Quotes About Dogma

Hitler believed nothing, so he was free to believe in anything.

Blind commitment to a theory is not an intellectual virtue: it is an intellectual crime.

Faith doesn't forbid exploration. It's dogma that does. Dogma, by definition, is threatened by questions, while faith welcomes questions because it trusts that God, being magisterial, can handle them. That's a God whose grace can be felt by curious individuals everywhere.

Now any dogma, based primarily on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the weapon will never be turned on the user.

Ahora bien, cualquier dogma, basado primariamente en la fe y el sentimentalismo, es un arma peligrosa usada sobre los demás, puesto que es imposible garantizar que el arma nunca se vuelva contra el que la emplea.

Now any dogma, primarily based on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the weapon will never be turned on the user.

The creation tale of Genesis is very impressive, even in modern terms, if it is treated symbolically and allegorically. But again, the tendency for many people is to accept it literally and to fight ferociously against deviating from it by one iota.

No puedo ser miembro de una institución que me considera persona de segunda clase y cuyas autoridades, siempre hombres, imponen sus reglas con la fuerza del dogma y gozan de impunidad.

A los quince años me alejé de la Iglesia para siempre, no por falta de fe en Dios —eso vino más tarde—, sino por el machismo inherente a toda organización religiosa. No puedo ser miembro de una institución que me considera persona de segunda clase y cuyas autoridades, siempre hombres, imponen sus reglas con la fuerza del dogma y gozan de impunidad.

cannot belong to an institution that considers me a second-class member whose authorities, always male, enjoy complete impunity and enforce their rules with dogma.

Para ellos, prácticos y tolerantes, la espiritualidad estaba más cerca de la filosofía que de la religión; era una cuestión de ética, jamás de dogma.

Aquí, en este mundo que dejaste atrás, a Dios lo han secuestrado los hombres. Han creado unas religiones disparatadas, que no entiendo cómo han sobrevivido durante siglos y siguen expandiéndose. Son implacables, predican amor, justicia y caridad, y para imponerlas cometen atrocidades. Los señores muy principales que propagan estas religiones juzgan, castigan, fruncen el ceño ante la alegría, el placer, la curiosidad y la imaginación.

He felt that Christianity, like almost all forms of superstition, made men weaker and more resigned

The conflict between religion and science is inherent and (very nearly) zero-sum. The success of science often comes at the expense of religious dogma; the maintenance of religious dogma always comes at the expense of science.

Christians have burned each other, quite persuaded That all the apostles would have done as they did.

A myth is a fixed way of looking at the world which cannot be destroyed because, looked at through the myth, all evidence supports that myth.

The American people deserve truthfulness, not more political campaigning. The American people deserve a responsible government that seeks to address their needs, not more ideological dogma.

Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.

All of us are living with dogmas that we accept as truths. When one of these is overturned, there's an initial gasp, soon followed by a rush of exhilaration.

I saw what religion did to people when I grew up, and I certainly didn't want any part of it. That turned me off it.

One of the problems with the identification of Christianity with love is how such a view turns out to be both anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic. The Jews and Catholics become identified with the law or dogma, in contrast to Protestant Christians, who are about love.

All the wars, all the hatred, all the ignorance in the world come out of being so invested in our opinions.

Those who are convinced they have a monopoly on The Truth always feel that they are only saving the world when they slaughter the heretics.

Adherence to dogmas has destroyed more armies and cost more battles than anything in war.