Here's what I came up with. It seems like a pretty reasonable explanation of that phrase's orgin. http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/42/messages/1094.html "This comes from a perfectly genuine mediaeval anecdote. In 1209, during the 'Albigensian Crusade' against the Cathar heresy in Southern France, the forces of Orthodox Catholicism had been besieging the city of Beziers, defended by the Cathar heretics, for some time. Finally they breached the walls of the city and prepared to storm it. The commander of the crusade, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, pointed out that not everybody in the city was a heretic, some of them were good Catholics, so how should they treat the inhabitants when they captured the city? A monk who was actually present at the siege recorded the answer of the Papal Legate to the Crusaders, Arnaud-Amaury, the Abbot of Citeaux, as "Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet." ("Kill them all. God will know his own." ) So the Crusaders followed his advice and killed everybody they could find in Beziers. " I guess over centuries of Latin translations, it slowly evolved to, "let God sort them out," over, "God will know his own". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaud-Amaury
thanks for that...interesting to know...but i heard it in a movie...and i think you're right it might be Apocalypse Now
Well it was in Doom (didn't see it, just did a search). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419706/quotes Sarge: Kill them all, let God sort them out. It's been said in other pop culture places, so you will probably find other sources. ~R It was also in the not so famous "Operation Dumbo Drop": Capt. T.C. Doyle: You slept with the wife of General "Kill-'em-all-and-let-God-sort-them-out" Richardson? It was also used in "Needful things." Leland: Kill them all. Let God sort them out. I've never heard of these two movies. ~R
Ahhhhh I knew it!!!! I remember watching the movie and thought as soon as he said that I thought how stupid can't they come up with anything more original.