35 Years Ago

“The view that religious belief and practice were indispensable for the preservation of social order, not only between classes, but within classes, seems to have been held by leading statesmen like Napoleon and Metternich, who were not themselves noteworthy for their religious piety. Some members of elite groups in Western society who cite themselves as illustrations of the possibility of living by a morality without religion are dubious about the same being true for the commonality of mankind. Whatever may be the case for the enlightened thinker, ‘we need religion for the masses.’

“[T]here seems to be good reason to believe that the moral behavior of individuals does not depend so much on ratiocination as on early education. If, according to Matthew Arnold, conduct is nine-tenths of morality, habit, according to John Dewey, is ninety-nine one-hundredths of morality. The moral virtues—honesty, thoughtfulness, truthfulness, etc.—to be operative must become habits long before children can understand the justification for them.

“There are a great many problems and difficulties in developing and implementing a program of moral education in our schools and homes. But, if our aim is to develop reflective men and women who are prepared to accept responsibility for the moral choices they make, at no point will the injection of religious faith facilitate the process.”

Sidney Hook, “God and Morality,”

Free Inquiry, Volume 7, No. 1 (Winter 1986/87)

Sidney Hook (1902–1989) was professor emeritus of philosophy at New York University and senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace in Stanford, California. He was a member of the Secretariat of the International Academy of Humanism. This editorial spoke of his views on the relationship between religion and morality, both publicly and privately.

25 Years Ago

“There are three things we can do to counter the radical religious right. They include short-term and long-term initiatives and offer short-term and long-term results. The three strategies are: expose, oppose, and superimpose. We must continue to do what we have been doing, and that is to expose the agenda, the methods, and the effects of the actions of the religious right. This involves researching, working with the media, speaking out at public meetings, writing letters to editors, calling radio talk-shows, publishing newsletters, and networking with other groups.

“We oppose the radical religious right by organizing coalitions, registering and educating voters, working with the media, initiating legal action when appropriate, and organizing social action committees in churches, temples, mosques, and cultural groups.

“… We need to superimpose greater ideals than those offered by the radical religious right. To superimpose means to lay a grid over an existing pattern—to lay down our system of ethics and encourage people to live by them.”

Skipp Porteous, “Three Ways to Beat Religious Political Extremists,”

Free Inquiry, Volume 17, No. 1 (Winter 1996/1997)

Skipp Porteous is director of the Institute for First Amendment Studies in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Porteous offered a guide for readers to use when interacting with religious political extremists.