To the end of history, social orders will probably destroy themselves in an effort to prove they are indestructible.
Reinhold NiebuhrAll men are naturally included to obscure the morally ambiguous element in their political cause by investing it with religious sanctity.
Reinhold NiebuhrThe scientific observer of the realm of nature is in a sense naturally and inevitably disinterested. At least, nothing in the natural scene can arouse his bias. Furthermore, he stands completely outside of the natural so that his mind, whatever his limitations, approximates pure mind. The observer of the realm of history cannot be disinterested in the same way, for two reasons: first, he must look at history from some locus in history; secondly, he is to a certain degree engaged in its ideological conflicts.
Reinhold Niebuhr