Quotes about Coercion
Faith in Christ is voluntary. A person cannot be coerced, bribed, or tricked into trusting Jesus. God will not force His way into your life. The Holy Spirit will do everything possible to disturb you, draw you, love you—but finally it is your personal decision.
— Billy Graham
[Jesus] invoked a different kind of power: love, not coercion.
— Philip Yancey
PC advocates deny the existence of objective knowledge and morality, and thus see no point in employing moral suasion and logical argument to convince their fellow citizens that their viewpoint is correct. Their only means available is therefore using the instruments of political power, such as coercion, intimidation, marginalization, and name-calling. To put it philosophically: Ideas are not the power by which to change the world, but rather, the world's ideas are changed by power.
— Francis J. Beckwith
She threatened a Negro man who worked for her father that if he didn't take (have sex with) her she would swear he tried rape. He had no choice, except that he quit working for them. And from then until she finished high school, she managed it several times with other Negroes
— Malcolm X
And all this to be done on pain of death, and confiscation of house and goods, unless within the limited time they turned Roman catholics.
— John Foxe
Do not ever say that the desire to 'do good' by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives.
— Ayn Rand
All that is done on compulsion is bitterness to the soul.
— Aristotle
If you believe that you have the right to force me—use your guns openly. I will not help you to disguise the nature of your action.
— Ayn Rand
God acts toward his people, as much as possible, but since he is a God of persuasion rather than coercion, God also allows his people to act on him and to thereby condition the form his self-revelation takes, as much as this is necessary to remain in solidarity with, and to continue to work through, his fallen and culturally conditioned people.
— Gregory Boyd
Persuasion is better than force.
— Aesop
Yet the Scriptures teach that God does move a person's will, but in such a way that the person acts freely and voluntarily. Furthermore, sovereignty on a human plane suggests force and coercion, people doing things against their wills as in the subjection of slaves to masters, but the Scriptures never portray God's sovereignty in this manner.
— Jerry Bridges
It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry.
— Albert Einstein