--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If only religion could be brought to take…" description: "\"If only religion could be brought to take an interest in this earthly future, what a help it would be! ... Think of the appeal to the less spiritual of..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b52/charlotte-perkins-gilman-2420_appeals_if-only-religion-could-be-brought-to-tak_425874.jpg" --- # If only religion could be brought to take an interest in… ![“If only religion could be brought to take an interest in this earthly future, what a help it would be! ... Think of the appeal to the less spiritual of us, to those who never did get enthusiastic about eternity, or care so tenderly about their own souls, yet who could rise to the thought of…” quote by Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b52/charlotte-perkins-gilman-2420_appeals_if-only-religion-could-be-brought-to-tak_425874.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b52/charlotte-perkins-gilman-2420_appeals_if-only-religion-could-be-brought-to-tak_425874.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b52/charlotte-perkins-gilman-2420_appeals_if-only-religion-could-be-brought-to-tak_425874.jpg) > “If only religion could be brought to take an interest in this earthly future, what a help it would be! ... Think of the appeal to the less spiritual of us, to those who never did get enthusiastic about eternity, or care so tenderly about their own souls, yet who could rise to the thought of improving this world for the children they love, and their children after them.” [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. If religion focused on improving the earthly future, it could motivate people to care for the world and future generations. **In simple terms:** Religion could inspire practical care for humanity and the planet. Key Takeaway Encourage faith‑based environmental action. Themes religion future ethics environment generational care Mood thoughtful optimistic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - church programs - faith‑based NGOs - family discussions - policy advocacy Key Concepts theology social responsibility sustainability Questions to Reflect On - How can religious teachings be linked to present‑day stewardship? - What examples show faith driving environmental progress? A Different Perspective Religious institutions may resist change or prioritize afterlife concerns. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Appeal Spiritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appeal-spiritual-3765738/) [Appeals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appeals/) [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Enthusiastic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enthusiastic/) [Enthusiastic Eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enthusiastic-eternity-3765739/) [Eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity/) [Help Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/help-think/) [Helping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/helping/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Improving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/improving/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Religion Brought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion-brought-237661/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spiritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual/) [Think Appeal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-appeal-2794182/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [This world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/this-world/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [Would be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would-be/) ## Related quotes > [I think an appeal to arms and to brute force is unbecoming the age in which we live. Would to God that the time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anderson/i-think-an-appeal-to-arms-and-to-brute-force-is-unbecoming-the-age-in/) [Robert Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anderson/) > [I would like to think my appeal is my humour and entertainment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-sugg/i-would-like-to-think-my-appeal-is-my-humour-and-entertainment/) [Joe Sugg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-sugg/) > [If you know what you do well and stick to that, I think you can appeal to the different generations. You can strike a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angus-young/if-you-know-what-you-do-well-and-stick-to-that-i-think-you-can-appeal/) [Angus Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angus-young/) > [I think I appeal to people who are living in the margins because of their identity and who need to feel freedom somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/i-think-i-appeal-to-people-who-are-living-in-the-margins-because-of/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) > [It's barrister behaviour to say what you think will appeal to the person you're talking to, whoever it happens to be, whether it's true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mortimer/it-s-barrister-behaviour-to-say-what-you-think-will-appeal-to-the/) [John Mortimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mortimer/) > [No philosophy, no religion, has ever brought so glad a message to the world as this good news of Atheism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-besant/no-philosophy-no-religion-has-ever-brought-so-glad-a-message-to-the/) [Annie Besant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-besant/) > [“That, as far as she could tell, was the purpose of the religion she had been brought up in: it made people feel better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-stephenson/that-as-far-as-she-could-tell-was-the-purpose-of-the-religion-she-had/) [Neal Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-stephenson/) > [Religion brought forth riches, and the daughter devoured the mother.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/religion-brought-forth-riches-and-the-daughter-devoured-the-mother/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [Too often in time past, religion has brought forth criminal and shameful actions... How many evils has religion caused?