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Reason
From A Little History of the World: - location: 3296 of 4319 76%: the Enlightenment
"Was it not more important to be a good and honest human being? Would it not be better if people got on with one another regardless of any differences of opinion or belief that they might have? Better if they respected one another and tolerated each other's convictions? This was the first and most important idea that the people who thought about such things now voiced: the principle of tolerance. Only in matters of religion could there be differences of opinion. No rational person disputes the fact that two plus two makes four.
Therefore reason - or sound common sense, as they also termed it - is what can and should unite all men. In the realm of reason you can use arguments to convince others of the rightness of your opinions, whereas another's religious beliefs, being beyond rational argument, should be respected and tolerated."
"Reason alone could explain the appearance of nature and the workings of the universe. Reason, which is given in equal measure to all mankind the world over.
Now if reason is given to all, it must follow that all people are of equal worth, and as you remember, that was just what Christianity had taught: that all men are equal before God."
"There was something, they said, which forbade a person to be publicly humiliated. It was called human dignity."