“For the most part, executions happen in obscurity. If people did hear about executions, if they were publicized, even televised, I fear more would enjoy them than be repelled by them.” PeopleIfsHappensEnjoyExecutionObscurity Author:Wendy Kaminer
“Tolerance is thin gruel compared to the rapture of absolute truths. It's not surprising that religious people are often better protected by atheists and agnostics than each other.” PeopleReligionReligiousAtheismAbsolutesAtheistToleranceSurprisingProtectedRaptureAbsolute Truth Author:Wendy Kaminer
“The phenomenal success of the recovery movement reflects two simple truths that emerge in adolescence: all people love to talk about themselves, and most people are mad at their parents. You don't have to be in denial to doubt that truths like these will set us free.” PeopleTwoParentSimpleDoubtMovementMadRecoveryDenialTherapyAdolescencePhenomenalSimple Truths Author:Wendy Kaminer
“There is this fashionable progressive notion that everything is so completely political that the idea we could have some sort of neutral legal process is practically utopian - because we all know that the more money you have, the more rights you can exercise in this society. But I don't think that you deal with income inequality by limiting the First Amendment rights of affluent people. I'd rather see people screw around with the tax code to redistribute wealth a little bit than screw around with the First Amendment.” PeopleThinkingPoliticalWealthExerciseTaxesInequalityCodeProgressiveFirst AmendmentFashionableUtopian Author:Wendy Kaminer
“The scarcest resource these days is reason. What's certainly striking about American culture today is the great hostility toward science and the decline of respect for rational scientific thinking. People seem to think that we are ruled by the scientific method and that we overvalue reason. If there was ever a period when we overvalued reason, I think that it was probably extremely brief. What I see now is a great deal of superstition, as much superstition as there has ever been. There are probably more people who believe in guardian angels than who understand the law of gravity.” PeopleThinkingBelieveReasonTodayCultureAngelRationalGuardianHostilityAmerican CultureGuardian Angel Author:Wendy Kaminer
“There's a way in which all of these grazers at the spirituality buffet are performing a service, because you could argue that grazing leads to a kind of tolerance. People who incorporate teachings from a lot of different traditions into their own belief systems are going to be more tolerant than people who confine themselves within the strict boundaries of one particular religion. Does it contribute to our confusion? I don't know if it contributes to confusion so much as it is evidence of a certain kind of silliness and shallowness.” PeopleKindDifferentSpiritualityBeliefTeachingEvidenceTraditionArguingToleranceBoundariesConfusionPerformingSillinessShallowness Author:Wendy Kaminer
“I do what I do because I have a compulsion to hold forth. I don't spend a lot of time, if any, thinking about the effect my work is going to have on the world. And I have an abiding mistrust of people who think that they're going to change the world. I think that people who think that they're going to change the world are the kind of people who put bombs on airplanes.” PeopleThinkingWorldKindChanging The WorldAirplaneMistrust Author:Wendy Kaminer
“Only people who die very young learn all they really need to know in kindergarten.” PeopleKnowsNeedsYoungDiesEducationLearningTeachingKindergarten Author:Wendy Kaminer
“What makes fantastic declarations believable is, in part, the vehemence with which they're proffered. Again, in the world of spirituality as well as of pop psychology, intensity of personal belief is evidence of truth. It is considered very bad form - even abuse - to challenge the veracity of any personal testimony that might be offered in a twelve-step group or on a talk show, unless the testimony itself is equivocal... Whatever sells, whatever many people believe strongly, must be true.” PeopleWorldBelieveWellsShowsMightFormReligionSpiritualityBeliefChallengesStepsPsychologyGroupsEvidenceAbuseSellsPopsBeing TrueFantasticIntensityTwelveDeclarationTestimonyBelievableTalk ShowsTrue ReligionVeracityVehemencePersonal Beliefs Author:Wendy Kaminer
“I don't care if religious people consider me amoral because I lack their beliefs in God. I do however care deeply about efforts to turn religious beliefs into law and those efforts benefit greatly from the conviction that individually and collectively we cannot be good without God.” PeopleIfsCareLawTurnsBeliefReligiousEffortBenefitsConvictionDon't CareBe GoodI Don't CareReligious BeliefBelief In GodWithout God Author:Wendy Kaminer
