More from page 81 of my copy of Melville's Moby Dick:
"...for I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religious obligations, never mind how comical, and could not find it in my heart ot undervalue even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool; or those other creatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the torso of a deceased landed proprietor merely on account of the inordinate possessions yet owned and rented in his name.
I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals, pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits on these subjects...
...let him be, I say: And Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly in need of mending."
Timely, and funny.
ReplyDeleteAlso, inordinately wicked of you to point out Christian shortcomings. But not to worry, most of them don't read.