Karen Armstrong

Religion is a search for transcendence. But transcendence isn't necessarily sited in an external god, which can be a very unspiritual, unreligious concept. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#external #god #necessarily #religion #search

Religious people often prefer to be right rather than compassionate. Often, they don't want to give up their egotism. They want their religion to endorse their ego, their identity. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#ego #egotism #endorse #give #identity

Storytelling is fine as long as you can encourage people to act on the stories. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#encourage #fine #long #people #stories

The first person to promulgate the Golden Rule, which was the bedrock of this empathic spirituality, was Confucius 500 years before Christ. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#before #christ #confucius #first #golden

The hajj is one of the five essential practices of Islam; when they make the pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims ritually act out the central principles of their faith. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#central #essential #faith #five #islam

The values of Islam are expressed by Muslims clearly. September 11 changed the world, and put Muslims on the spotlight. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#clearly #expressed #islam #muslims #put

There is a danger in monotheism, and it's called idolatry. And we know the prophets of Israel were very, very concerned about idolatry, the worship of a human expression of the divine. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#called #concerned #danger #divine #expression

Mohammed was not an apparent failure. He was a dazzling success, politically as well as spiritually, and Islam went from strength to strength to strength. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#apparent failure #dazzling #failure #islam #mohammed

When violence becomes imbedded in a region, then this affects everything. It affects your dreams, your fantasies and relationships, and your religion becomes violent, too. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#becomes #dreams #everything #fantasies #our dreams

We are addicted to our egotism, our likes and dislikes and prejudices, and depend upon them for our own sense of identity. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#depend #dislikes #egotism #identity #likes