Kazimierz Łyszczyński was a nobleman, landowner, philosopher, and soldier in the service of the Sapieha family. For eight years he studied philosophy as a Jesuit and then became a supply judge (podsędek) in legal cases against the Jesuits concerning estates.
Łyszczyński had read a book by Henry Aldsted entitled Theologia Naturalis, which attempted to prove the existence of divinity. But its arguments were so confused that Łyszczyński was able to infer many contradictions. Ridiculing Aldsted, Łyszczyński wrote in the book's margins the words "ergo non est Deus" ("therefore God does not exist").
This was discovered by one of Łyszczyński's debtors, Jan Kazimierz Brzoska, who was the nuncio of Brest in Poland or a Stolnik of Bracławice or Łowczy of Brześć. Brzoska, reluctant to return a great sum of money to him lent by Łyszczyński, accused the latter of being an atheist and gave the aforementioned work as evidence to Witwicki, bishop of Poznań. Brzoska also stole and delivered to the court a handwritten copy of De non existentia Dei, which was the first Polish philosophical treatise presenting reality from an atheistic perspective, and which Łyszczyński had been working on since 1674. Witwicki along with Załuski, bishop of Kiev, took up this case with zeal.
The King attempted to help Łyszczyński by ordering that he should be judged at Vilna, but this could not save Łyszczyński from the clergy. Łyszczyński's first privilege as a Polish noble, that he could not be imprisoned before his condemnation, was violated. The Łyszczyński case was brought before the diet of 1689 where he was accused of having denied the existence of God and having blasphemed against the Virgin Mary and the saints. He was condemned to death for atheism. The sentence was carried out before noon in the Old Town Market in Warsaw, where his tongue was pulled out followed by a beheading. After that, his corpse was transported beyond the city borders and cremated.
For untold centuries the religious have done everything in their power to destroy any who would dare question of reality of their God. They have burned us, tortured us, hanged us, imprisoned us, for doing nothing more than using the brain that THEIR faith stated that THEIR God had gifted to mankind.
Would any loving God give a bird wings and then lock him in a cage, or a fish gills and then strand him on the shore, why give a man intelligence and demand that he not think?
And if such a God existed, would he be worthy of worship?
The 'christians' were as ugly in spirit then as many of them are today. No wonder we are seeing the openess now of people declaring they are atheists. Things assuredly are a changin!!!
ReplyDeleteThe 'many' various religions in America are driving christians nuts - the christian numbers are dropping and I seriously believe will continue.
No one likes having people shove their beliefs down the throats of others.
So - stop it Republicans and christians!
republicans and christians one and the same now.
Delete"the christian numbers are dropping and I seriously believe will continue".
DeleteSigh..if only..one can always hope though.
Teabags!
DeleteAnd taking on water and listing like the titanic!
Frankly......If the various religions do not learn to at least tolerate each other........we'll ALL be martyrs.......
ReplyDeleteThe church really likes to keep people in the dark and fearful. This hasn't changed since the dark ages. Too bad they have infiltrated the republican party. The real "war" in this country is the war on thinking. This country will never reach greatness until there is a total separation of government and religion.
ReplyDeletedark and fearful... no wonder peeps like Sarah Palin are able to be exalted to the limelight.
DeleteThis is why the church and Republicans work hand in hand so well. They have some many values in common. Keep them ignorant and don't let them think for themselves. Keep them poor and dependent. Strike fear into them and keep them stressed and scared of a misstep. Get them to work for free. Get them to give you as much as you can, even if they suffer for it. Never allow anyone to question you, your actions or your motives.
DeleteYeah, Republicans and the church. Two sides of the same coin.
But God didn't give mankind the power of thought and reason...
ReplyDeleteThat was the first SIN:
Adam and Eve - against God's expressed command -
consumed the fruit of the tree of
KNOWLEDGE!
PLEASE tell me that is a snark!
DeleteWhen the religious guidelines were written - BY MAN! - the firs thing was to create crappy things like that in order to prevent individuals from thinking for themselves, thus making it easier for those in the religious con game to control - which is the PRIME REASON for religion.
Control and power.
Domination! WAR! also,too!
DeleteTypical whiny libtard attitude, Gryphen. No surprise there,
ReplyDeleteYou just like to criticize the tiny handful of slightly questionable Christian tongue extractions, radical craniectomies, pre-death cremations and spinal re-alignment therapy on the rack, without ever acknowledging the really positive effect that aggressive body modification in the name of Jeebus throughout history has had on the spread of His message of Brotherhood, Grace, Humility and The Terrifying Wrath of An Angry, Vengeful and Loving God.
I always have to remember that christians waged just as bloody a war against Atheists as they did against all other religions. A real nasty lot they are. They make today's Muslim extremists look like softies.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of that, it's interesting that the christians get so riled up about acts of religious terror such as 9/11, when they themselves have spent a millennium waging terroristic religious wars, with many more casualties than 9/11, all over the world. Just another fine example of christian hypocrisy.
The Salem witch trials have financial gain and greed mixed in with the religious fervor too. Nothing like having your neighbor condemned as a witch and executed to gain some more property for free or at bargain basement prices.
ReplyDeleteOf course, now the rich and powerful use eminent domain to steal what they want.
The best remedy to an over-reaching religious influence is the application of the strong, steady light of reason and reality.
ReplyDeleteWow. To balance the skewed intolerance of religion conveyed by some of these comments, go on to Gryphen's next post about Nelson Mandela, who was a religious man.
ReplyDeletePretty stupid going back more than 400 years to find your "atheist martyr." Clearly, the Christmas season ramps up your need to feel persecuted.
ReplyDeleteThe entirety of mankind is paying the price for such as you..........today we are all martyrs
DeleteI never knew there was a "statute of limitations" on martyrdom. Thanks , Gryphen. I always learn something new reading your posts and the comments. Just mention "Saturnalia", and there's a Christian with a Lawyer ready to rip the heart out of our holiday!
ReplyDeleteThe execution of Father Giordano Bruno shows that the church was just as comfortable with torturing and executing even members of the clergy for believing that an Almighty God created a universe full of life.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5LF-_KdC6Y
http://space.about.com/cs/astronomyhistory/a/giordanobruno.htm
"Hearing the ideas of Copernicus about the nature of the universe sent Giordano Bruno into a veritable frenzy of philosophical thought. If the Earth was not the center of the universe, and all those stars clearly seen in the night sky were also suns, then there must exist an infinite number of earths in the universe, inhabited with other beings like ourselves.
This idea about the universe did not sit well with the Catholic Church. They lured Giordano Bruno to Rome with the promise of a job, where he was immediately turned over to the Inquisition and charged with heresy.
Giordano Bruno spent the next eight years in chains in the Castel Sant’Angelo, where he was routinely tortured and interrogated until his trial. Despite this, he remained unrepentant, stating to his Catholic Church judge, Jesuit Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, "I neither ought to recant, nor will I." Even a death sentence handed down by the Catholic Church did not change his attitude as he defiantly told his accusers, "In pronouncing my sentence, your fear is greater than mine in hearing it."
Immediately after the death sentence was handed down, Giordano Bruno’s jaw was clamped shut with an iron gag, his tongue was pierced with an iron spike and another iron spike was driven into his palate. On February 19, 1600, he was driven through the streets of Rome, stripped of his clothes and burned at the stake."
Religion is one of the most important forces in the world. Whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew, or a Hindu, religion is a great force, and it can help one have command of one's own morality, one's own behavior, and one's own attitude.
ReplyDeleteNelson Mandela