Quotes About Religion

Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint, but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a light-house. [Letter to his wife, 17 July 1757, after narrowly avoiding a shipwreck; often misquoted as "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."]

The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.

The best way to see Faith is to shut the eye of Reason.

To follow by faith alone is to follow blindly

Serving God is doing good to man, but praying is thought an easier service and therefore more generally chosen.

When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and, when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its Professors are oblig'd to call for the help of the Civil Power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.

Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs the World by his Providence. That he ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable Service we can render him, is doing good to his other Children. That the Soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another life, respect[ing] its Conduct in this. These I take to be fundamental Principles of all sound Religion, and I regard them as you do, in whatever Sect I meet them.

How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.

This respect to all, with an opinion that the worst had some good effects, induc'd me to avoid all discourse that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his own religion;

A man compounded of Law and Gospel, is able to cheat a whole country with his Religion, and then destroy them under Colour of Law.

I went thence to the Old Neck, where I was led into a careful searching out of the secret workings of the mystery of iniquity, which, under a cover of religion exalts itself against that pure spirit which leads in the way of meekness and self-denial.

Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three children into New England, about 1682. The conventicles having been forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, induced some considerable men of his acquaintance to remove to that country, and he was prevailed with to accompany them thither, where they expected to enjoy their mode of religion with freedom.

The hardheaded followers of the previously mentioned Party-Crashing Busybody religion failed to appreciate the beauty of the endless forest and clear waters that appeared before them on the fresh green continent of the New World. Instead, they saw the paradise that was there and the people who lived in harmony with it as alien and threatening, something to attack and conquer - because it all stood in the way of the Great Reward.

You must believe in God in spite of what the clergy say.

Capitalism is a purely cultic religion, perhaps the most extreme that ever existed.

Religious rectitude is the sanctuary of the intellectually reticent

A religion may be discerned in capitalism--that is to say, capitalism serves essentially to allay the same anxieties, torments, and disturbances to which the so-called religions offered answers.

All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative as the giving of alms, intellect and morality, consistency and principles are miserably inadequate.

Fear is the denomination of the Old Testament belief is the denomination of the New.

Among politicians the esteem of religion is profitable the principles of it are troublesome.

Marxism is now a world faith and must be allowed to enter into a continuous dialogue with other world faiths, including religious faiths.

Roses are reddish Violets are bluish If it weren't for Christmas We'd all be Jewish.

Imagine a civilisation that's way in advance of us wants to communicate with us, and assist us in our development. The information we provide to them must reflect our highest aspirations and ideals, and not just be some crazy person's bizarre politics or religion.

My view is that homosexual acts - not homosexuality, but homosexual acts - are wrong. They're intrinsically wrong. And I think in a natural-law-based country, it's appropriate to have policies that reflect that... They don't comport with natural law.