Skip to content
quotesby

We have now, it Seems a National Bible Society, to propagate King James's Bible, through all Nations. Would it not be better to apply these pious Subscriptions, to purify Christendom from the Corruptions of Christianity; than to propagate those Corruptions in Europe Asia, Africa and America! ... Conclude not from all this, that I have renounced the Christian religion, or that I agree with Dupuis in all his Sentiments. Far from it. I see in every Page, Something to recommend Christianity in its Purity and Something to discredit its Corruptions. ... The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount contain my Religion.

John Adams#44

HistoryEthicsReligionCorruptionPurityReform

About this quote

What does it mean?
Christianity can be purified from corruption, and its core teachings remain valuable.
In plain terms
Separate pure doctrine from corrupt practices.
What can you take from it?
Reform, than abandonment, can restore a religion’s integrity.

Where it applies

  • church governance
  • mission work

Putting it to work

  • doctrinal review
  • ethical training

Questions to consider

  • How can institutions identify corruption?
  • What defines the 'pure' core of a faith?

Another view

It assumes a single pure core exists across diverse traditions.

More from John Adams

  1. I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved - the Cross. Consider w…

    Permalink to quote #43
  2. Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.

    Permalink to quote #45
  3. Power always sincerely, conscientiously, de tres bon foi, believes itself right. Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views, beyond the comprehensi…

    Permalink to quote #42

Related quotes

  1. And I myself, in Rome, heard it said openly in the streets, 'If there is a hell, then Rome is built on it.' That is, 'After the devil himself, there is no wors…

    Martin LutherMartin Luther quote #21
  2. He was a handsome brute in a coarse and heavy way, who, having been disgraced for corrupt practices as the first Nazi Gauleiter of Vienna, found, at thirty-fiv…

    Odilo GlobocnikOdilo Globocnik quote #6
  3. In the middle ages of Christianity opposition to the State opinions was hushed. The consequence was, Christianity became loaded with all the Romish follies. No…

    Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson quote #7