In better times the religion of the tribe or state has nothing in common with the private and foreign superstitions or magical rites that savage terror may dictate to the individual.
More Quotes from William Robertson Smith:
In all the antique religions, mythology takes the place of dogma; that is, the sacred lore of priests and people... and these stories afford the only explanation that is offered of the precepts of religion and the prescribed rules of ritual.William Robertson Smith
The land of a god corresponds with the land of his worshipers.
William Robertson Smith
The god, it would appear, was frequently thought of as the physical progenitor or first father of his people.
William Robertson Smith
Even the highest forms of sacrificial worship present much that is repulsive to modern ideas, and in particular it requires an effort to reconcile our imagination to the bloody ritual which is prominent in almost every religion which has a strong sense of sin.
William Robertson Smith
The myths connected with individual sanctuaries and ceremonies were merely part of the apparatus of the worship; they served to excite the fancy and sustain the interest of the worshipper... no one cared what he believed about its origin.
William Robertson Smith
Religion did not exist for the saving of souls but for the preservation and welfare of society, and in all that was necessary to this end every man had to take his part, or break with the domestic and political community to which he belonged.
William Robertson Smith
Readers Who Like This Quotation Also Like:
Based on Topics: Religions & Spirituality QuotesBased on Keywords: rites, superstitions
John Brown first swam into my vision in the 1960s when I was a political activist in the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement at Chapel Hill, where I went to university.
Russell Banks
I didn't say I was running, did I?
Rick Perry
I quit my job, and went ashore to become a writer.
Theodore Sturgeon