from The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell, 2008:
- [Martin] Luther was outraged when the pope sent emissaries up northe to raise money for St. Peter's Basilica by selling "indulgences," essentially coupons a buyer could use to pay off the pope to erase sins from the Judgment Day ledger. Luther's point was that, according to Scripture, salvation is not a bake sale: "They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory." His larger message became the core ethos of Protestantism: the Bible, not any earthly pope, is the highest authority.
