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Religion Quotes

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Religion Quotes

“The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.”

Source: Poor Richard's Almanack: Being the Choicest Morsels of Wisdom, Written During the Years of the Almanack's Publication

“As to harmonizing the theory of evolution with the Biblical account of creation, I do not believe it can be done, and I do not see why it should be. The story of Genesis is beautiful, and profoundly significant as symbolism: there is no good reason to torture it into conformity with modern theory.”

Should Believe Reason Done Stories Beautiful Religion Modern Creation Theory Evolution Accounts Significant Torture Conformity Biblical Genesis Symbolism Theory Of Evolution

Author:Will Durant

“The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.”

Reason Religion Party Liberty Hell Knowing Poet Devil Angel Milton Fetters

Author:William Blake

“Whereas God, for reasons of His own, sometimes chooses to let the machine answer. 'The Supreme Being is unavailable to come to the phone at this time, but He wants you to know what your call is important to Him. In the meantime, for sins of pride, press one. For avarice, press two.”

Knows Want Two Important Sometimes Reason Religion Sin Answers Pride Machines Presses Phones Supreme Avarice Supreme Being Sin Of Pride

Author:Sherwood Anderson

“Let us read the Bible without the ill-fitting colored spectacles of theology, just as we read other books, using our judgment and reason. . . .”

Book Reason Religion Judgment Ill Theology Fitting Spectacles

Book:My Beliefs

Source: My Beliefs

“I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal to reason and is in conflict with morality.”

Doe Reason Religion Faith Religious Morality Conflict Motherhood Doctrine Appeals Rejects Metaphysics

Book:All Men Are Brothers

Source: All Men Are Brothers

“Every formula of every religion has in this age of reason, to submit to the acid test of reason and universal assent.”

Reason Age Religion Faith Tests Universal Birthday Formulas Submit Metaphysics Testing Corny Acid Age Of Reason

Book:Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi

Source: Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi

“"The only reason some of us are not exiled or thrown into prison is simply because we do not preach as fervently and as sternly as did Paul, John, Peter R.A. Torrey and others. This modern "santa claus" religion that is sweeping country today is not the religion Jesus taught and John practiced."”

Country Reason Today Religion Jesus Christianity Modern Taught Prison Thrown Peter Santa Santa Claus Sweeping

Book:The Revelation: Verse by Verse Study

Source: The Revelation: Verse by Verse Study

“All this [Paul's writing] is nothing better than the jargon of a conjurer who picks up phrases he does not understand to confound the credulous people who come to have their fortune told. Age of Reason”

People Thinking Writing Doe Reason Age Religion Picks Fortune Old Age Phrases Jargon Age Of Reason

Author:Thomas Paine

“It is incredible that only idiots are absolutely sure of salvation. It is incredible that the more brain you have the less your chance is. There can be no danger in honest thought, and if the world ever advances beyond what it is to-day, it must be led by men who express their real opinions.”

Ifs Men World Real Reason Religion Chance Brain Opinion Honest Honesty Danger Salvation Incredibles Idiot Chances Are

Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll

Source: The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll

“With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.”

Men Giving Reason Success Religion Lost Atheism Waste Argument Reasonable Tyrants Quarters Humane Reasonable Man

Book:The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison: I will be heard, 1822-1835

Source: The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison: I will be heard, 1822-1835

“To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense, by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific knowledge has not yet been able to set foot.”

“That the religious right completely took over the word Christian is a given. At one time, phrases such as Christian charity and Christian tolerance were used to denote kindness and compassion. To perform a "Christian" act meant an act of giving, of acceptance, of toleration. Now, Christian is invariably linked to right-wing conservative political thought -- Christian nation, Christian morality, Christian values, Christian family.”

“There are for man only two principles available for a mental grasp of reality, namely, those of teleology and causality. What cannot be brought under either of these categories is absolutely hidden to the human mind. An event not open to an interpretation by one of these two principles is for man inconceivable and mysterious. Change can be conceived as the outcome either of the operation of mechanistic causality or of purposeful behavior; for the human mind there is no third way available.”

