“Total experiences, of which there are many kinds, tend again and again to be apprehended only as revivals or translations of the religious imagination. To try to make a fresh way of talking at the most serious, ardent, and enthusiastic level, heading off the religious encapsulation, is one of the primary intellectual tasks of future thought.” WayTryingKindImaginationReligiousLevelsTalkingSeriousIntellectualTasksPrimariesAgain And AgainTranslationsEnthusiasticRevivalHeadingsArdentWay Of Talking Author:Susan Sontag
“In organized groups such as the army or the Church there is either no mention of love whatsoever between the members, or it is expressed only in a sublimated and indirect way, through the mediation of some religious imagine in the love of whom the members unite and whose all-embracing love they are supposed to imitate in their attitude towards each other. It is one of the basic tenets of fascist leadership to keep primary libidinal energy on an unconscious level so as to divert its manifestations in a way suitable to political ends.” WayEndsPoliticalEnergyChurchReligiousLevelsAttitudeImagineGroupsMembersArmyPrimariesManifestationOrganizedUnconsciousFascistsSuitableIndirectMediationEmbracing Love Author:Theodor Adorno
“And how can we ever again succeed in educating children to become moral men and women if, in America's public schools, we consciously deny them all religious instruction, and deny them access to that primary source of morality, God's own word. The Bible is the one book from which they are expressly not allowed to be taught.” IfsMenChildrenBookSchoolAmericaReligionReligiousMoralTaughtSourceMoralitySucceedMen And WomenDenyAccessPrimariesInstructionPublic SchoolPrimary SourceEducating Children Author:Pat Buchanan
“Since the primary motive of the evil is disguise, one of the places evil people are most likely to be found is within the church. What better way to conceal one's evil from oneself, as well as from others, than to be a deacon or some other highly visible form of Christian within our culture? ... I do not mean to imply that the evil are anything other than a small minority among the religious or that the religious motives of most people are in any way spurious. I mean only that evil people tend to gravitate toward piety for the disguise and concealment it can offer them.” PeopleWayWellsMeanChristianFormCultureEvilFoundChurchReligiousAtheismOffersOneselfPositive AtheismPrimariesMotiveVisibleMinoritiesDisguisePietyBetter WaysEvil PeopleConcealmentDeacons Author:Martin Buber
“A lot of arguments happen among religious and non religious people about the question of who's going to hell and who's going to heaven and uh, a lot of times Christians get into this argument by saying 'we have the only way to heaven.' And uh, people often ask me what do I think is the way to heaven. I have a problem when they ask me this question because it assumes that the primary purpose of Jesus' coming and the primary message of Jesus was a message about how to get to heaven.” PeopleThinkingWayProblemHappensChristianPurposeAsksJesusHeavenReligiousHellMessagesArgumentAssumingPrimariesAsk MeGoing To HeavenNon Religious Author:Brian D. McLaren
“It's always been you know, religion that has been the primary impediment to actual relationship with God, because it creates a mythology about performance -- that you can perform your way into the appeasement of the deity. And you know, when you're born inside the cultural framework that I was, and you're born inside the religious traditions that I was, that becomes your understanding of spirituality: That it's about trying to please God. So, it's really not about God at all; it's about our ability to perform according to whatever the expectations are.” KnowsWayTryingHas BeensReligionSpiritualityUnderstandingBornReligiousAbilityPleaseExpectationsTraditionPerformancesMythologyPrimariesDeitiesFrameworkRelationship With GodImpedimentsReligious TraditionsAppeasement Author:William P. Young