#religion

The morning after the 9/11 attacks...we began talking about the Twin Towers attack. Ruud shook his head sadly about it all. He said, "It's so weird, isn't it, all these people saying this has to do with Islam?" I couldn't help myself...I blurted out, "But it *is* about Islam. This is based in belief. This is Islam." Ruud said, "Ayaan, of course these people may have been Muslims, but they are a lunatic fringe. We have extremist Christians, too, who interpret the bible literally. Most Muslims do not believe these things. To say so is to disparage a faith which is the second largest religion in the world, and which is civilized, and peaceful." I walked into the office thinking, "I have to wake these people up."...The Dutch had forgotten that it was possible for people to stand up and wage war, destroy property, imprison, kill, impose laws of virtue because of the call of God. That kind of religion hadn't been present in Holland for centuries. It was not a lunatic fringe who felt this way about America and the West. I knew that a vast mass of Muslims would see the attacks as justified retaliation against the infidel enemies of Islam. ↗

— Ayaan Hirsi Ali

#politics #religion #faith

The most confused you will ever get is when you try to convince your heart and spirit of something your mind knows is a lie. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#common-sense #confusion #disbelief #evidence #faith

The most important lesson that we're supposed to be learning right now is how completely lost we are without God. If we don't learn this lesson, then our lives are going to have zero meaning. (Stronger: Forty Days of Metal and Spirituality) ↗

— Brian "Head" Welch

#god #jesus #lessons #life #love

You know, it's a sad and unfortunate state of affairs that you have to live in a world where eight-year-olds refuse to believe in anything that they cannot touch or measure, and anyone who happens to see a thing that is invisible to most people is immediately branded a lunatic. ↗

— Caitlín R. Kiernan

#belief #childhood #faith #religion #spirituality

God alone knows exactly what you and I must endure in order to form His character in us. It is in our trials that God refines us and removes our impurities. Like refined gold, when we pass through our trials, people will see His perfect reflection in us. ↗

— Wendy Blight

#faith #god #religion #struggles #trials

I'm just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything?... I'm not going to be immoral or commit crimes because I don't believe. I don't even think about that. I just get so tired of Him getting the credit for things the human race achieves through its own effort. Now, there simply is no God. There's only man. And it's he who makes miracles. ↗

— Lorraine Hansberry

#faith #god #lorraine-hansberry #religion #faith

You have to believe what you're saying if you're going to convince me. I just can't break that rule, even if I want to. ↗

— Ashly Lorenzana

#convince #faith #honesty #people #persuading

Since living is believing, no one can be completely lacking in faith. ↗

— Kentetsu Takamori

#buddhism #faith #life #religion #spirituality

Let us keep in mind that we do not have to go to the scriptures inorder to approach God. We do not have to find the right scripture inorder to talk to God". ↗

— Thurman L. Faison

#emerging-church #faith #god #kingdom-of-god #new-thought

I believe we are more ready to embrace our lives in the here and now when we are able to recognize the continuity between the immanence of God in our world and eternity. Rather than simply waiting to be liberated to another time or place, we are being invited to collaborate in the healing and redemption of our world. ↗

— Mark Scandrette

#faith #heaven #religion #faith