ll
natural values; the priest himself is seen as he actually is--as the
most dangerous form of parasite, as the venomous spider of creation....
We know, our _conscience_ now knows--just _what_ the real value of all
those sinister inventions of priest and church has been and _what ends
they have served_, with their debasement of humanity to a state of
self-pollution, the very sight of which excites loathing,--the concepts
"the other world," "the last judgment," "the immortality of the soul,"
the "soul" itself: they are all merely so many instruments of torture,
systems of cruelty, whereby the priest becomes master and remains
master.... Every one knows this, _but nevertheless things remain as
before_. What has become of the last trace of decent feeling, of
self-respect, when our statesmen, otherwise an unconventional class of
men and thoroughly anti-Christian in their acts, now call themselves
Christians and go to the communion-table?... A prince at the head of his
armies, magnificent as the expression of the egoism and arrogance of his
people--and yet acknowledging, _without_ any shame, that he is a
Christian!... Whom, then, does Christianity deny? _what_ does it call
"the world"? To be a _soldier_, to be a judge, to be a patriot; to
defend one's self; to be careful of one's honour; to desire one's own
advantage; to be _proud_ ... every act of everyday, every instinct,
every valuation that shows itself in a _deed_, is now anti-Christian:
what a _monster of falsehood_ the modern man must be to call himself
nevertheless, and _without_ shame, a Christian!--

39.

--I shall go back a bit, and tell you the _authentic_ history of
Christianity.--The very word "Christianity" is a misunderstanding--at
bottom there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross. The
"Gospels" _died_ on the cross. What, from that moment onward, was called
the "Gospels" was the very reverse of what _he_ had lived: "bad
tidings," a _Dysangelium_.[14] It is an error amounting to
nonsensicality to see in "faith," and particularly in faith in salvation
through Christ, the distinguishing mark of the Christian: only the
Christian _way of life_, the life _lived_ by him who died on the cross,
is Christian.... To this day _such_ a life is still possible, and for
_certain_ men even necessary: genuine, primitive Christianity will
remain possible in all ages.... _Not_ faith, but acts; above all, an
_avoidance_ of acts, a different _state of being_.... St