A priest and a soapmaker went for a walk together. The Soapmaker asked, “What good is religion? Look at all the trouble and misery of the world after thousands  of years of teaching about goodness, truth, love, justice and peace- after all  those boring sermons and lengthy prayers. If religion is so good for people, why should this be?”

The priest said nothing. They continued walking until the priest noticed a child, wearing a tattered and dirty clothes, playing in the gutter. The priest then said to the soapmaker, “See that child; you say your soap makes people clean, but see that dirt on that child. Of what good is soap then, when though we can find them everywhere, the child is still filthy. I now start to believe that your soap is not effective after all.”

The Soapmaker, in protest said, “But, soap can’t do any good unless it is used.”

“Exactly,” the priest replied. “And so it is with religion.”