"God has no Religion"
Mahatma Ghandi
Arizona USA
"All religions are founded on the fear of the many
and the cleverness of the few"
Stendhal
Scotland
"When the missionaries came to Africa
they had the Bible and we had the land.
They said: `Let us pray`. We closed our eyes.
When we opened them we had the Bible
and they had the land"
Bishop Desmond Tutu
Tanzania Africa
"The tendency to turn human judgements
into divine commands makes religion one of the most
dangerous forces in the world"
Georgia Harkness
Bavaria Germany
"I would never die for my beliefs because i might be wrong"
Bertrand Russell
Arizona USA
"Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakeable truth
through the power of institution and the passage of time"
Richard Dawkins
Bavaria Germany
"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples;
no need for complicated philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness".
Dalai Lama
Buckskin Gulch Utah
"One of the hardest lessons we have to learn in this life,
and one that many persons never learn,
is to see the divine,
the celestial, the pure in the common,
the near at hand--
to see that heaven lies about us here in this world".
John Burroughs
Kaikoura New Zealand
"Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal.
He is the only animal that has the True Religion--several of them.
He is the only animal that loves his neighbour as himself
and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight.
He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his
brother's path to happiness and heaven....The higher animals have no religion.
And we are told that they are going to be left out in the Hereafter. I wonder why?
It seems questionable taste".
Mark Twain
Tarrangire Tanzania
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it,
no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Buddha
Utah USA
Dogmatism breeds intolerance.
Like ideology, dogmatism puts blinders on what its adherents can see,
disables their questioning faculties, and breeds fervor and fanaticism.
Having an open mind does not mean that one never comes to any convictions in life.
It is perfectly possible to have an open mind and live a very principled life,
without holding one's beliefs dogmatically.
Having an open mind means being prepared to question even your most central beliefs
if there is occasion to do so. It means being open, when the time comes,
to having your mind changed by an argument better than one's own.
It means being able to think both sides of an issue, both the side you think is true and the
side you think is false. It also means being able to suspend your beliefs, to play devil's
advocate, and to detach yourself somewhat from your own beliefs, actions and feelings.
Only living with an open mind gives us a chance to grow and change,
for change is inevitable, while growth, unfortunately, is not.
Jeff Mason
Garmisch Partenkirchen Germany