There is a famous statement by Augustine: If you love God you may do as you please. Alas, it is not so simple. The Spanish inquisitors loved God. The Christians who burned witches loved God. Promoters of the Children’s Crusade loved God. John Calvin loved God when he allowed Servetus to be burned at the stake. Martin Luther loved God when he proposed driving Jews out of Germany. Jephthah loved God when he killed his daughter. Abraham loved God when he was willing to murder his son. Moses loved God when he ordered his soldiers to kill the older women and the male children of the Midianites, but to keep the virgin girls for themselves. In the bloody wars between Christians and Muslims, between Protestants and Catholics, all sides loved God.
— Martin Gardner, The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener