#religion

If you were an atheist, Birbal," the Emperor challenged his first minister, "what would you say to the true believers of all the great religions of the world?" Birbal was a devout Brahmin from Trivikrampur, but he answered unhesitatingly, "I would say to them that in my opinion they were all atheists as well; I merely believe in one god less than each of them." "How so?" the Emperor asked. "All true believers have good reasons for disbelieving in every god except their own," said Birbal. "And so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none." -- From "The Shelter of the World ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#religion

Far better it is for you to say: "I am a sinner," than to say: "I have no need of religion." The empty can be filled, but the self-intoxicated have no room for God. ↗

— Fulton J. Sheen

#catholicism #christianity #god #religion #sinners

The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun. ↗

— Thomas Paine

#christian-religion #falsified #sun #worship #religion

There's nothing mysterious about it, He's not working at all. He's playing. Or else He's forgotten all about us. That's the kind of God you people talk about, a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of Creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain? ↗

— Joseph Heller

#religion

On the Disc, the Gods aren't so much worshipped, as they are blamed. ↗

— Terry Pratchett

#religion #religion

Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew. ↗

— Mahatma Gandhi

#christian #christianity #hindu #hinduism #islam

The fact that my continuous and public rejection of Christianity does not worry me in the least should suggest to you just how inadequate I think your reasons for being a Christian are. ↗

— Sam Harris

#religion #religion

What I'm asking you to entertain is that there is nothing we need to believe on insufficient evidence in order to have deeply ethical and spiritual lives. ↗

— Sam Harris

#atheism #belief #ethics #humanism #religion

Why worry about minor little details like clean air, clean water, safe ports and the safety net when Jesus is going to give the world an "Extreme Makeover: Planet Edition" right after he finishes putting Satan in his place once and for all? ↗

— Arianna Huffington

#environment #god #politics #religion #satan

In the year 2006, a person can have sufficient intellectual and material resources to build a nuclear bomb and still believe that he will get seventy-two virgins in Paradise. ↗

— Sam Harris

#morality #religion #religion