The American Bible Quotes

“Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”
― Stephen R. Prothero, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”
― Stephen R. Prothero, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
― Stephen R. Prothero, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation

“Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices.”
― Stephen R. Prothero, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation

“were we truly men of dedication—with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest?”
― Stephen R. Prothero, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation

“Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill—constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities.”
― Stephen R. Prothero, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation

“The most controversial part of the controversial legislation now derided by Republicans as “Obamacare”—the mandate that individuals buy health insurance—was originally proposed by Republican economists, championed by the conservative Heritage Foundation, introduced in Congress by Republican politicians, and enacted in Massachusetts under Republican governor Mitt Romney.16 Planned Parenthood, now anathema to Republicans because of its pro-choice policies, enjoyed the support of two of the biggest dynasties of Republican politics, the Goldwater and Bush families, until the rise of the Religious Right in the 1980s made the pro-life position a litmus test for the GOP. And Republican platforms from 1940 to 1976 endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment for women.”
― Stephen R. Prothero, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation

“Why allow John Boehner or Nancy Pelosi to dominate your book group when Jefferson, Lincoln, and King are in the room?”
― Stephen R. Prothero, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation