All too often, the word 'religion' has become identified with those promoting a frankly anti-scientific view of nature and of our place in the natural world.
The stability and peace which seemed to be so firmly established by the brilliant monarchy of Francis I vanished with the terrible outbreak of the Wars of Religion.
When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions.
Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world... to see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one.
I'd like Muslims to look at their religion as a set of beliefs that they can appraise critically and pick and choose from.
How can you tell when a political ideology has become the equivalent of a religion?
The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.
All too many Muslims fail to grasp Islam, which teaches one to be lenient towards others and to understand their value systems, knowing that these are tolerated by Islam as a religion.
All who think cannot but see there is a sanction like that of religion which binds us in partnership in the serious work of the world.
I think religion is a mistake - I'm exhausted by its self-righteousness. I think atheists should start screaming for attention like religious folks do.
The UN declaration on human rights must always be first in line before religion or other cultural habits, in case of any conflict between them.
I like to say magic is the world's second oldest profession, a mystical and often awe-inspiring spectacle that, throughout the ages, has blended superstition, trickery and religion.
It's a bit odd that nobody seems to be using the correct technical term to describe organized Islamic terrorists. They are not a faction of a religion or a social movement. They are a cult. A suicide cult.
I am determined that my children shall be brought up in their father's religion, if they can find out what it is.
Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.
Galileo was no idiot. Only an idiot could believe that science requires martyrdom - that may be necessary in religion, but in time a scientific result will establish itself.
The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one.
I firmly believe that the mission of religion in the 21st century must be to contribute concretely to the peaceful coexistence of humankind.
No human heart is denied empathy. No religion can demolish that by indoctrination. No culture, no nation and nationalism - nothing can touch it because it is empathy.
