Religious Quotes - Page 195

There have, for years, been comparative studies of religious fanaticism and factors that correlate with it. By and large, it tends to decline with increasing industrialization and education. The US, however, is off the chart, ranking near devastated peasant societies. About 1/2 the population believe the world was created a few thousand years ago: the justification for the belief is that that is what they were ordered to believe by authority figures to whom they were taught one must subordinate oneself. And on, and on.

People will find some ways of identifying themselves, becoming associated with others, taking part in something. They're going to do it some way or other. If they don't have the options of participation in labor unions, political organizations that actually function, they'll find other ways. Religious fundamentalism is a classic example.

Gluttony and satiety in food produce defiled lust, while free association with women enflames the fire of lusts ... At the time of struggle with defilement, punish your thoughts with lack of nourishment, so that you will think not of defilements, but of hunger, and reject the invitation to go visiting.

Really, all religious teachings can be boiled down to: “Just be cool. Don’t be an asshole.

I'm not religious, and I'm not a Christian, but I do reserve the right to believe in the possibility of a god.

Civilization just takes it as a given that the whole world was flooding. Then science came and you had geology and modern astrophysics, and time became well understood going back billions of years. So enlightened religious people, as a necessity, had to shed the magical elements of the Bible. A little known fact is that Thomas Jefferson did just that. There's something called the Jefferson Bible. It's not widely publicized because it sort of conflicts with certain people's ideas of what the founding fathers were.

The most rapid way to change a root thought, or sponsoring idea, is to reverse the thought-word-deed process. Do the deed that you want to have the new thought about. Then say the words that you want to have your new thought about. Do this often enough and you'll train the mind to think a new way.

The soul conceives, the mind creates, the body experiences. The circle is complete.

Say your truth-kindly, but fully and completely. Live your truth, gently, but totally and consistently. Change your truth easily and quickly when your experience brings you new clarity.

... humans have such a need to break everything down into right and wrong. It never occurs to you that you've made those labels up to help you define the material-and your Self.

To change your reality, simply stop thinking like that.

I tell you this: Your Life proceeds out of your intentions for it.

A master blesses calamity, for the master knows that from the seeds of disaster (and all experience) comes the growth of self.

Life is a creation, not a discovery.

Worry, hate, fear-together with their offshoots: anxiety, bitterness, impatience, avarice, unkindness, judgmentalness, and condemnation-all attack the body at the cellular level. It is impossible to have a healthy body under these conditions.

I was born in Tehran at a time when women's rights were deteriorating at a rampant rate. My parents didn't want to raise their daughter in a social, political, and religious climate that was growing increasingly oppressive toward women and girls, so they emigrated to London. But the struggle of the Iranian people was permanently etched in my social consciousness from a young age.

I try to be - well, not holy - but my whole family is very religious, and I want to be like that, too. So I try my hardest to be more in touch with the Lord.

Among the more irritating consequences of our flagrantly religious society is the special dispensation that mainstream religions receive. We all may talk about religion as a powerful social force, but unlike other similarly powerful institutions, religion is not to be questioned, criticized or mocked.

Even back in its colonial days, America developed a reputation as a safe harbor for people with unusual or radical religious beliefs.

Protection of religious freedom means considering the faiths and beliefs of everyone involved.

For me, and maybe for many religious kids of the '60s, the church lost relevance the more it became a surrogate in the movement for social and political change.

In Barack Obama, Democrats have put forth a man of strong religious faith who is comfortable connecting his spiritual life to his public role as a policymaker.

Allegiance to Jesus and loving the truth are primary truths (2Thessalonians 2 v10). The Body of Christ must tolerate all religions in the sense of greatly valuing the dignity of their people and religious liberties. They possess great dignity before God. Yet, we are not willing to let them go to hell by refusing to love them and tell them the truth about Jesus. A false application of tolerance is foundational in the movements that lead to the harlot religion.

If a religious person says "No, no, no" and they won't listen to science, it makes me think that they don't have faith in their own religion.

I feel like I am not an American in the eyes of my government because of their religious beliefs. I think that is un-American.