human beings is more important than the fellowship of race and class and gender in a democratic society.
Show me the country that has no strikes and I'll show you the country in which there is no liberty.
The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs.
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