Religion is not a burden, not a weight, it is wings.

Fosdick contrasts two common ways religion is experienced: as an external imposition (“burden,” “weight”) versus an inner power that enlarges life (“wings”). The image suggests that authentic faith is not meant to crush human vitality with fear, scruple, or mere rule-keeping, but to lift the person—morally, emotionally, and socially—toward courage, freedom, and service. In line with Fosdick’s liberal Protestant emphasis on practical, life-affirming Christianity, the saying implies that religion’s test is its fruit: whether it releases energy for living and loving rather than producing heaviness, guilt, or constraint.