A religious man is not trusted to-day because he is religious. Faith in
vicarious atonement is not accepted as a moral substitute for meeting
one’s obligations. Worship of God is not equivalent to helping your
neighbor. The fact that a man is religious may not be proof that he is a
bad man, but it is no evidence that he is a good man. The most
contemptible wretch that ever robbed the widow or orphan could shine in a
prayer-meeting, where words are passed for virtues. The veriest scoundrel
can pay a pew tax and march up the aisle of the church with sanctimonious
countenance. Religion is such a superficial affair that it carries no
moral recommendation. Without morality religion could not borrow a dollar
on its name, while morality without religion can get all the accommodation
it asks for. The real virtues of a man do not depend upon religion. Men
have lived good lives while believing in dozens of gods and without faith
in a single god. Morality is not the offspring of theology. You cannot
pick out a moral man by hearing him pray. A great deal of religion is worn
to conceal moral defects.
We should watch the man who stands up in public and says: I am moral. We
should say to him: It is not necessary for you to proclaim your morality;
your daily life will show how moral you are. The world is becoming
suspicious of him who stands up in public and says: I am religious.
A great many people seem to think if they profess to love God it is not
necessary for them to love man.
We are not denying that a great many good men and women are religious;
that a great many good men and women go to church and prayer-meeting. We
do not deny that a great many moral men and women profess faith in total
depravity, in vicarious atonement, but we do not see how their faith has
anything to do with their morality. There is no particular necessity for
Christians to be good. Their faith saves them, not their conduct. Religion
is not doing, it is believing, or pretending to.
There is a big opportunity to lie in religion. You cannot tell when a
person says he believes in God whether he is telling the truth or not. It
is mighty easy to be religious. But the moral man has no such chance. He
is not judged by his professions, but by his actions.
Religion makes hypocrisy easy, but morality offers the hypocrite no show
whatever.
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Never forget the good deeds that others do to you, nor remember those that
you do to others.