"So today we leave men free to question the religious, but not the political, faith of their fathers; and political heresy is punished by social ostracism as theological heresy was punished by excommunication in the Age of Faith; now that the policeman labors to take the place of God, it becomes more dangerous to question the state than to doubt the Church. No system smiles upon the challenging of its axioms."
--Will Durant, The Age of Faith, 1950

We were not free to question the political faith of our fathers in 1950? I suppose it depends on your definition of question. Who lost their freedom solely because of their words? If that happened I'd like to know.

"now that the policeman labors to take the place of God"

What? Sounds like quite a stretch to me.

Instead of politics, policemen, and the state, a much better ana-logy is to the materialist scientific establishment and its minions.