“Every politician, every member of the clerical profession, ought to incur the reasonable suspicion of being an interested supporter of false doctrines, who becomes angry at opposition, and endeavors to cast an odium on free inquiry. Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.”

Source: Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy ...

“Free inquiry entails recognition of civil liberties as integral to its pursuit, that is, a free press, freedom of communication, the right to organize opposition parties and to join voluntary associations, and freedom to cultivate and publish the fruits of scientific, philosophical, artistic, literary, moral and religious freedom.”

Source: In defense of secular humanism

“Questioning our own motives, and our own process, is critical to a skeptical and scientific outlook. We must realize that the default mode of human psychology is to grab onto comforting beliefs for purely emotional reasons, and then justify those beliefs to ourselves with post-hoc rationalizations.”

Humans Reason Religion Belief Process Realizing Psychology Atheism Emotional Critical Posts Motive Justify Questioning Outlook Comforting Skeptical Default

Author:Steven Novella

“The most precious gift God gave humans is reason. Its best use is the search for knowledge. To know the human environment, to know the earth and galaxies, is to know God. Knowledge (science) is the best form of prayer.”

Knows Humans Reason Use Earth Form Religion Prayer Environment Morality Galaxy God Knows Knowing God Precious Gifts Search For Knowledge

Author:Fatema Mernissi

“The fact is that there is a profound spiritual hunger in the western world which, for a variety of reasons, its church is no longer able to assuage. So a book which suggests that there is a spiritual significance to the Christian story but that this has been suppressed by the church undoubtedly appeals to those who are anxious to square this circle.”

“Religions are not proved, are not demonstrated, are not established, are not overthrown by logic! They are of all the mysteries of nature and the human mind, the most mysterious and most inexplicable; they are of instinct and not of reason.”

Mind Humans Reason Religion Mystery Logic Instinct Mysterious Human Mind Inexplicable Mystery Of Nature

Book:Travels in the East: Including a Journey in the Holy Land

Source: Travels in the East: Including a Journey in the Holy Land

“Humanity and Immortality consist neither in reason, nor in love; not in the body, nor in the animation of the heart of it, nor in the thoughts and stirrings of the brain of it;--but in the dedication of them all to Him who will raise them up at the last day.”

Heart Reason Body Lasts Religion Humanity Brain Raises Immortality Dedication Animation Stirring Last Day

Book:The Stones of Venice

Source: The Stones of Venice

“Organized religious institutions are in for a huge transformation, for the simple reason that people have become genuinely religious in spite of them.”

People Reason Religion Religious Simple Huge Transformation Institutions Organized Spite

Book:Illuminata: Thoughts, Prayers, Rites of Passage

Source: Illuminata: Thoughts, Prayers, Rites of Passage

“Creationists argue that natural selection is only a negative process, and therefore cannot create anything. Chopra argues that skepticism is only a negative process, and therefore does not lead to knowledge. Both are wrong for the same reasons. They ignore the generation of diversity and new ideas upon which natural selection and skepticism acts. Weeding out the unfit is critical to both - natural selection allows evolution to proceed, and skepticism allows science to advance.”

Doe Ideas Reason Religion Process Natural Generations Atheism Evolution Diversity Negative Critical Arguing Weed Skepticism New Ideas Selection Natural Selection

Author:Steven Novella

“The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquerors, and the third of reason.”

Firsts Reason Government Religion Thirds Conqueror

Book:The Political Writings of Thomas Paine ...: Prospects on the Rubicon. Rights of man, part I. Rights of man, part II. Letter to the authors of the Republican. Letter to the Abbe Sieyes. Address to the addressers. Letters to Lord Onslow. Dissertation on the first principles of government. Speech delivered in the French National convention. Letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas. The decline and fall of the English system of finance. Letter to the people of France. Reasons for preserving the life of Louis

Source: The Political Writings of Thomas Paine ...: Prospects on the Rubicon. Rights of man, part I. Rights of man, part II. Letter to the authors of the Republican. Letter to the Abbe Sieyes. Address to the addressers. Letters to Lord Onslow. Dissertation on the first principles of government. Speech delivered in the French National convention. Letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas. The decline and fall of the English system of finance. Letter to the people of France. Reasons for preserving the life of Louis

“...Thomas did not believe the resurrection [John 20:25], and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular and manual demonstration himself. So neither will I, and the reason is equally as good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas.”

