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On Religious Things
- University of Illinois Press
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On Religious Things 401 Belief and disbelief are not moral qualities, but only opinions. 402 Should we be condemned by God to the eternal torments of hell because our God-given intelligence finds divine revelation obscure and incredible? 403 The orthodox hate the free spirits because they are afraid of being regarded as stupid by them. 404 Whoever is given a ministry by God is also given the political and religious opinions of his ministry. 405 We are given religious instruction at the same age that we have childhood diseases. 406 The state concerns itself only with the utility, not with the truth, of religion ; philosophy, in contrast, is concerned only with its truth and not with its utility. 64 part 1: psychological observations 407 When the preacher says “Amen” from the pulpit, the thoughts of every listener return to the church. 408 Ministers of different denominations are at odds less on account of their different views than on account of their shared views. 409 Religious faith often arises not from the simplicity of the heart,but from the simplicity of the head. 410 An orthodox theologian who is torn away from his career by external circumstances seldom remains orthodox. 411 Fear is the mother of belief, and habit is its nurse. 412 The character of ministers appears blacker than the character of other people because it stands out from a lighter background. 413 Conscious hypocrites are rarer than one may think, since they presuppose an unusual energy. The mass of the ministry consists of unconscious hypocrites,that is,of those who dimly sense that they could not admit their unbelief to themselves without either being hypocrites in the genuine sense or having to resign from their position. Therefore they do not allow any serious doubt to emerge, but rather thrust the problem aside and think of something else. Even the other believers feel instinctively that they would lose every fixed support for their ideas and hopes by unbelief. Hence,self-interest and the longing for happiness are the principal supports for belief in the truth of religion. [3.84.110.120] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:17 GMT) It is similar in other things: everything of which clear knowledge would be unpleasant to us, we do not admit to ourselves. So the person in love imagines not being in love, the despised person not being despised, the indifferent person being enthusiastic, and so on. 414 The tears of the listeners are the triumph of the preacher. 415 If our happiness gives us an interest in belief in immortality, we should be mistrustful of the objective truth of this belief. 416 We would not take ourselves to be immortal if the opposite conviction were comfortable. 417 Whether we do something or leave it undone depends on the sensations and thoughts that are present in the moment of our action. They motivate the action necessarily, just as they are themselves motivated by our inborn nature and the influences that have operated on us from birth until the moment of the action. Consequently, all acts of will are necessary acts. 418 If the penitent were to express himself precisely, he would not say, “Oh, that I had left that deed undone,” but rather, “Oh, that the sensations and thoughts which gave rise to that deed had not been there!” 419 Ministers support religion because religion supports them. 420 Only a small number of ministers concern themselves any longer with the content of religion, as compared with its salary, or with the judgment of God, as compared with that of the church assembly. on religious things 65 66 part 1: psychological observations 421 Faith is needed (an ugly girl said to me) at times to protect us from despair , such as, over being ugly. 422 Ministers love the appearance of religion from love for their own appearance . 423 When a court is pious, many hold it to be in bad taste not to be pious. 424 Ministers are expected to have a certain feeling at a certain time in a certain place: they must be hypocrites. 425 Actors and preachers have in common,among other things,that one sees their profession in them: their faces, having been so often the place where an unnatural, artificial feeling is displayed, acquires with the passing of time the expression of the unnatural, artificial, and distorted. ...