Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Countless sects

Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville:

There are countless sects in the United States. Each reveres the Creator in a different fashion, but all agree about man's duties to his fellow man. Each worships God in its own way, but all preach the same morality in God's name. Though it matters a great deal to each individual that his religion be true, this is not the case for society. Society has nothing to fear from the other life, and nothing to hope for, and what matters most to it is not so much that all citizens profess the true religion as that each citizen profess some religion. In any case, all sects in the United States are encompassed within the overarching unity of Christianity, and Christian morality is the same everywhere.

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