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About this quote

What does it mean?
The church often defends past wrongs and adopts new truths only after they are undeniable.
In plain terms
Religious institutions rarely lead change and instead defend old ways until change is forced.
What can you take from it?
Institutions often resist progress until it is inevitable.

Where it applies

  • historical analysis
  • criticism of organized religion
  • debate on progress

Putting it to work

  • questioning traditional authority
  • evaluating institutional claims

Questions to consider

  • How do institutions resist necessary change?
  • When does truth become undeniable?

Another view

The quote generalizes the behavior of all churches across history.

More from Robert G. Ingersoll

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  2. I never have denied the immortality of the soul. I have simply been honest. I have said: 'I do not know.'

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  3. I have the same right to express my thought to the whole world, that the whole world has to express its thought to me.

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