"A lot of people, because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion, think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed, to be the repository of other people's hope."
"How dismal it is to see present day Americans yearning for the very orthodoxy that their country was founded to escape."
"If you gave [Jerry] Falwell an enema he could be buried in a matchbox."
"If you gave [Jerry] Falwell an enema he could be buried in a matchbox."
"We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid."
"To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation—is that good for the world?"