No quality imparts apparent strength to its possessors more effectively than faith. From hospital beds to battlefields, it is the iron that strengthens a man to confront his destiny.

the living used to wonder what happened after death. She said that whole religions were born and evolved around this one simple uncertainty.

I prayed aloud, less to plead for divine favor than to intimidate the tribe with articulate speech.

I’m aagnostic, meaning I don’t even know whether I’m agnostic or not.

Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

The word of sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is...

A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition. -Jose Bergamin, author (1895-1983)

Slow down. The Taliban were religious, in the sense that in their opinion a being called Allah really designed and created the world and everything in it, including them. They were also a cultus in...

God” gene and religious will hate andprotest religion as a virus. They were blindfolded at an early age, and their psychological issues werethe blindfold. The facts are often used as weapons rather than information to...

Remember, sometimes you have to look beyond the weirdness. It’s like the temple in ancient Jerusalem. If you went there, you’d see oxen being slaughtered and all sorts of things. But look beyond the weirdness,...

When I argue with devout statists, sometimes other voluntaryists tell me that I’m wasting my time, opining that a particular statist is never going to “get it.” I often respond by saying that that’s rarely...

Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings who don’t have all the answers to think that they do. Most people would think it’s wonderful when someone says ‘I’m willing lord, I’ll do whatever you...

The system is religion, the law is spirituality. Take your pick.

At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God’s edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base...

For myself I think that one wrong does not right the other, and forgiveness cannot be won with useless tears or alms to the Church.

I mean, think about [the phrase ‘love the sinner, hate the sin.’] Isn’t it like saying, ‘I love left-handed people but hate that they’re left-handed.’ Is that really love? Or is that saying, ‘I’m willing...

Immortal amarant, a flower which onceIn paradise, fast by the tree of life,Began to bloom; but soon for man’s offenceTo heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life,And...

Organised religion generally gets in the way of spiritual experience.

The politics of trans-identity seeks to move from the _politics of singular identity_ to the _politics of multiple solidarities_ across various identities without abandoning one’s personal attachments and commitments to the group that one finds...

For the wages of sin is Death, but the gift of God is everlasting Life in Christ Jesus or LORD.

Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the Gospel than holy adulterers. The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.

what such people miscall their religion, is a vent for their bad humours and arrogance.

I learned about religion the way most children learned about sex, [in the schoolyard]. . . . They terrified me by telling me there was a dead man in the sky watching everything I did...

Any faith that admires truth, that strives to know God, must be brave enough to accommodate the universe.

You just don’t have faith!” Frank repeated.”Well I hope I never get it! It’s like being hit by a hammer in the head!

Wenn man keine Sprache hat, ist alles Durcheinander, und man hat Angst vor Dingen, von denen man sich nicht zu fürchten braucht. In dieser Zeit stotterten die meisten der Kinder um mich herum, sprachen laut...

¡Creedlo, ciudadanos, aquel a quien la espada material de las leyes no detiene tampoco se detendrá por el temor moral de los suplicios del infierno, de los que se burla desde su infancia!. En una...

Isn’t it sad how some people’s grip on their lives is so precarious that they’ll embrace any preposterous delusion rather than face an occasional bleak truth?

So Jesus in the throes of his Passion is an image of hope: God is on the side of those who suffer.

Witchcraft isn’t about picking up a book, and asking forgiveness.. or learning about spirituality through the words of others. What you learn from those books are the opinions of other people, and not your own....

There seem to be only two kinds of people: Those who think that metaphors are facts, and those who know that they are not facts. Those who know they are not facts are what we...

I have something to say to the religionist who feels atheists never say anything positive: You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the...

Miracles’ rely on their observer’s ignorance. ‘Perfection’ relies on the observer’s failure to notice the observed’s defects.

He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.

The Islamic Reformation is already here. We are all living in it.

By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes. For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a...

jangan tanya apa agamaku. aku bukan yahudi. bukanzoroaster. bukan pula islam. karena aku tahu, begitu suatu namakusebut, kau akan memberikan arti yang lain daripada makna yang hidupdi hatiku.

We can always be sure of one thing—that the messengers of discomfort and sacrifice will be stoned and pelted by those who wish to preserve at all costs their own contentment. This is not a...

When it’s all over and the dust from our Ancestors bodies and our own settle from the four winds only then will we see that we were here!

Holy books are an insult to a God with good intentions.

This universe is shot through with mystery. The very fact of its being, and of our own, is a mystery absolute, and the only miracle worthy of the name. The consciousness that animates us is...

Once the wounded child awakens to its human self, a primal scream emerges from the depths of denial like the Kraken released from its underwater prison.

Faith does not offer a strong link between our beliefs and actual states of the world.

Niczego nie rozumiesz, a niewiele czujesz. Nie będę próbował ci tego tłumaczyć, bo zrozumienie jest ponad twoje możliwości. Trzymasz się kurczowo tego, co zapisano w księgach, lecz przecież w księgach nie zapisano wszystkiego. Każdy pomijał...

Only priests and fools are fearless and I’ve never been on the best of terms with God.

It is a better world. A place where we ate responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and becauseit is the right thing to do instead...

Every organized religion holds that certain behaviors, rituals, personalities, places, and/or books are sacred. These organized teachings are proper in their own place, but they are mere options for the one infused with devotion. To...

We have deficited upon their attention in the most disorderly fashion.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the greatest authority on matters of life is life itself.

Before the beginning, after the great war between Heaven and Hell, God created the Earth and gave dominion over it to the crafty ape he called Man. And to each generation was born a creature...