ingersoll on being a liberal

Majikthise, via Wolcott, has a post highlighting an essay entitled "How to edit a liberal paper" from 1887. The essay includes, among much that is both timely and timeless, this...

Above all, it should be perfectly kind and candid. In discussion there is no place for hatred, no opportunity for slander. A personality is always out of place. An angry man can neither reason himself, nor perceive the reason of what another says. The orthodox world has always dealt in personalities. Every minister can answer the argument of an opponent by attacking the character of the opponent. This example should never be followed by a Liberal man. Nobody can be bad enough to prove that the Bible is uninspired, and nobody can be good enough to prove that it is the word of God. These facts have no relation. They neither stand nor fall together.

...kindness and candor are two of the things, besides love, that there's just too little of.