I will follow my logic, no matter where it goes, after it has consulted with my heart. If you ever come to a conclusion without calling the heart in, you will come to a bad conclusion.
Just to the extent that the Bible was appealed to in matters of science, science was retarded; and just to the extent that science has been appealed to in matters of religion, religion has advanced - so that now the object of intelligent religionists is to adopt a creed that will bear the test and criticism of science.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the relationship between science and religion, suggesting that both can positively influence each other when approached intelligently.
Robert Green Ingersoll's quote reflects on the historical interplay between science and religion, highlighting how reliance on the Bible for scientific matters has hindered scientific progress, while the incorporation of scientific scrutiny into religious beliefs has led to their evolution. The quote advocates for a harmonious relationship where religious beliefs adapt to withstand the criticism of scientific inquiry, promoting a more rational and enlightened approach to faith.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the role of faith in modern society, one could quote Ingersoll to highlight the importance of scientific integrity.
More from Robert Green Ingersoll
All quotes →If the guardians of society, the protectors of 'young persons,' could have had their way, we should have known nothing of Byron or Shelley. The voices that thrill the world would now be silent.
The religion that has to be supported by law is without value, not only, but a fraud and a curse. The religious argument that has to be supported by a musket is hardly worth making.
There is no slavery but ignorance.
In all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have worshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars, and buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monuments sleeps the dust of murder.
I believe that there is something far nobler than loyalty to any particular man. Loyalty to the truth as we perceive it - loyalty to our duty as we know it - loyalty to the ideals of our brain and heart - is, to my mind, far greater and far nobler than loyalty to the life of any particular man or God. . . .
Similar quotes
The God-image in man was not destroyed by the Fall but was only damaged and corrupted (“deformed”), and can be restored through God's grace. The scope of the integration is suggested by the descensus ad inferos, the descent of Christ's soul to hell, its work of redemption embracing even the dead. The psychological equivalent of this is the integration of the collective unconscious which forms an essential part of the individuation process.
People lose fifty million skin cells every day. The cells get scraped off and turn into invisible dust, and disappear into the air. Maybe we are nothing but skin cells as far as the world is concerned.
Being in the moment means not being distracted by the melodrama and hysteria around you. Present-moment awareness allows solutions to emerge.
To have lost is less disturbing than to wonder if we may possibly have won; and Eustacia could now, like other people at such a stage, take a standing-point outside herself, observe herself as a disinterested spectator, and think what a sport for Heaven this woman Eustacia was.
Among those who share a throne there can be no loyalty; Dominion's ever impatient consort.
Hope was an instinct only the reasoning human mind could kill. An animal never knew despair.