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There is no social evil, no form of injustice whether of the feudal or the capitalist order which has not been sanctified in some way or other by religious sentiment and thereby rendered more impervious to change.

Reinhold Niebuhr

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Reinhold Niebuhr
Age: 78 †
Born: 1892
Born: June 21
Died: 1971
Died: June 1
Ethicist
Philosopher
Political Scientist
Theologian
University Teacher
Wright City
Missouri
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr
Order
Thereby
Form
Sentiments
Change
Capitalist
Way
Injustice
Feudal
Religious
Sanctified
Whether
Impervious
Evil
Rendered
Social
Sentiment

More quotes by Reinhold Niebuhr

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Love is the motive, but justice is the instrument.
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It is significant that it is as difficult to get charity out of piety as to get reasonableness out of rationalism.
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Nationalism: One of the effective ways in which the modern man escapes life's ethical problems.
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That is one of the flagrant misconceptions about Catholicism in America that if a man is a Catholic he owes allegiance to what they say a foreign sovereign, or something like that.
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All men who live with any degree of serenity live by some assurance of grace.
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The recalcitrant forces in the historical drama have a power and persistence beyond our reckoning.
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Reason tends to check selfish impulses and to grant the satisfaction of legitimate impulses in others.
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The churches that are most obviously democratic are most obviously given to race prejudice. I mean the churches that have absolute congregational control.
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I wouldn't judge a man by the presuppositions of his life, but only by the fruits of his life. And the fruits - the relevant fruits - are, I'd say, a sense of charity, a sense of proportion, a sense of justice.
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We have to risk a nuclear war in order to escape capitulation to Communism. For all I know, we may stumble into this terrible war.
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The history of mankind is a perennial tragedy for the highest ideals which the individual may project are ideals which he can never realize in social and collective terms.
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The prophet himself stands under the judgment which he preaches. If he does not know that, he is a false prophet.
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The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.
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One of the fundamental points about religious humility is you say you don't know about the ultimate judgment. It's beyond your judgment. And if you equate God's judgment with your judgment, you have a wrong religion.
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That is the truth about man - that he has a curious kind of dignity, but also a curious kind of misery, and that these forms of agnosticism don't understand.
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I think that the achievements of Catholicism on race are very, very impressive.
Reinhold Niebuhr
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Better not read books in which you make acquaintance of the devil.
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A genuine faith resolves the mystery of life by the mystery of God.
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You can't say that religion or irreligion will give us a particular answer to the nuclear dilemma.
Reinhold Niebuhr
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Aim for the stars and maybe you'll reach the sky.
Reinhold Niebuhr