乔治·华盛顿：其人真相（节选）

[美] 威廉·E·伍德沃德

■ 译 | 顾忆青

（译文）

读罢此言[1] ，令人踌躇深思。他将宗教视为一种施政策略。就这点而言，凭我们对他内心想法的了解，我们早就可以下此定论。但是，这句话却未尽如人意，他并未将宗教与财产相关联。要知道现代实业巨头们都是这么做的。然而，行文至此，他的话还没有说完。就在接下来的几行里，他这么说道：

请问各位：法庭之上，立誓为证，从而秉公行义。倘若宗教使命感沦丧懈怠，那么财产、名誉，以至性命将如何确保？人说脱离宗教，道德亦可维持。这是臆断妄言，决不可轻信。

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[1] 指上文提到华盛顿告别演说时，说到的这句话：“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

（原文）

GEORGE WASHINGTON: THE IMAGE AND THE MAN

( Excerpt )

by William E. Woodward

Reading this, we pause and reflect. He considers religion a matter of policy. Of that we might have been sure — knowing, as we do, his type of mind. But the statement does not come up to expectations: he has not tied religion up to property. Any modern captain of industry would do that. However, we are not yet at the end of the statement. In the same paragraph, a few lines further on, he says:

Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.