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About this quote

What does it mean?
Religious and political beliefs are often adopted second‑hand without personal examination.
In plain terms
People usually accept religious and political ideas from others without thinking.
What can you take from it?
Critically examine beliefs before adopting them.

Where it applies

  • voting
  • faith communities
  • public debates

Putting it to work

  • encourage independent research
  • question inherited doctrines

Questions to consider

  • How can we foster independent belief formation?
  • When is tradition valuable?

Another view

Some traditions rely on communal transmission for cohesion.

More from Samuel Langhorne Clemens

  1. Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.

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  2. It does look as if Massachusetts were in a fair way to embarrass me with kindnesses this year. In the first place, a Massachusetts judge has just decided in op…

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  3. I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want.

    Permalink to quote #140

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