All human sin seems so much worse in its consequences than in its intentions.
Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes
Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and incapable of achieving it.
Fanatic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt. It is when we are not sure that we are doubly sure.
If we can find God only as he is revealed in nature we have no moral God.
Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.
A scientific humanism frequently offends the dignity of man, which it ostensibly extols, by regarding human beings as subject to manipulation and as mere instruments of some “socially approved” ends.
Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.
Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
