Chapter 9

THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF LIFE WILL EMANCIPATE
MEN FROM THE MISERIES OF OUR PAGAN LIFE.

The External Life of Christian Peoples Remains Pagan Though they
are Penetrated by Christian Consciousness--The Way Out of this
Contradiction is by the Acceptance of the Christian Theory of
Life--Only Through Christianity is Every Man Free, and Emancipated
of All Human Authority--This Emancipation can be Effected by no
Change in External Conditions of Life, but Only by a Change in the
Conception of Life--The Christian Ideal of Life Requires
Renunciation of all Violence, and in Emancipating the Man who
Accepts it, Emancipates the Whole World from All External
Authorities--The Way Out of the Present Apparently Hopeless
Position is for Every Man who is Capable of Assimilating the
Christian Conception of Life, to Accept it and Live in Accordance
with it--But Men Consider this Way too Slow, and Look for
Deliverance Through Changes in Material Conditions of Life Aided
by Government--That Will Lead to No Improvement, as it is simply
Increasing the Evil under which Men are Suffering--A Striking
Instance of this is the Submission to Compulsory Military Service,
which it would be More Advantageous for Every Man to Refuse than
to Submit to--The Emancipation of Men Can Only be Brought About by
each Individual Emancipating Himself, and the Examples of this
Self-emancipation which are already Appearing Threaten the
Destruction of Governmental Authority--Refusal to Comply with the
Unchristian Demands of Government Undermines the Authority of the
State and Emancipates Men--And therefore Cases of such Non-
compliance are Regarded with more Dread by State Authorities than
any Conspiracies or Acts of Violence--Examples of Non-compliance
in Russia, in Regard to Oath of Allegiance, Payment of Taxes,
Passports, Police Duties, and Military Service--Examples of such
Non-compliance in other States--Governments do not Know how to
Treat Men who Refuse to Comply with their Demands on Christian
Grounds--Such People, without Striking a Blow, Undermine the very
Basis of Government from Within--To Punish them is Equivalent to
Openly Renouncing Christianity, and Assisting in Diffusing the
Very Principle by which these Men justify their Non-compliance--So
Governments are in a Helpless Position--Men who Maintain the
Uselessness of Personal Independence, only Retard the Dissolution
Dissolution of the Present State Organization Based on Force.

The position of the Christian peoples in our days has remained
just as cruel as it was in the times of paganism. In many
respects, especially in the oppression of the masses, it has
become even more cruel than it was in the days of paganism.

But between the condition