“But the church, like a tender, loving mother holds aloof from active punishment herself, as the sinner is too severely punished already by the civil law, and there must be at least someone to have pity on him. The church holds aloof, above all, because its judgment alone contains the truth...”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Dostoyevsky - “But the church, like a tender...” 1

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