#religion

Every one of the world's "great" religions utterly trivializes the immensity and beauty of the cosmos. Books like the Bible and the Koran get almost every significant fact about us and our world wrong. Every scientific domain -- from cosmology to psychology to economics -- has superseded and surpassed the wisdom of Scripture. Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence. The rest is self-deception, set to music. ↗

— Sam Harris

#reason #religion #beauty

If I don't talk about my religion, if I say I'm not discussing it or different humanitarian things I'm working on, they're like, 'He's avoiding it.' If I do talk about it, it becomes, 'Oh, he's proselytizing.' ↗

— Tom Cruise

#avoiding #becomes #different #discussing #humanitarian

The fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the death of wisdom. Skepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom. ↗

— Clarence Darrow

#death

I think there's been a big problem between religion, or organized religion, and spirituality. ↗

— Dave Davies

#between #big #big problem #i #i think

Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#changed #consolation #crutch #evidence #harm

A universe with a God would look quite different from a universe without one. A physics, a biology where there is a God is bound to look different. So the most basic claims of religion are scientific. Religion is a scientific theory. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#biology #bound #claims #different #god

One of the things that is wrong with religion is that it teaches us to be satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#really #religion #satisfied #teaches #things

It would be intolerant if I advocated the banning of religion, but of course I never have. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#banning #course #i #intolerant #never

Just in our lifetime our society has become looser and more private, it becomes extremely difficult to hold to any permanent commitment whatever, least of all to organized religion. ↗

— Mary Douglas

#become #becomes #commitment #difficult #extremely

I have increasingly, over the years, felt that religion today does our civilization more harm than good. ↗

— Mary Douglas

#does #felt #good #harm #i