Quotes About Religion

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

Various forms of religious madness are quite common in the United States.

If the Crusades were not politics, we should have to narrow the meaning of the word very considerably.

Though what is understood as religious sentiment comes next to the love of individuals for each other in the extent of its influence, it has produced much verse, but, it must be allowed, little poetry, the reason probably being that the religious sentiment of the few who are endowed with the gift of writing poetry differs from that of the average "religious" person.

The permanent passions of mankind--love, religion, patriotism, humanitarianism, hate, revenge, ambition; the conflict between free will and fate; the rise and fall of empires--these are all great themes, and, if greatly treated, and in accordance with the essentials applicable to all poetry, may produce poetry of the loftiest kind.

Nothing is a sin when you obey the orders of a priest

L'amour était traité comme la gloire et la religion : c'était une illusion ancienne. (P 10)

But it is the province of religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go beyond life, beyond time, into eternity.

A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death

I believe in believing. My coach John Kavanagh is a big atheist, and he is always trying to persuade people to his way of thinking, and I think, 'What a waste of energy.' If people want to believe in this god or that god, that's fine by me; believe away. But I think we can be our own gods. I believe in myself.

'Monty Python' became my religion when I was 10. It led me out of the depths of darkness. I loved 'The Goodies,' too, and 'The Two Ronnies.' I watched those shows on the public television station in Chicago.

We were still quite religious until I was about eight or nine. Then I watched my parents take a dramatic turn and discard all religion.

If I wouldn't offend my religion or God, why would I want to offend an audience because in effect those people are being watched over by the same person.

A critic is a eunuch working in a harem. He watches it, but he knows he can't do it. Critics very often are failed writers and, like failed priests, they hate religion.

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.

Jesus walking on water is an allegory, not fluid mechanics. God destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is a warning, not a historical battle. Doubting Thomas is an example, not a person. The story of Noah, with all of its scientific and historical impossibilities, can be read the same way.

No religion makes more use of color than Hinduism, with its blue-skinned gods and peony-lipped goddesses, and even the spring festival of Holi is focused on color: Boys squirt arcs of dyed water on passersby or dump powder, all violently hued, on their marks.

Religion, like water, may be free, but when they pipe it to you, you've got to help pay for piping. And the Piper!

There's not a day that goes by that I don't bless myself with holy water and then get in my car and rub the medal of the Virgin Mary that she gave me and say a Hail Mary for my mother. And then I kiss her Mass card that's right there on the dashboard.

I want clean water and clean air and conservation... that's not what extreme environmentalists are all about. For them, it is a religion. They believe in trees and animals, not God.

We are now in the Me Decade - seeing the upward roll of the third great religious wave in American history.

I never went through a wave of hating Christianity, even though my parents were born-again Christians, and there were a lot of ideas that were being practiced that I think were misguided.

From my early 20s on, I would waver between atheism and agnosticism, never coming close to considering that God could be real.

The waves of religion based on terrorism in the 1990s are based on the tormented response of a mutilated Muslim society whose progressive forces have been savagely emasculated. Why on earth is the Arab world so hostile to women? Why can it not see women as a force for development?