by Nomad
About a century ago, writer H. L. Mencken perfectly summed up the problem for politically-minded evangelists:
They have gained (at least transiently) a formidable power over politicians even worse than they are, but they have wrecked their church. They have won a battle and lost a war.But he also saw the demolition of the church as a reason for optimism.
The wrecking of such churches as these, whether they be spiritual or secular, seems to me to be an excellent gauge of the progress of civilization. For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.
