Quotes about Liberalism
Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.
— William Gladstone
Liberalism is trust of the people, tempered by prudence; conservatism, distrust of people, tempered by fear.
— William Gladstone
In setting forth the current liberalism, now almost dominant in the Church, over against Christianity, we are animated, therefore, by no merely negative or polemic purpose; on the contrary—by showing what Christianity is not, we hope to be able to show what Christianity is in order that men may be led to turn from the weak and beggarly elements and have recourse again to the grace of God.
— J. Gresham Machen
Liberals don't ask 'Does it work?' They ask 'Does it equalize?'
— Dennis Prager
The right honourable gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes. He has left them in the full enjoyment of their liberal positions, and he is himself a strict conservative of their garments.
— Benjamin Disraeli
Unfortunately, the marvelous understanding celebrated at the original Pentecost has faded into the background, and now the word "Pentecostal" often signifies not Christian unity but sectarian differences. Many Pentecostals are conservative Christians who disdain those of a more liberal persuasion. And mainstream Christians often dismiss Pentecostals as looney tunes; anti-intellectual in their theology, overemotional in their worship.
— Kathleen Norris
Since the survival impulse in nature is transmuted into two different and contradictory spiritualized forms, which we may briefly designate as the will-to-live-truly and the will-to-power, man is at variance with himself. The power of the second impulse places him more fundamentally in conflict with his fellowman than democratic liberalism realizes.
— Reinhold Niebuhr
The global issues of injustice, the culture of death that we are a part of, the sufferings of the oppressed, all of these demand t hat we bring the Voice of the Spirit to these well-denied and disguised situations, and not just our own tiny judgments or anger. This i the difference between true Gospel and mere political correctness or Band-Aid liberal responses. We are holding out for the great Gospel...
— Fr. Richard Rohr
Liberal Christianity, of course, has enemies, but they are everyone's enemies - sexism, racism, homophobia. But liberal versions of Christianity, which can be both theologically and politically conservative, assume that what it means to be Christian qua Christian is to have no enemies peculiar to being Christian.
— Stanley Hauerwas
it may appear that what the liberal theologian has retained after abandoning to the enemy one Christian doctrine after another is not Christianity at all, but a religion which is so entirely different from Christianity as to be long in a distinct category.
— J. Gresham Machen
We can call this view liberalism, employing a definition by the self-described liberal philosopher Peter Berkowitz. In his words, "Each generation of liberal thinkers" focuses on "dimensions of life previously regarded as fixed by nature," then seeks to show that in reality they are "subject to human will and remaking.
— Nancy Pearcey
My objection to Liberalism is this that it is the introduction into the practical business of life of the highest kind namely, politics of philosophical ideas instead of political principles.
— Benjamin Disraeli