In the holy city of Mecca, violence of any kind was forbidden. From the moment they left home, pilgrims were not permitted to carry weapons, to swat an insect or speak an angry word, a discipline that introduced them to a new way of living. – Karen Armstrong
I am not interested in the afterlife. Religion is supposed to be about losing your ego, not preserving it eternally in optimum conditions. – Karen Armstrong
Zionism was originally a rebellion against religious Judaism and the PLO Charter was essentially secularist. But because the conflict was allowed to fester without a resolution, religion got sucked into the escalating cycle of violence and became part of the problem. – Karen Armstrong
Mohammed was not an apparent failure. He was a dazzling success, politically as well as spiritually, and Islam went from strength to strength to strength. – Karen Armstrong
I really wanted to do something positive on the Internet. I wanted to try to get young people talking about, thinking about, lifes big questions-make it cool and OK to wonder about the heart, the soul and free will and God and death and big topics like that, big human topics. – Rainn Wilson