| Thomas Aikenhead |
Article Index for Thomas |
Website Links For Thomas |
Information AboutThomas Aikenhead |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT THOMAS AIKENHEAD | |
| 1678 births | |
| aikenhead, thomas | |
| 1697 deaths | |
| biblical criticism | |
| people from edinburgh | |
| history of edinburgh | |
| people executed for heresy | |
|
Aikenhead was indicted in December 1696. The indictment read: "That ... the prisoner had repeatedly maintained, in conversation, that theology was a rhapsody of ill-invented nonsense, patched up partly of the moral doctrines of philosophers, and partly of poetical fictions and extravagant chimeras: That he ridiculed the holy scriptures, calling the Old Testament Ezra's fables, in profane allusion to as unworthy of resutation; and scoffed at the incarnation of Christ." {Link without Title} He further predicted that Christianity would be "utterly extirpated" by 1800. The case was prosecuted by the Lord Advocate , Sir James Stewart (grandfather of the future Jacobite economist Steuart ) who demanded the death penalty to set an example to others who might otherwise express such opinions in the future. Aikenhead was in fact the last person hanged for blasphemy in Britain. Aikenhead pleaded for Mercy during the hearing and attempted to recant his views but was sentenced to death by Hanging . On the Gallows , he stated his belief that Moral Laws were devised by humans rather than Divine . EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|