Believe Persons Reason Religion Resurrection Demonstration Manuals Age Of Reason

Author:Thomas Paine

“In the beginning, there were no reasons; there were only causes. Nothing had a purpose, nothing has so much as a function; there was no teleology in the world at all.”

World Reason Purpose Religion Causes Function No Reason

Book:Consciousness Explained

Source: Consciousness Explained

“[This world] exists nonnecessarily, improbably, and causelessly. It exists for absolutely no reason at all. It is inexplicably and stunningly actual . . . The impact of this captivated realisation upon me is overwhelming. I am completely stunned. I take a few dazed steps in the dark meadow, and fall among the flowers. I lie stupefied, whirling without comprehension in this world through numberless worlds other than this one.”

World Reason Lying Religion Fall Dark Steps This World Flower Impact No Reason Overwhelming Comprehension Meadows Realisation Stunned Captivated Dazed

Author:Quentin Smith

“For my money, I'll bet on reason and humanistic kindness. Even if I am wrong I will have enjoyed my life, the existence of which is under little dispute.”

Ifs Littles Reason Religion Existence Kindness Enjoyed Disputes Humanistic

Book:Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

Source: Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

“A critic may reject some miracle stories as legendary, and not others, with no inconsistency at all for the simple reason that even if one holds miracles to be possible, one need not hold legends to be impossible! There are other factors, literary and historiographical ones, that might lead a critic to conclude that even though miracles can happen, it does not appear that in this or that case they did.”

Source: Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity

“If you get caught at some crucial point and somebody tells you that your doctrine doesn't make sense - you're ready for him. You tell him there's something above sense. That here he must not try to think, he must feel. He must believe. Suspend reason and you can play it deuces wild.”

Ifs Thinking Feels Trying Believe Reason Play Religion Ready Caught Doctrine Make Sense Crucial Deuces

Book:The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

“There has never been a philosophy, a theory or a doctrine, that attacked (or 'limited') reason, which did not preach submission to the power of some authority.”

Reason Philosophy Religion Theory Authority Doctrine Submission

Book:The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

Source: The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

“You will find men like him in all of the world's religions. They know that we represent reason and science, and, however confident they may be in their beliefs, they fear that we will overthrow their gods. Not necessarily through any deliberate act, but in a subtler fashion. Science can destroy a religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistance of Zeus or Thor, but they have few followers now.”

Knows Men World Wells May Reason Religion Belief Fashion Followers Deliberate Find Me Zeus

Book:Childhood’s End

Source: Childhood’s End

“How on earth can religious people believe in so much arbitrary, clearly invented balderdash?....The acceptance of a creed, any creed, entitles the acceptor to membership in the sort of artificial extended family we call a congregation. It is a way to fight loneliness. Any time I see a person fleeing from reason and into religion, I think to myself, There goes a person who simply cannot stand being so goddamned lonely anymore.”

Source: Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage

“Religion holds a man back from the path, prevents his stepping forward, for various very plain reasons. First, it makes the vital mistake of distinguishing between good and evil.”

Men Firsts Reason Religion Evil Mistake Path Various Good And Evil

Book:Light On The Path and Through the Gates of Gold

Source: Light On The Path and Through the Gates of Gold

“Why, the only reason for religion is that it can make you, keep you safe. If religion weren't true, then there would be no salvation, no comfort for being alive and alone, there would be nothing but living and dying - no, that cannot be so ... of course religion is true and will save me.”

