Quotes About Power

Have you considered that system of holy lies and pious frauds that has raged and triumphed for 1,500 years?

churches, like all the rest of our major institutions, are rooted in capitalism. For a church to attack capitalism is to 'bite the hand that feeds it.

In the latter case it is often government that organizes the conquest, and religion that justifies it.

Probably in all history there is no instance of a society in which ecclesiastical power was dominant which was not at once stagnant, corrupt and brutal.

Yet the ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond-jade, Are only silly puppet gods That people themselves Have made.-

First the priests arrive. Then the conquistadores.

When we vest our personal opinions with the trappings of religion, we make religion the servant of our politics.

Images have an advanced religion; they bury history.

In America the press rules the countrty; it rules its politics, its religion, its social practices.

Religion gives us a place to stand outside politics, and without it we're vulnerable to a system in which the state defines everything, which is the essence of tyranny.

Religion is a very scary thing, because a pastor is in a position of power. And if you use that power badly, you ruin people's lives, and you ruin your own life.

We should not wonder at the success of communism, for so much of its success is rather that of religion.

Religion stalks across the face of human history, knee-deep in the blood of innocents, clasping its red hands in hymns of praise to an approving God.

The real goal of Christianity is not to create a religion about God, but that we would actually know Him, experiencing firsthand the wonders and power of His incomparable life.

Organised religion tries to control, so therefore must be lying.

We're more Christian than the Pope. And, I mean, that's not our religion. We pray to the Gods of our conquerors... all black and brown people.

To connect is to dissolve the imaginary pyramids of artificial privilege.

A man compounded of law and gospel is able to cheat a whole country with his religion and then destroy them under color of law

Religion is defined as belief in and worship of a controlling power and atheism is precisely not that.

What the Gospels actually said was: don't kill anyone until you are absolutely sure they aren't well connected.

Right, left, Greens, Baathists, whatever: it comes down to grabbing and holding power and using ideology - or religion, race - as a justification.

The only reason the Protestants and Catholics have given up the idea of universal domination is because they've realised they can't get away with it.

Having one king, one god, one belief, they can act single-mindedly.

Religion's just a well-oiled profit-driven denial of the randomness of it all.