“A merged religion and a negligible or subordinate religion are no religion.”

—  William Ernest Hocking

Source: The Meaning of God in Human Experience (1912), Ch. II : The Work of Religion in History, p. 22.
Context: What our view of the effectiveness of religion in history does at once make evident as to its nature is--first, its necessary distinction; second, its necessary supremacy. These characters though external have been so essential to its fruitfulness, as to justify the statement that without them religion is not religion. A merged religion and a negligible or subordinate religion are no religion.

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William Ernest Hocking photo
William Ernest Hocking 31
American philosopher 1873–1966

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