Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.

“Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.” – Sojourner Truth

These words, spoken by Sojourner Truth, burn with the light of both faith and fire. Born into bondage and risen into the role of prophet and reformer, she spoke not from theory but from the furnace of experience. Her voice, forged in the heat of suffering and redemption, carried a truth that pierces every age: that religion, stripped of humanity, becomes hollow — a lifeless shell, a sermon without spirit. In this declaration, she exposes the hypocrisy of those who claimed to serve God while denying the humanity of their brothers and sisters. Her words are not an attack on faith, but a defense of its truest form — the kind that is lived through compassion, justice, and mercy.

When Sojourner Truth spoke these words, she was speaking into the heart of nineteenth-century America, a nation torn between the gospel it preached and the cruelty it practiced. Churches thundered with hymns of salvation, yet many of those same congregations upheld the bondage of millions. She saw men and women quote scripture to justify the whip, to sanctify the buying and selling of human souls. To her, this was not religion at all, but the desecration of it. For religion without humanity, she said, is not divine but profane. It is not light but darkness dressed in holy robes.

Her life itself was a testament to this truth. Born enslaved in New York, she endured the cruelty of men who prayed aloud on Sunday and brutalized her on Monday. Yet she emerged from that life not with hatred, but with a fierce and transcendent faith — a faith not in words alone, but in deeds. When she spoke before crowds of abolitionists and skeptics, she did not argue theology; she embodied it. Her religion was not confined to the pulpit — it was lived in the streets, in the fields, in the fight for the freedom of others. Through her, the divine became action. Through her, humanity became sacred.

The ancients too would have recognized her wisdom. In every age, prophets have warned against the danger of devotion divorced from compassion. The Hebrew prophet Isaiah thundered that God rejected empty sacrifices and demanded justice for the oppressed. The Buddha spoke of right action as the heart of enlightenment. Even Jesus, whom Sojourner Truth loved dearly, said that the greatest commandment is not ritual, but love — to love God and one’s neighbor as oneself. When Sojourner declared that “religion without humanity is poor human stuff,” she joined that ancient chorus of voices crying out that holiness without kindness is a lie.

Consider the contrast between two figures of her time: the wealthy clergyman who blessed slavery in his fine church robes, and Sojourner herself — barefoot, unlettered, yet standing before thousands to declare the equality of all souls. Who, then, was closer to God? The one who knew the creeds but not compassion, or the one who lived love without needing doctrine? History has already answered. The clergyman’s name has faded, but Sojourner’s voice still rings. For true religion is not found in the authority of the learned, but in the courage of the merciful.

And what of today? The world still builds temples but forgets the homeless who sleep beside them. We speak of faith but neglect the stranger, the refugee, the poor. Sojourner Truth’s words still challenge us — to remember that the divine dwells not in dogma, but in dignity. Every time a human being is dismissed, dehumanized, or discarded, religion itself is diminished. To serve God is not to kneel in isolation, but to rise in service to others. Without love, even the holiest words turn to dust.

The lesson is this: let your religion — whatever form it takes — be alive with humanity. If you pray, let your prayer be compassion in motion. If you worship, let your worship feed the hungry, comfort the broken, and free the enslaved. For faith that does not touch the suffering world is no faith at all; it is but a shadow pretending to be light. Sojourner Truth teaches that holiness begins not in heaven, but in the human heart that dares to love.

Thus, remember her words and live them: “Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.” Do not settle for poor faith — make it rich with mercy. Let your creed be kindness, your altar be the world, and your offering be love. Then, and only then, will your religion rise from earth to heaven, shining as the true work of God within the heart of humankind.