People May Be Said To Resemble Not

Ethical Religion Affirms The Continuity Of Progress Toward Moral Perfection. It Affirms That The Spiritual Development Of The Human Race Cannot Be Prematurely Cut Off, Either Gradually Or Suddenly; That Every Stone Of Offence Against Which We Stumble Is A Stepping-stone To Some Greater Good; That, At The End Of Days, If We Choose To Put It So, Or, Rather, In Some Sphere Beyond The World Of Space And Time, All The Rays Of Progress Will Be Summed And Centred In A Transcendent Focus.

The Right For The Right's Sake Is The Motto Which Everyone Should Take For His Own Life. With That As A Standard Of Value We Can Descend Into Our Hearts, Appraise Ourselves, And Determine In How Far We Already Are Moral Beings, In How Far Not Yet.

It Is Our Hope, That Men In Proportion As They Grow More Enlightened, Will Learn To Hold Their Theories And Their Creeds More Loosely, And Will None The Less, Nay, Rather All The More Be Devoted To The Supreme End Of Practical Righteousness To Which All Theories And Creeds Must Be Kept Subservient.

The Ethical Society, Therefore, Is Like A Church In Maintaining, And Emphasizing The Importance Of Maintaining The Custom Of Public Assemblies On Sunday.

There Is As Yet No Civilized Society, But Only A Society In The Process Of Becoming Civilized. There Is As Yet No Civilized Nation, But Only Nations In The Process Of Becoming Civilized. From This Standpoint, We Can Now Speak Of A Collective Task Of Humankind. The Task Of Humanity Is To Build A Genuine Civilization.