It is very reasonable to worry about the harm done by organized religion, and to prefer looser and more private arrangements. – Mary Douglas
Just in our lifetime our society has become looser and more private, it becomes extremely difficult to hold to any permanent commitment whatever, least of all to organized religion. – Mary Douglas
If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization. – Mary Douglas
Since 1970, relationships can be more volatile, jobs more ephemeral, geographical mobility more intensified, stability of marriage weaker. – Mary Douglas
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 fifth point concerning nonviolent resistance is that it avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him. – Martin Luther King,Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, 1958