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Anarchist
A secularist is a person who rejects religion and religious ideas. Although atheists are secularists, not all secularists are atheists. For this reason, Andrew Undershaft can identify himself both as a secularist and as a mystic. His mysticism focuses more on his belief in the value of power and wealth than on established religious dogma.
Secularist Quotes in Major Barbara
The Major Barbara quotes below are all either spoken by Secularist or refer to Secularist. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1
Quotes
UNDERSHAFT. […] I am not ashamed of [my trade]. I am not one of those men who keep their morals and their business in watertight compartments. All the spare money my trade rivals spend on hospitals, cathedrals, and other receptacles for conscience money, I devote to my experiments and researches in improved methods for destroying life and property. I have always done so; and I always shall. Therefore your Christmas card moralities of peace and earth and goodwill among men are of no use to me. Your Christianity, which enjoins you to resist not evil, and to turn the other cheek, would make me a bankrupt. My morality—my religion—must have a place for cannons and torpedoes in it.
STEPHEN (coldly—almost sullenly). You speak as if there were half a dozen moralities and religions to choose from […]
UNDERSHAFT. […] There is only one true morality for every man; but every man has not the same true morality.
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Secularist Term Timeline in Major Barbara
The timeline below shows where the term Secularist appears in Major Barbara. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 2
...begins to take down Peter Shirley’s information. She’s not disturbed when he says he’s a secularist, so great is her confidence in God’s mercy and ability to convert souls. When she...
(full context)
...Andrew Undershaft arrives to visit Barbara, she introduces him to Peter Shirley as a fellow secularist. Undershaft protests that he’s not a secularist; his religion is money. He’s as proud of...
(full context)
