“I have done much reporting in what might be termed the religious field. I have interviewed dozens of people-maybe hundreds-asking questions about their beliefs. Some impressed me more than others, but it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the gift of faith (and I think it is a gift) is the most valuable one of all. People who have it are stronger-and kinder-and more unselfish-and happier. It's as simple (and as mysterious) as that.” PeopleThinkingDoneMightFaithBeliefReligiousSimpleImpossibleFieldsStrongerAskingValuableConclusionMysteriousDozenImpressedAsking QuestionsUnselfishKinder Author:Arthur Gordon Webster
“Superstitions, and especially the early cultivation of religion, with its "fear of the Lord" and of unknown mysterious agencies, are especially potent in the development of the instinct of fear. Even the early cultivation of morality and conscientiousness, with their fears of right and wrong, often causes psychoneurotic states in later life. Religious, social, and moral taboos and superstitions, associated with apprehension of threatening impending evil, based on the fear instinct, form the germs of psychopathic affections.” StatesFormEvilSocialCausesReligiousMoralLordDevelopmentMoralityInstinctAffectionMysteriousAgencySuperstitionsThreateningTabooApprehensionGermsCultivationPsychopathicConscientiousness Book:The Causation and Treatment of Psychopathic Diseases Source: The Causation and Treatment of Psychopathic Diseases
“Whether religious or racial, anti-Semitism is always repugnant, one of the most destructive manifestations of human stupidity and evil. What is profoundly expressed in it is man's traditional mistrust of the man who is not part of his tribe, that 'other' who speaks a different language, whose skin is a different color, and who participates in mysterious rites and rituals.” MenHumansDifferentEvilSpeakLanguageReligiousColorHe ManSkinsStupidityTraditionalMysteriousManifestationDestructiveRitualTribesMistrustRiteAnti SemitismDifferent LanguagesDifferent ColorsHuman Stupidity Author:Mario Vargas Llosa
“Theology, I am persuaded, derives its initial impulse from a religious wavering; for there is quite as much, or more, that is mysterious and calculated to awaken scientific curiosity in the intercourse with God, and it [is] a problem quite analogous to that of theology.” ProblemReligiousCuriosityTheologyMysteriousImpulseInitialsIntercourseWavering Book:Scientific meta-physics Source: Scientific meta-physics