Sunday, March 17, 1996
Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460
Without realizing what was happening, most of us gradually came to take for granted the premises underlying this philosophy of optimism. We proceeded to live these propositions, though we would not have stated them as blandly as I set them forth here:Man is inherently good.Individual man can carve out his own salvation with the help of education and society through progressively better government.Reality and values worth searching for lie in the material world that science is steadily teaching us to analyze, catalogue, and measure. While we would not deny the existence of inner values, we relegate them to second place.The purpose of life is happiness, [which] we define in terms of enjoyable activity, friends, and the accumulation of material objects.The pain and evil of life—such as ignorance, poverty, selfishness, hatred, greed, lust for power—are caused by factors in the external world; therefore, the cure lies in the reforming of human institutions and the bettering of environmental conditions.As science and technology remove poverty and lift from us the burden of physical existence, we shall automatically become finer persons, seeing for ourselves the value of living the Golden Rule.In time, the rest of the world will appreciate the demonstration that the American way of life is best. They will then seek for themselves the good life of freedom and prosperity. This will be the greatest impetus toward an end of global conflict.The way to get along with people is to beware of religious dictums and dogma. The ideal is to be a nice person and to live by the Creed of Tolerance. Thus we offend few people. We live and let live. This is the American Way.
... Catherine Marshall (1914-1983), Beyond Our Selves, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961, p. 5-6 
(see the book; see also 1 John 4:5-6; Luke 6:32; John 17:14-16; Rom. 3:10,23; 1 John 5:19; more at Education, Goodness, Greed, Happiness, Hatred, Ignorance, Man, Optimism, Philosophy, Poverty, Power, Purpose, Science, Sin, Social, World)
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.
Last updated:
11/16/19
Fun stuff
 Tweet this
CQOD is now available to include on your personal home page, blog, or church web site—perfect for a sidebar.
To display CQOD on your web site, updating daily, copy the line below and paste directly into the position that CQOD should appear:
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cqod.com/js/"></script>
To display this particular quotation on your web site, copy the line below and paste directly into the position that CQOD should appear:
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cqod.com/js/index-03-17-96.js"></script>
For more information, see CQOD Web Home
|
Welcome to the CQOD home page. This page changes daily, publishing a different
quotation each day, so return here often. Many people use this page as their browser home page. Bookmark this page by pressing cntl-d.
means text and bibliography have been verified.
CQOD makes numerous features and links available. Here are some important links to help you get around:
Previous day’s CQOD (Williams)
Following day’s CQOD (Smith)
This month’s CQODs
CQOD for today
CQOD on the go!
Use our double opt-in listserve to receive CQOD by email
CQOD daily index
All monthly archives
What’s New on CQOD
Author index
Title index
Poetry index
Scripture index
Subject index
Search CQOD (or see below)
CQOD Blog
 CQOD RSS
 Facebook CQOD Fan Page
Follow CQOD on Twitter
 Follow CQOD on Instagram
About CQOD
CQOD on the Web
CQOD FAQ
CQOD Liturgical Calendar
Mere Christianity: a conversation
Simple Songs for Psalms
Quotations Bible Study
Essays Archive
Bookworms
Spotlights
Publications:
Jonah: a miracle play
Ruth: a play
Also visit these organizations:
Arab Vision
Crescendo
Oratorium
More devotionals
Search CQOD:
|
