Note On Religion

Fealty: The liberal philosopher Bertrand Russell has proposed that a difference broadly persists between "Catholic and Protestant sceptics". He contrasted the dour utilitarianism of Mills with the cheerful scepticism of Montaigne and the libertine Voltaire. Russell describes the difference thus: "One may say, broadly speaking, that Protestants like to be good and have invented theology to keep themselves so, whereas Catholics like to be bad and have invented theology in order to keep their neighbours good. The chief distinction that one notices is that in the Protestant type departure is primarily intellectual, whereas in the Catholic type it is primarily practical."