Leo Tolstoy on Churches and Christianity

"The religion of Masonry is a system of absolute despotism, and like that of Rome, demands a blind unquestioning obedience to all its laws, rules, and edicts, whether ‘right or wrong.’ . . . what a singular commentary on the indifference, the subserviency, or the cowardice of society, that an institution, professedly organized by such cunning knaves [the Jesuits], and for such base purposes, and which has been sustained by fraud, falsehood and deception, from the commencement of its career to the present time, should be permitted today to dictate to, if not virtually to rule the nation, and to create such a dread in communities that even some of the ministers of Christian denominations who detest its vile philosophy, and who would like to see it swept from the face of the earth, are absolutely afraid to mention its name, either in the pulpit, the prayer meeting or the Sabbath school, lest its secret vendetta vengeance might, in some concealed manner, be wreaked upon them." Edmond Ronayne