#organized

Since then your sere Majesty and your Lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed. Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen." (Reply to the Diet of Worms, April 18, 1521) ↗

— Martin Luther

#christian #conscience #freedom-of-religion #freedom-of-thought #organized-religion

I was on the set when I was five years old with Spencer Tracy. A lot of what I learned growing up in terms of artistry is very clean, very tidy, very organized. ↗

— Robert Blake

#clean #five #growing #growing up #i

As Lynn writes: "What angers me is the loss of control. At any moment someone could come to me, be dressed the right way and use the right code, and I no longer have free will. I will do anything that person requests. I hate them for that. Nothing else is as bad as knowi that I am always out of control; knowing that I am still a laboratory experiment, a puppet whose strings are hidden from ever but my handlers, and I don't yet know how to break free. p216

— Lynn Hersha

#control #free-will #government-abuse #manipulation #military

Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. ↗

— Isaac Asimov

#bible #organized-religion #religion #religion

I don't know how you feel, but I'm pretty sick of church people. You know what they ought to do with churches? Tax them. If holy people are so interested in politics, government, and public policy, let them pay the price of admission like everybody else. The Catholic Church alone could wipe out the national debt if all you did was tax their real estate. ↗

— George Carlin

#religion #taxation #religion

We can only know God well when we know our own sin. And those who have known God without knowing their wretchedness have not glorified Him but have glorified themselves. ↗

— Blaise Pascal

#knowledge #organized-religion #sin #truth #religion

Theology is ignorance with wings. ↗

— Sam Harris

#organized-religion #reason #religion #religion

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshiped anything but himself. ↗

— Richard Francis Burton

#religion #religion

The danger is that in reaction to abuses and distortions of an idea, we'll reject it completely. And in the process miss out on the good of it, the worth of it, the truth of it. ↗

— Rob Bell

#atheism #ideas #organized-religion #religion #religion

Religion. It's given people hope in a world torn apart by religion. ↗

— Jon Stewart

#organized-religion #paradox #religion #hope