My personal attitude toward atheists is the same attitude that I have toward Christians, and would be governed by a very orthodox text: "By their fruits shall ye know them." I wouldn't judge a man by the presuppositions of his life, but only by the fruits of his life. And the fruits - the relevant fruits - are, I'd say, a sense of charity, a sense of proportion, a sense of justice. And whether the man is an atheist or a Christian, I would judge him by his fruits, and I have therefore many agnostic friends.
Reinhold NiebuhrThe mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self mastery.
Reinhold NiebuhrWhat is so funny about us is precisely that we take ourselves too seriously. Laughter is the same and healthy response to the innocent foibles of men; and even to some which are not innocent.
Reinhold NiebuhrGoodness, armed with power, is corrupted; and pure love without power is destroyed.
Reinhold NiebuhrUltimately evil is done not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves and who do not probe deeply.
Reinhold NiebuhrEven as rigorous a determinist as Karl Marx, who at times described the social behaviour of the bourgeoisie in terms which suggested a problem in social physics, could subject it at other times to a withering scorn which only the presupposition of moral responsibility could justify.
Reinhold Niebuhr