Ifs Reason Would Be Religion Courses Alive Dying Comfort Safe Salvation Save Me

Author:Marghanita Laski

“... your spiritual teachers caution you against enquiry--tell you not to read certain books; not to listen to certain people; to beware of profane learning; to submit your reason, and to receive their doctrines for truths. Such advice renders them suspicious counsellors.”

Source: Course of popular lectures; with 3 addresses on various public occasions, and a reply to the charges against the French reformers of 1789

“That strange premature genius Chatterton has couched in one line the quintessence of what Voltaire has said in many pages: "Reason, a thorn in Revelation's side.”

Said Reason Religion Sides Lines Strange Genius Pages Revelations Premature One Line Quintessence

Author:Horace Walpole

“For if I should not believe all that is written by Historians, of the glorious acts of Alexander, or Caesar; I do not think the Ghost of Alexander, or Caesar, had any just cause to be offended; or any body else, but the Historian. If Livy say the Gods made once a Cow speak, and we believe it not; we distrust not God therein, but Livy. So that it is evident, that whatsoever we believe, upon no other reason, then what is drawn from authority of men only, and their writings; whether they be sent from God or not, is Faith in men only.”

Source: Hobbes: Leviathan: Revised student edition

“The Scripture was written to shew unto men the kingdom of God; and to prepare their minds to become his obedient subjects; leavingthe world, and the Philosophy thereof, to the disputation of men, for the exercising of their natural Reason.”

Men World Mind Reason Philosophy Religion Natural Written Subjects Exercise Bible Philosophical Scripture Kingdoms Kingdom Of God Obedient

Book:Leviathan

Source: Leviathan

“Casting an eye on the education of children, from whence I can make a judgment of my own, I observe they are instructed in religious matters before they can reason about them, and consequently that all such instruction is nothing else but filling the tender mind of a child with prejudices.”

Mind Children I Can Matter Reason Eye Religion Religious My Own Education Judgment Prejudice Instruction Casting Filling

Book:Works: Account of His Life and Letters

Source: Works: Account of His Life and Letters

“The state has no religion for the simple reason that it has each and everyone.”

States Reason Religion Simple Passivity

Author:Franz Grillparzer

“Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God”

Source: The Essential Jefferson

“Religion is the answer to that cry of Reason which nothing can silence, that aspiration of the soul which no created thing can meet, that want of the heart which all creation cannot supply.”

Want Heart Soul Reason Religion Answers Silence Cry Creation Aspiration

Book:Aspirations of nature

Source: Aspirations of nature

“Because they know not the forces of nature, and in order that they may have comrades in their ignorance, they suffer not that others should search out anything, and would have us believe like rustics and ask no reason... But we ask in all things a reason must be sought.”

Knows Should Believe May Reason Religion Suffering Order Asks Force Ignorance All Things No Reason Comrade Forces Of Nature

Author:William of Conches

“Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.”

Reason Religion Common Atheism Atheist Contrary Common Sense Clergy

Author:Voltaire

“Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out.”

Men Trying Reason Religion Prejudice

Author:Sydney Smith

“You will notice that in all disputes between Christians since the birth of the Church, Rome has always favored the doctrine which most completely subjugated the human mind and annihilated reason.”

Mind Humans Reason Christian Religion Church Atheism Birth Doctrine Human Mind Rome Disputes

Author:Voltaire

“I find every sect, as far as reason will help them, make use of it gladly: and where it fails them, they cry out, It is a matter of faith, and above reason.”

Matter Reason Helping Use Religion Failing Cry Positive Atheism Sects

Book:Locke's essays. An essay concerning human understanding. And A treatise on the conduct of the understanding. With the author's last additions

Source: Locke's essays. An essay concerning human understanding. And A treatise on the conduct of the understanding. With the author's last additions

“And while Protestant reformers broke with Rome on a variety of counts, their treatment of their fellow human beings was no less disgraceful. Public executions were more popular than ever: heretics were still reduced to ash, scholars were tortured and killed for impertinent displays of reason, and fornicators were murdered without a qualm.”

Source: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

“The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature. . . . [In] the formation of the American governments . . . it will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of heaven. . . . These governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.”