The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Chapter 2 summary

What happens

1. Tolstoy describes the banning and continued circulation of his book, while authorities permit and encourage attacks on it.
2. He sorts religious replies into five approaches, from claiming Christ permits violence to treating the question as already settled.
3. He rejects distinctions that permit violence against wrongdoers or in defense of others, citing uncertainty and Christ’s commands.
4. Farrar’s criticism and a conscription hearing illustrate how religious and official authority silence the central question.
5. Russian and foreign secular critics defend established methods of struggle or civilization instead of examining Christ’s proposed changes.
6. Tolstoy concludes that without an agreed standard of evil, force cannot settle conflicting moral judgments.

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