Demop.  And yet what humanity had hitherto acquired in the shape of knowledge, and handed down in the works of the ancients, was saved from ruin by the clergy, especially by those in the monasteries.  What would have happened if Christianity had not come in just before the migration of nations?

Phil.  It would really be an extremely useful inquiry if some one, with the greatest frankness and impartiality, tried to weigh exactly and accurately the advantages and disadvantages derived from religions.  To do this, it would be necessary to have a much greater amount of historical and psychological data than either of us has at our command.  Academies might make it a subject for a prize essay.

Demop.  They will take care not to do that.

Phil.  I am surprised to hear you say that, for it is a bad look-out for religion.  Besides, there are also academies which make it a secret condition in submitting their questions that the prize should be given to the competitor who best understands the art of flattering them.  If we, then, could only get a statistician to tell us how many crimes are prevented yearly by religious motives, and how many by other motives.  There would be very few of the former.  If a man feels himself tempted to commit a crime, certainly the first thing which presents itself to his mind is the punishment he must suffer for it, and the probability that he will be punished; after that comes the second consideration, that his reputation is at stake.  If I am not mistaken, he will reflect by the hour on these two obstacles before religious considerations ever come into his mind.  If he can get away from these two first safeguards against crime, I am convinced that religion alone will very rarely keep him back from it.

Demop.  I believe, however, that it will do so very often; especially when its influence works through the medium of custom, and thereby immediately makes a man shrink from the idea of committing a crime.  Early impressions cling to him.  As an illustration of what I mean, consider how many a man, and especially if he is of noble birth, will often, in order to fulfil some promise, make great sacrifices, which are instigated solely by the fact that his father has often impressed it upon him in childhood that “a man of honour, or a gentleman, or a cavalier, always keeps his word inviolate.”

Phil.  And that won’t work unless there is a certain innate probitas.  You must not ascribe to religion what is the result of innate goodness of character, by which pity for the one who would be affected by the crime prevents a man from committing it.  This is the genuine moral motive, and as such it is independent of all religions.