Religion

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. – Thomas Jefferson

Who can resist a religious doctrine that allows you to sin against your neighbor and apologize to a forgiving third party? – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

Mankind have banned the Divinity from their presence; they have relegated him to a sanctuary; the walls of the temple restrict his view; he does not exist outside of it. – Diderot, PensÃ©es philosophiques, 1746

If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is “God is crying.” And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is, “Probably because of something you did.” – Jack Handey, “Deep Thoughts”

When lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday, cash me out. – Frank Sinatra

My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance â€” but for us, not for God. – Albert Einstein

Some people would have us love, or rather obey God, chiefly because he outbids the devil. – Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers

I refuse to be labeled immoral merely because I am godless. – Peter Walker

What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak. – George Santayana, Reason in Religion

Scriptures: the sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based. – Ambrose Bierce

There are ten church members by inheritance for every one by conviction. – Author Unknown

A man without religion is like a horse without a bridle. – Latin Proverb

There seems to be a terrible misunderstanding on the part of a great many people to the effect that when you cease to believe you may cease to behave. – Louis Kronenberger

The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles? – John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1815 June 20th

Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens. – Michel de Montaigne, translated

It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. – Denis Diderot

Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but live for it. – C.C. Colton

To die for a religion is easier than to live it absolutely. – Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinthes, 1962

There is a story, which is fairly well known, about when the missionaries came to Africa. They had the Bible and we, the natives, had the land. They said “Let us pray,” and we dutifully shut our eyes. When we opened them, why, they now had the land and we had the Bible. – Desmond M. Tutu, “Religious Human Rights and the Bible”

A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes. – James Feibleman, Understanding Philosophy, 1973