#religion

"Behaving morally because of a hope of reward or a fear of punishment is not morality. Morality is not bribery or threats. Religion is bribery and threats. Humans have morality. We don't need religion."

"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."

"I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted."

"A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking."

"But with dogs, we do have "bad dog."Bad dog exists. "Bad dog! Bad dog! Stole a biscuit, bad dog!"The dog is saying, "Who are you to judge me? You human beings who’ve had genocide, war against people of different creeds, colors, religions, and I stole a biscuit?! Is that a crime? People of the world!""Well, if you put it that way, I think you’ve got a point. Have another biscuit, sorry."

"Never doubt God in the darkness what he has given us in the light."

"The only successful philosophies and religions are the ones that flatter us, whether in the name of progress or of hell. Damned or not, man experiences an absolute need to be at the heart of everything."

"God has judged me all my life. But that is God's privilege, my lady. Not yours."

"If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun of it."

"I call him religious who understands the suffering of others."

"At this time of year it's easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity - the lies, the corruption, the abuse."

"The religionist is a living fossil, embedded in that rock called faith."

"The five points of yama, together with the five points of niyama, remind us of the Ten Commandments of the Christtian and Jewish faiths, as well as of the ten virtues of Buddhism. In fact, there is no religion without these moral or ethical codes. All spiritual life should be based on these things. They are the foundation stones without which we can never build anything lasting. (127)"

"Be sure to lie to your kids about the benevolent, all-seeing Santa Claus. It will prepare them for an adulthood of believing in God."

"I don't know how you feel, but I'm pretty sick of church people. You know what they ought to do with churches? Tax them. If holy people are so interested in politics, government, and public policy, let them pay the price of admission like everybody else. The Catholic Church alone could wipe out the national debt if all you did was tax their real estate."

"One thing about great art: it made you love people more, forgive them their petty transgressions. It worked in the way that religion was supposed to, if you thought about it."

"Photons have mass? I didn’t even know they were Catholic."

"Governments want efficient technicians, not human beings, because human beings become dangerous to governments – and to organized religions as well. That is why governments and religious organizations seek to control education."

"Self-observation is the first step of inner unfolding."

"down with hell and heaven and all the religious fussinfinity pleased our parents one inch looks good to us"