In all the mess of modern thoughtlessness, that still calls itself modern thought, there is perhaps nothing so stupendously stupid as the common saying, “Religion can never depend on minute disputes about doctrine.” It is like saying that life can never depend on minute disputes about medicine. The man who is content to say, “We do not want theologians splitting hairs,” will doubtless be content to go on and say, “We do not want surgeons splitting filaments more delicate than hairs.” It is a fact that many a man would be dead today, if his doctors had not debated fine shades about doctoring. It is also the fact that European civilization would be dead today, if its doctors of divinity had not debated fine shades about doctrine.
G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) The Resurrection of Rome
Quote found: For All the Saints: A Prayer Book for and By the Church, volume II, Year 1:The Season After Pentecost (The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Frederick J. Schumacher, ed, 1996) 27