Religion More than Politics by William Jennings Bryan

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 16, 1912

Religion More than Politics

By William Jennings Bryan

I OFFER no apology for speaking upon a religious theme, for it is the most universal of all themes. I am interested in the science of government, but I am more interested in religion than in government. I enjoy making a political speech. I have made a good many, and shall make more, but I would rather speak on religion than on politics. I began speaking on the stump when I was only twenty, but I began speaking in the church six years earlier—and I shall be in the church even after I am out of politics. I feel sure of my ground when I make a political speech, but I feel even more certain of my ground when I make a religious speech. While to me the science of government is intensely absorbing, I recognized that the most important things in life lie outside of the realm of government, and that more depends upon what the individual does for himself than upon what the government does or can do for him. Men can be miserable under the best government, and they can be happy under the worst government.

Government affects but a part of the life we live here, and does not deal at all with the life beyond, while religion reaches the infinite circle of existence, as well as the small arc of that circle which we spend on earth. No greater theme, therefore, can engage our attention. If I discuss questions of government, I must secure the cooperation of a majority before I can put my ideas into practise; but if, in speaking on religion, I can touch one human heart for good, I have not spoken in vain, no matter how large the majority may be against me.—W. J. Bryan.