“Does religious conviction provide a powerful reason for killing? Undeniably it often does. It also often provides the sole compelling reason for refusing to kill, or for being merciful, or for seeking peace; only the profoundest ignorance of history could prevent one from recognizing this. For the truth is that religion and irreligion are cultural variables, but killing is a human constant.” HumansDoeReasonReligiousPowerfulIgnoranceTruth IsConstantKillingSeekingConvictionSoleCompellingRecognizingMercifulBeing MeVariablesCompelling ReasonIrreligion Author:David Bentley
“It is true that a great deal of the rhetoric of the new atheism is often just the confessional rote of materialist fundamentalism (which, like all fundamentalisms, imagines that in fact it represents the side of reason and truth); but it is also true that the new atheism has sprung up in a garden of contending fundamentalisms.” ReasonFactsSidesDealsImagineAtheismGardenImagine ThatRhetoricFundamentalismSprungContendingSprung Up Author:David Bentley
“To bracket form and finality out of one's investigations as far as reason allows is a matter of method, but to deny their reality altogether is a matter of metaphysics.” MatterReasonRealityFormMethodDenyInvestigationMetaphysicsFinalityBrackets Author:David Bentley
