Essay · 1918
Off Again, on Again
by H. L. Mencken · from Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918)
Read Off Again, on Again in full, as it appeared in Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918). H. L. Mencken’s recurring targets included organized religion, fundamentalism, American democracy.
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.