Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its read more

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.

The biblical account of Noah's Ark and the Flood is perhaps the most implausible story for fundamentalists to defend. Where, read more

The biblical account of Noah's Ark and the Flood is perhaps the most implausible story for fundamentalists to defend. Where, for example, while loading his ark, did Noah find penguins and polar bears in Palestine?

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so read more

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.

At the core of every moral code there is a picture of human nature, a map of the universe, and read more

At the core of every moral code there is a picture of human nature, a map of the universe, and a version of history. To human nature (of the sort conceived), in a universe (of the kind imagined), after a history (so understood), the rules of the code apply.

In His will is our peace.

In His will is our peace.

The mind never fully accepts any convictions that it does not owe to its own efforts.

The mind never fully accepts any convictions that it does not owe to its own efforts.

God hears no more than the heart speaks; and if the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf.

God hears no more than the heart speaks; and if the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf.

The church is the great lost and found department.

The church is the great lost and found department.

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may read more

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may be called "sciences as one would." For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore he rejects difficult things from impatience of research; sober things, because they narrow hope; the deeper things of nature, from superstition; the light of experience, from arrogance and pride; things not commonly believed, out of deference to the opinion of the vulgar. Numberless in short are the ways, and sometimes imperceptible, in which the affections color and infect the understanding.