“…We all know that it is wrong to kill a good man, but even God would take that way the life of such a dog as he is. It is our duty, if we have any love for mankind, to shoot a dog that is mad. It is a sin to let him live. If, therefore, w e are to suffer at all, let it be in the interests of the people…”
-Leo Tolstoy, The Candle–
An uprising among the serfs is about to break out when the lords of the land keep on turning their backs on their human rights. One serf has at last spoken up due to the arrant cruelties he has experienced suggests that Michael Simeonovitch, the superintendent, be killed. But Peter Michayeff, a pacifist, stops them , for commiting such a crime leads to condemnation. Paranoid he may be, Michael sends an elder man to spy on the secret rancorous meeting of the serfs. When the elder man reports to the superintendent, Michael realizes , with the insistent platitude of his wife, that he is prone to perdition. To change the life he leads, he goes to the village to reconcile. Unfortunately, he falls off his horse and dies. Upon hearing the horrible accident and the cruelties befall the serfs , the noblemen freed their serfs.
“ The power of God is manifested not in Evil, but in goodness. “
The story deals with cruelties among the slaves with their suppressed feelings they can no longer stand, a factor which can trigger revolutionary act; the moral question when it is an evil to kill a person; or when the humility or turning –the-other-cheek biblical teaching is a perpetually necessary mean to put an end to an animalistic slavery; and all in all, how God plays a role in such a realistic scene of human life.
Rating: 3/5 stars
A Book Bore in Timbuktu 
The story may be about cruelty among the slaves but we need to remember, it was religion that enslaved them in the first place
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Exactly, that is what I want to stress here. ^^
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People tend to only see their one good side of religions, not the bad which outweigh the good
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How about the opinion of British Philosopher, Alain de Botton that people still need religion. You can as well read my review of A Confession by Leo Tolstoy here. ^^
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Religion is good in helping to develop morals SOMETIMES. Its bad because it makes people disapprove science and believe in an invisible man
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Somehow , religious people are now turning to Liberation Theology,^^
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With out religion, men will be more barbarous. The religion changes and shows him a right patch. Even though some heads of religions preach some dogmas but not religion it helps people avoid some misdeeds.
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Thank you for your thoughts of it.
” …but not religion it helps people avoid some misdeeds.” I hope this point is not a delusional and illusional hypothesis. You may not be aware of that there are some atheists out there living as morally as you believe religious people do.
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