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About this quote

What does it mean?
Religion will always be powerful, but progress means good works should increasingly outweigh evil inspired by it.
In plain terms
Religion stays strong, but it gets better when it causes more good than harm.
What can you take from it?
Measure religious progress by the net good it produces.

Where it applies

  • assessing religious movements
  • discussing faith trends

Putting it to work

  • evaluate religious impact
  • promote ethical faith

Questions to consider

  • What defines progress in a faith tradition?
  • Is good intent enough?

Another view

Some define religious progress by truth or purity, not just outcomes.

More from Freeman Dyson

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  2. One of the great but less famous heroes of World War Two was Andre Trocme, the Protestant pastor of the village of Le Chambon sur Lignon in France, which shelt…

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  3. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension.

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