Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
Nationalism: One of the effective ways in which the modern man escapes life's ethical problems.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nationalism allows individuals to avoid facing complex ethical dilemmas by providing a simplified identity.
Reinhold Niebuhr's quote suggests that nationalism offers a convenient escape for modern individuals from the challenging moral questions of life. By aligning themselves with national identity, people may find comfort and clarity at the expense of deeper ethical engagement and responsibility.
Themes
NationalismEthicsIdentityEscapeMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about national policies, one might use this quote to discuss how nationalism can oversimplify complex ethical issues.
More from Reinhold Niebuhr
All quotes βThe tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
The mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self mastery.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
All you earnest young men out to save the world. . . please, have a laugh.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
Forgiveness is the final form of love.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
Similar quotes
Justification by religious performances, and meritorious deeds, is nothing better than the old Pharisaism with a Christian name stuck upon it. . . That doctrine makes the Lord Jesus Christ to be practically a nobody; for if salvation be of works, then the way of salvation through faith in a Savior is superfluous, and even mischievous
Charles SpurgeonRead
Fascism says what you and I experience as facts or what reporters experience as facts are irrelevant. All that matters are impressions and emotions and myths.
Timothy D. SnyderRead
All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking it's pretty damn complicated in the first place.
Douglas AdamsRead
Money has transformed every watchdog, every independent authority. Medical doctors are increasingly gulled by the lobbying of pharmaceutical salesmen.
Thomas FrankRead
No opinion can be trusted; even the facts may be nothing but a printer's error.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
My benefactor told me that my father and mother had lived and died just to have me, and that their own parents had done the same for them. He said that warriors were different in that they shift their assemblage points enough to realize the tremendous price that has been paid for their lives. This shift gives them the respect and awe that their parents never felt for life in general, or for being alive in particular.
Carlos CastanedaRead