to this age has, even as a means of reforming humanity, been a
complete failure, Shelley correctly believed, had the same human
foundation and origin as that of other revealed theologies--he sums up
the proofs on which Christianity rests, miracles, prophecies, and
martyrdoms, with great clearness; proves the absurdity of the doctrine
of miracles, as taught by Christian writers, shows the falseness of
the so-called prophecies, even granting the utmost warping of the real
meaning of the Old Testament texts for Christian purposes, which he
asserted were to be compared unfavorably with the oracles of Delphos,
and points out that the Mohammedan dying for his prophet, or the
Hindoo immolating himself under the wheels of Juggernaut could be
cited equally as a proof of the divine origin of their faiths, as the
reputed martyrdoms of Christians could of theirs.

The development of Christianity, which was really founded by Paul, was
a subject to which Shelley devoted much attention--he tells us that

"The same means that have supported every other belief, have
supported Christianity. War, imprisonment, assassination,
and falsehood; deeds of unexampled and incomparable
atrocity, have made it what it is. The blood shed by the
votaries of the God of mercy and peace, since the
establishment of his religion, would probably suffice to
drown all other sectaries now on the habitable globe. We
derive from our ancestors a faith thus fostered and
supported; we quarrel, persecute, and hate, for its
maintenance. Even under a government which, while it
infringes the very right of thought and speech, boasts of
permitting the liberty of the press, a man is pilloried and
imprisoned because he is a deist, and no one raises his