Defenses of dogmatic belief

Dogma demands authority, rather than intelligent thought, as the source of opinion; it requires persecution of heretics and hostility to unbelievers; it asks of its disciples that they should inhibit natural kindness in favor of systematic hatred.

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic.

Heretical views arise when the truth is uncertain, and it is only when the truth is uncertain that censorship is invoked.

– Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

The first quotation is from p. 466 of The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, the second from "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish," one of his Unpopular Essays, 1950, and the third from his essay, "The Value of Free Thought."