A good GK Chesteron Heretics paragraph
I love Chesterton, he was the guy who for a time cured me of my fanatical adherence to Calvinism, he is a lively wit, and is a joy to read. I hope to keep reading him regularly now, embedded in this nice and juicy paragraph is a non-critical mention of Puritans, i liked that, GK was a Catholic, and for a Catholic to acknowledge anything good about Puritans is a sign of maturity, the kind of thinking that is gracious, and not acidic and toxic. I recall someone on SW who was all Buddhist centric lambasted GK for some trivial thing, same person who ridiculed Augustine for not knowing Greek or something like that, that's what i call ungracious thinking. But anyways take it away GK!!
"The theory of the unmorality of art has established itself firmly in the strictly artistic classes. They are free to produce anything they like. They are free to write a “Paradise Lost” in which Satan shall conquer God. They are free to write a “Divine Comedy” in which heaven shall be under the floor of hell. And what have they done? Have they produced in their universality anything grander or more beautiful than the things uttered by the fierce Ghibbeline Catholic, by the rigid Puritan schoolmaster? We know that they have produced only a few roundels. Milton does not merely beat them at his piety, he beats them at their own irreverence. In all their little books of verse you will not find a finer defiance of God than Satan’s. Nor will you find the grandeur of paganism felt as that fiery Christian felt it who described Faranata lifting his head as in disdain of hell. And the reason is very obvious. Blasphemy is an artistic effect, because blasphemy depends upon a philosophical conviction. Blasphemy depends upon belief and is fading with it. If any one doubts this, let him sit down seriously and try to think blasphemous thoughts about Thor. I think his family will find him at the end of the day in a state of some exhaustion."