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucretius/too-often-in-time-past-religion-has-brought-forth-criminal-and/) [Lucretius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucretius/) > [Grown people everywhere are always likely to cling to the religion they were brought up in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/grown-people-everywhere-are-always-likely-to-cling-to-the-religion/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Religion brought forth Prosperity, and the daughter destroyed the mother.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cotton-mather/religion-brought-forth-prosperity-and-the-daughter-destroyed-the/) [Cotton Mather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cotton-mather/) > [I just cant help but think that we, we could've had something. Have I really been blind to reality?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tori-kelly/i-just-cant-help-but-think-that-we-we-could-ve-had-something-have-i/) [Tori Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tori-kelly/) > [“Have you ever had a lyric from a really crappy song or advertising jingle get stuck in your head? Something that just won't go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-leatham/have-you-ever-had-a-lyric-from-a-really-crappy-song-or-advertising/) [Victoria Leatham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-leatham/) > [I think the act of talking about something - with a friend, or someone in your family, or someone you care about, and you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/i-think-the-act-of-talking-about-something-with-a-friend-or-someone/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [“We are surrounded by so many books, so many words, so many thoughts... and not a single one can help us. I think, What's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/we-are-surrounded-by-so-many-books-so-many-words-so-many-thoughts-and/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) ## More by Charlotte Perkins Gilman > [“They were inconveniently reasonable, these women.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/they-were-inconveniently-reasonable-these-women/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [Architecture might be more sportive and varied if every man built his own house, but it would not be the art and science that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/architecture-might-be-more-sportive-and-varied-if-every-man-built-his/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [To-day there is hardly a woman of intelligence in all America ... who is not definitely and actively concerned in some social interest, who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/to-day-there-is-hardly-a-woman-of-intelligence-in-all-america-who-is/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [“Here she comes, running, out of prison and off the pedestal: chains off, crown off, halo off, just a live woman.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/here-she-comes-running-out-of-prison-and-off-the-pedestal-chains-off/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [“I never saw so much expression in an inanimate thing before, and we all know how much expression they have! I used to lie…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/i-never-saw-so-much-expression-in-an-inanimate-thing-before-and-we/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [In New York City, everyone is an exile, none more so than the Americans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/in-new-york-city-everyone-is-an-exile-none-more-so-than-the-americans/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [The fact that women in the home have shut themselves away from the thought and life of the world has done much to retard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/the-fact-that-women-in-the-home-have-shut-themselves-away-from-the/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/eternity-is-not-something-that-begins-after-you-are-dead-it-is-going/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [Now why should that man have fainted? But he did,and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/now-why-should-that-man-have-fainted-but-he-did-and-right-across-my/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [The best proof of man's dissatisfaction with the home is found in his universal absence from it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/the-best-proof-of-man-s-dissatisfaction-with-the-home-is-found-in-his/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [The home is the centre and circumference, the start and the finish, of most of our lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/the-home-is-the-centre-and-circumference-the-start-and-the-finish-of/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [Audiences are always better pleased with a smart retort, some joke or epigram, than with any amount of reasoning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/audiences-are-always-better-pleased-with-a-smart-retort-some-joke-or/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [No matter what the belief, if it had modestly said, 'This is our best thought, go on, think farther!' then we could have smoothly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/no-matter-what-the-belief-if-it-had-modestly-said-this-is-our-best/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [A house does not need a wife any more than it needs a husband.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/a-house-does-not-need-a-wife-any-more-than-it-needs-a-husband/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [The home is a human institution. All human institutions are open to improvement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/the-home-is-a-human-institution-all-human-institutions-are-open-to/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) [Explore all 167 Charlotte Perkins Gilman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) ## More Appeals quotes > [Quotations can be valuable, like raisins in the rice pudding, for adding iron as well as eye appeal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peg-bracken/quotations-can-be-valuable-like-raisins-in-the-rice-pudding-for/) [Peg Bracken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peg-bracken/) > [If Robert Heinlein is more to your taste than George Lucas: “If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. 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