“With whom will it be unpopular?”
“Oh, with people who lay much stress upon ritual and creed. I think they will dislike knowing how much of the pagan ritual has come down to us, and how closely our own beliefs are bound up with those of savage peoples. And there are others who don’t like hearing that Christianity is, comparatively speaking, modern, and that there are other vastly more ancient revelations. And there are people who won’t like what I’ve said about the belief in reincarnation, nor be willing to accede an important place to the so-called modern religions, such as Christian Science, New Thought, and Spiritualism. The book will be banned, undoubtedly, by one great church, and public libraries will think twice before circulating it. And yet I had to write it, and I’m glad I’ve written it. I only wish it were fuller and more convincing. It lacks what print must always lack—the power to persuade.”
“And you wish to persuade us … of what?”
“The need for tolerance.”
“You think we are still intolerant? And yet there are plenty of people who say we have grown too tolerant.”
He shook his head.
“There is only one tolerance that I deplore.”
“And that is?”
“Tolerance toward the man who believes in nothing at all.”
“Why have you singled out that unfortunate?”