FREETHINKER, n. A miscreant who wickedly refuses to look out of a priest’s eyes, and persists in looking into them with too searching a glance. Freethinkers were formerly
shot, burned, boiled,
racked, flogged, cropped,
drowned, hanged, disemboweled,
impaled, beheaded, skinned.
With the lapse of time our holy religion has fallen into the hands and hearts of merciful and humane expounders, and the poor freethinker’s punishment is entrusted to Him who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” Here on earth the misguided culprit is only
threatened, pursued, reviled,
avoided, silenced, cursed,
insulted, robbed, cheated,
harassed, derided, slandered.