Beloved Quote by Jonathan Swift

“What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the…

— James Madison

Clergy are men as well as other folks.

— Henry Fielding

The clergy, with a few honorable exceptions, have in all modern countries been the avowed enemies of the diffusion of knowledge, the danger of…

— Henry Thomas Buckle

“The typical clergy/laity system practiced among most churches is detrimental to believers. In this system only a professional class of people teaches and preaches,…

— Henry Hon

I never liked the Hierarchy of the Church-an equality in the teacher of Religion, and a dependence on the people, are republican sentiments-but if…

— Rufus King

There is in the clergy of all Christian denominations a time-serving, cringing, subservient morality, as wide from the spirit of the gospel as it…

— John Quincy Adams

Of course, ministers look upon theaters as rival attractions, and most of their hatred is born of business views. They think people ought to…

— Robert Green Ingersoll

Clergymen almost necessarily fail in two ways as teachers of morals. They condemn acts which do no harm and they condone acts which do…

— Bertrand Russell

I do deeply deplore, of the sake of the cause, the prevalent notion, that the clergy must be had, either by persuasion or by…

— Anonymous

The ecclesiastical establishments of Europe which serve to support tyrannical governments are not the Christian religion but abuses and corruptions of it.

— Noah Webster

Clergymen tend to be unreliable and pompous figures. Seldom Jewish rabbis, less often Catholic priests, but Protestant ministers tend to be... not really very…

— Charlton Heston

“Non-Western expressions of Christianity, therefore, can be portrayed as inferior to the successful formula for ministry put forth by many white evangelicals in mainstream…

— Soong-Chan Rah