At a time when American Christianity seems to be all about hating gays and patriotism seems to be all about hating Islam and never recognizing that we as a country make mistakes, this seems particularly timely, even though it was written in 1823:
The pleasure of hating, like a poisonous mineral, eats into the heart of religion, and turns it to rankling spleen and bigotry...it leaves to virtue nothing but the spirit of censoriousness, and a narrow, jealous, inquisitorial watchfulness over the actions and motives of others...Does anyone suppose that the love of country in an Englishman implies any friendly feeling or disposition to serve another, bearing the same name? No, it means only hatred to the French...
—William Hazlitt
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