Divisions among the Christian faith

"Our age is far sadder than those before it—

not with a noble, tragic sadness, 

but with the dull exhaustion of boredom, weary minds, 

and deep discomfort of both soul and body.

I believe the root of this darkness is our loss of faith. 

No generation in history—whether savage or civilized—has so completely fulfilled the words, 

"having no hope, and without God in the world," as modern Europeans.

A Native American or Tahitian islander often possesses a stronger sense of a divine presence surrounding and governing life 

than many educated people in London or Paris. 

Even those among us who still believe 

are largely divided into two hostile camps: Catholics and Protestants. 

Were it not for the restraining influence of unbelievers, 

each side would gladly destroy the other. 

Catholics have done so whenever they held power; 

Protestants, in turn, wait with satisfaction for God to destroy Rome with volcanic fire.

This bitter division among people who profess 

the same God 

and the same Scriptures 

has become a great stumbling block—

one that few overcome except through the fortunate influence of their early upbringing."

The quote above is an abridged version of John Ruskin. Here is the original - 

“On the whole, these are much sadder ages than the early ones; not sadder in a noble and deep way, but in a dim, wearied way, - the way of ennui, and jaded intellect, and uncomfortableness of soul and body. 

 The profoundest reason of this darkness of heart is, I believe, our want of faith. There never yet was a generation of men (savage or civilized) who, taken as a body, so woefully fulfilled the words, “having no hope, and without God in the world,” as the present European race.

A Red Indian or Otaheitan savage has more sense of a Divine existence round him, or government under him, than the plurality of refined Londoners and Parisians; and those among us who may in some sense be said to believe, are divided almost without exception into two broad classes, Romanists and Puritan; who, but for the interference of the unbelieving portions of society would, either of them, reduce the other sect as speedily as possible to ashes; the Romanist having always done so whenever he could, from the beginning of their separation, and the Puritan at this time holding himself in complacent expectation of the destruction of Rome by volcanic fire. Such division as this between persons nominally of one religion, that is to say, believing in the same God, and the same Revelation, cannot but become a stumbling-block which they can only surmount under the most favorable circumstances of early education.