“There are many countries where you can only believe more or you can believe less. But in the United States we have this incredible smorgasbord, and it really interests me why people are drawn to one faith rather than another, especially to a system of belief that to an outsider seems absurd or dangerous.” PeopleBelieveCountryStatesSeemsBeliefInterestUnitedUnited StatesDangerousIncrediblesAbsurdOutsiders Author:Lawrence Wright
“Religion and nationalism, as well as any custom and any belief however absurd and degrading, if it only connects the individual with others, are refuges from what man most dreads: isolation.” IfsMenWellsIndividualBeliefAbsurdIsolationNationalismCustomsDreadRefugeDegrading Book:Escape from Freedom Source: Escape from Freedom
“There are strange flowers of reason to match each error of the senses. Admirable gardens of absurd beliefs, forebodings, obsessions and frenzies. Unknown, ever-changing gods take shape there.” ReasonBeliefStrangeFlowerShapesGardenErrorsSensesObsessionAbsurdAdmirableFrenzyForeboding Author:Louis Aragon
“The belief that it is useless to employ partial and palliative means against radical evils, because they only remedy them in part, is an article of faith never preached unsuccessfully by meanness to simplicity, but it is none the less absurd.” MeanEvilBeliefSimplicityAbsurdRadicalUselessArticlesRemedyMeanness Author:Theodor Mommsen
“I rejoice in a belief that intellectual light will spring up in the dark corners of the earth; that freedom of enquiry will produce liberality of conduct; that mankind will reverse the absurd position that the many were, made for the few; and that they will not continue slaves in one part of the globe, when they can become freemen in another.” MadeWarLightEarthBeliefDarkMankindPositionProduceIntellectualSpringSlaveCornersAbsurdRejoiceReverseGlobesFreemanEnquiryLiberality Book:The Papers of George Washington: April-June 1789 Source: The Papers of George Washington: April-June 1789
“A whole lot of us go through life assuming that we are basically right, basically all the time, about basically everything: about our political and intellectual convictions, our religious and moral beliefs, our assessments of other people, our memories, our grasp of facts. As absurd as it sounds when we stop to think about it, our steady state seems to be one of unconsciously assuming that we are very close to omniscient.” PeopleThinkingStatesWholeFactsSeemsPoliticalBeliefSoundReligiousMemoriesMoralIntellectualAssumingConvictionAbsurdArroganceSteadyOur MemoriesAssessmentOmniscientMoral Beliefs Author:Kathryn Schulz
“If you ask a Saudi Imam why women in Saudi Arabia can't drive, he'll say, 'Because Islam demands it.' But that's absurd, because - first of all - Islam demands no such thing; and secondly, the only country in the world in which women can't drive is Saudi Arabia. The inability to understand the difference between a cultural practice and religious belief is shocking among self-described intellectuals.” IfsWorldFirstsSelfCountryWisdomRealityReligionAsksBeliefCommunityLeadershipDifferencesReligiousJusticeClassPracticeGenerationsHuman NatureDemandEqualEthicsIslamHuman RightsAbsurdIdeologyShockingInabilityEqual RightsArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudisReligious Belief Author:Reza Aslan
“Do not boast because you have beliefs; don't forget that hundreds of absurd beliefs in the history are totally disappeared!” BeliefForgetAbsurdBoast Author:Mehmet Murat Ildan