Essay · 1918
Off Again, on Again
by H. L. Mencken · from Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918)
The ostensible object of the Reformation, which lately reached its fourth centenary, was to purge the Church of imbecilities. That object was accomplished; the Church shook them off. But imbecilities make an irresistible appeal to man; he inevitably tries to preserve them by cloaking them with religious sanctions. The result is Protestantism.
From Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918). Public-domain text, sourced from Project Gutenberg.