#religion

I would be quite content to go to their children's bar mitzvahs, to marvel at their Gothic cathedrals, to 'respect' their belief that the Koran was dictated, though exclusively in Arabic, to an illiterate merchant, or to interest myself in Wicca and Hindu and Jain consolations. And as it happens, I will continue to do this without insisting on the polite reciprocal condition - which is that they in turn leave me alone. But this, religion is ultimately incapable of doing. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#religion #religion

The institutions that claim to represent God, when they are not ignored altogether, are treated like other human institutions that have to earn their right to a hearing by the value of what they say, and not by virtue of who is saying it. Today, authority has to earn respect by the intrinsic value of what it says, not by the force of its imposition. ↗

— Richard Holloway

#religion #religion

First of all, Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. If anything at all, it is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and the world. It looks at things objectively (yathābhūtam). It does not falsely lull you into living in a fool's paradise, nor does it frighten and agonize you with all kinds of imaginary fears and sins. It tells you exactly and objectively what you are and what the world around you is, and shows you the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness. ↗

— Walpola Rahula

#buddhism #middle-path #middle-way #objectivism #objectivity

The soul is a mystery. Scientists and Theologians constantly butt heads on the soul’s definitive and can’t come to grips with its purpose and actual existence. Yet, the basic framework taught in a High School physics class helps with an explanation of the latter - the existence of the soul. ↗

— H.D. Rennerfeldt

#science-vs-religion #souls #religion

religion is about having the right answers, and some of their answers are right... but i am about the process that takes you to the living answer... it will change you from the inside. there are a lot of smart people who are able to say a lot of right things from their brain because they have been told what the right answers are, but they don't know me at all. ↗

— Wm. Paul Young

#the-shack #change

What if people and their lives and their productions become more beautiful than words can describe because they believe in something bigger than themselves? Is the most important question really whether what they believe is true? Isn't it more important that they are real? Things can be real without being true. ↗

— Christine Lim

#faith #questions #religion #beauty

Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life." Paul Tillich ↗

— Paul Tillich

#theology #life

I am fashionably unimpressed with the material world. I am moved by the beauty of aspiration, and I hope that I can elevate myself to the standards I have imposed on others. ↗

— Mike Corbett

#demons #heaven #hell #intelligent-humor #politics

Boutique multiculturalism accepts differences in dress, food, or worship. But the moment the sacred values of a particular ethnic or religious community become public, the toleration ends. (p. 63) ↗

— Alvin Dueck and Kevin Reimber

#diversity #multiculturalism #tolerance #food

Learning to pay attention to how your body feels can offer you rich guidance about your choices and direction in life. ↗

— Lynn A. Robinson

#divine-intuition #intuition #manifestation #religion #spirituality-of-imperfection