Mental humility, it may be said, is the greatest quality lacking in the sporadic Protestant sects and cults ever springing up in our midst. Their self-confident assumption that they possess the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth gives their witness a pioneering zeal at the start but makes them ridiculous in the end.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
“The Open Mind,” Protestantism: A Symposium, ed. W.K. Anderson (1944)
Full text.
Quotations by:
Sockman, Ralph W.
We must remember that the test of courage comes when we are in the minority, but the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
“The Open Mind,” Protestantism: A Symposium, ed. William K. Anderson (1944)
Full text.
Open-mindedness is a virtue all praise and few possess. Prejudice is a sin everyone denounces and almost no one seriously confesses.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
“The Open Mind,” Protestantism: A Symposium, ed. William K. Anderson (1944)
Full text.
It is one thing to be moved by events; it is another to be mastered by them.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Bulletin of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago (17 Nov 1957)
The search for scapegoats eases our consciences but does not eradicate our evils. It causes us to kill the sinners and keep their sins.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Preface to Peace, Part I, “Barriers to be Removed,” Rockwell Lecture on Religious Subjects, Rice Institute (25 Apr 1944)
Full text.
Piously through pulpit and press we confess that the war is a judgment on the sins in which we are all involved; but nevertheless each nation pharisaically thanks God that it is not as the other nations are. We admit that we are bad, but exonerate ourselves because others are worse.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Preface to Peace, Part I, “Barriers to be Removed,” Rockwell Lecture on Religious Subjects, Rice Institute (25 Apr 1944)
Full text.
Prejudice is a sin which every one denounces and almost no one seriously confesses. It is difficult to dislodge from the human mind because the possessor either does not think he has it or does not think it a dangerous sin if he has. Most of us admit that we have some prejudices and smile about them as if they were harmless foibles. Narrow-minded persons do not come crying to be saved from their prejudices. It is this self-deception and self-satisfaction which serve to make prejudice so baffling.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Preface to Peace, Part I, “Barriers to be Removed,” Rockwell Lecture on Religious Subjects, Rice Institute (25 Apr 1944)
Full text.
When men become nervously concerned for orthodoxy it is a sign of some lurking skepticism within their own belief. Faith that is sure of itself does not feel the need of noisily defending its creeds.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Preface to Peace, Part I, “Barriers to be Removed,” Rockwell Lecture on Religious Subjects, Rice Institute (25 Apr 1944)
Full text.
Good men are ever getting in the way of the good. Look back over the changes which have made for social progress, and observe those who opposed them at the time of the change. Religion does not escape condemnation at this point. The prophets of religion have called men to the vision of new horizons and to the struggle toward new social gains. On the other hand, there is scarcely a form of meanness or narrowness that has not had sometime or somewhere the sanction of religion. Religion has promoted both candor and prejudice, both stubbornness and sweet reasonableness, both ruthlessness and gentleness.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Preface to Peace, Part I, “Barriers to be Removed,” Rockwell Lecture on Religious Subjects, Rice Institute (25 Apr 1944)
Full text.
Sins of the mind can be so much more subtly dangerous than sins of the body. The latter, such as lust or intemperance, usually leave their open marks and thereby are likely to induce a sense of shame and a spirit of repentance. But mental sins, such as prejudice or pride, beget no bodily
brakes which serve to check their progress.Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Preface to Peace, Part I, “Barriers to be Removed,” Rockwell Lecture on Religious Subjects, Rice Institute (25 Apr 1944)
Full text.
Prejudice and bigotry thrive on ignorance, but intelligent persons frequently are bigoted because they are uninformed in fields of knowledge that have not come within their range of study. And in this day of specialization, a person may sift scientifically the data in the field of his own cultivation, and be superstitiously gullible in areas outside his specialty. The evils of this situation are enhanced by the fact that personal prestige gained in one field gives weight to unintelligent opinions expressed in another.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Preface to Peace, Part I, “Barriers to be Removed,” Rockwell Lecture on Religious Subjects, Rice Institute (25 Apr 1944)
Full text.
The roads of life are strewn with the wreckage of run-down and half-finished loves.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
Privately published (1960)