ABSTRACT
TIle Attitude of the Church THE pagan gods were merciless, revengeful, unjust and cruel, Yahveh, the God of Israel, according to the wealth of testimony provided in the Old Tes,tament, for sheer cruelty, terrorism and frightfulness, surpassed belief. Those who displeased Him He massacred in thousands; He smote the Israelites "with a very great plague"; 1 He approved the punishment of derelictions of duty and petty offences by such tortures as stoning to death and burning alive.
