WIST Quotations<p><a href="https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/74405/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">A quotation from <b>Robert Ingersoll</b></a></p><blockquote>So our fathers said: “We will form a secular government, and under the flag with which we are going to enrich the air, we will allow every man to worship God as he thinks best.” They said: “Religion is an individual thing between each man and his creator, and he can worship as he pleases and as he desires.” And why did they do this? The history of the world warned them that the liberty of man was not safe in the clutch and grasp of any church. They had read of and seen the thumbscrews, the racks, and the dungeons of the Inquisition. They knew all about the hypocrisy of the olden time. They knew that the church had stood side by side with the throne; that the high priests were hypocrites, and that the kings were robbers. They also knew that if they gave power to any church, it would corrupt the best church in the world. And so they said that power must not reside in a church, or in a sect, but power must be wherever humanity is — in the great body of the people.</blockquote><p><b>Robert Green Ingersoll</b> (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator</p><p>Speech (1876-07-04), “Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],” Peoria, Illinois</p> <p>Sourcing, notes: <a href="https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/74405/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…</a></p><p><a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=quote" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>quote</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=quotes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>quotes</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=quotation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>quotation</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=America" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>America</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=churchandstate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>churchandstate</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=DeclarationofIndependence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DeclarationofIndependence</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>democracy</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=freedomofreligion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>freedomofreligion</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=liberty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>liberty</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=religiousfreedom" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>religiousfreedom</span></a> <a href="https://my-place.social/search?tag=religiouspersecution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>religiouspersecution</span></a></p>