The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities

Faith & Science Conversation
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  • The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities: Mission Statement
    • Amor Mundi [The weekly publication of the Hannah Arendt Center]
      • On Fake Hannah Arendt Quotations - Roger Berkowitz (08-04-2024)
        • “The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie—a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days—but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.”
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Humanism.spending a great deal of time and effort trying to figure out answers to questions Christians already have in the bible. Its sad to think that mankind turns it back on God and then ends up so close to finding Him only to claim it was humanities own ability that got mankind to the finish line.

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This longer quote from the article you linked, @Terry_Sampson, is worth giving a public viewing. It fits many areas, including science. We saw the truth of it rampant during the main part of the most recent Pandemic:

“The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie—a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days—but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.”

@adamjedgar unfortunately in the U.S. Terry and I are watching the warning that Arendt gives in this quote unfold:

If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.

Not even the words of Jesus.

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