Included are quotes on: God, government, happiness, and hate.
God:
Rev. Tony Campolo: "We are furious that the religious right has
made Jesus into a Republican. That’s idolatry. To recreate Jesus in your own
image rather than allowing yourself to be created in Jesus’ image is what’s
wrong with politics."
Stephen Roberts, an Atheist talks to a theist: "I contend that we
are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you
understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand
why I dismiss yours."
Xenophanes, an ancient Greek philosopher: "If horses had Gods, they would look like horses!"
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraqi terrorist: Democracy is ... based on the right to
choose your religion. [That is] against the rule of God."
Anon: "A Great law protects me from the government. The
Bill of Rights has 10 GREAT laws. A good law protects me from you. Laws
against murder, theft, assault and the like are good laws. A poor law
attempts to protect me from myself."
Newt Gingrich, Ex-speaker of the House: "The idea that
congressmen would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or
private sources is essentially a socialist argument."
Happiness:
Buddha: "We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose
minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy
follows them like a shadow that never leaves them."
Aleister Crowley: "Only he is happy who has desired the
unattainable."
Helen Keller: "When one door of happiness closes, another
opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the
one which has been opened for us."
Nietzsche: "The secret of reaping the greatest
fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously."
Hate:
Akbar Ahmed: "If we do not take this road of dialogue and
understanding then I fear for the next generation. There are enough
people preaching hatred, which encourages violence. We are living in
times when technology, biology and chemistry have created the
possibility of killing in large numbers. And, unfortunately, the cruelty
and killing are often justified through a distorted interpretation of
religion." Ahmed, a Muslim scholar, was addressing an inter-faith group at the National
Cathedral. More details.
Anon: "Hate is not a family value."
From a Boston Globe editorial: "A religion does not create
murderers. The twisted human psyche does that when it forgets that the
bedrock of all faith is love." 1
James Haught: "As editor of the largest newspaper in West
Virginia, I scan hundreds of reports daily and I am amazed by the frequency
with which religion causes people to kill each other. It is a nearly
universal pattern, undercutting the common assumption that religion makes
people kind and tolerant."
Hermann Hesse: "If you hate a person, you hate something
in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't
disturb us."
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Darkness cannot drive out
darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can
do that."
Anne Lamott: "You can safely assume that you've created
God in your own image, when it turns out that God hates all the same people
you do."
Jim W. Martyn, "I suggest that people who express hatred towards others do so because they
are unable to love themselves or God. That's sad, and unfortunately causes many of the
social and political problems in our nation and world." 2
Golda Meir: "There will be peace in the Middle East only
when the Arabs love their children more than they hate Israel."
Blaise Paschal: "Men
never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
This quote is often attributed, in error, to Sam J. Ervin, Jr. in "Protecting the Constitution."
(1984).
George William Russell: "If we allow ourselves to hate, that
is to insure our spiritual defeat and our likeness to what we hate."
Winona Ryder, star of the movie The Crucible: "Scapegoating
will go on forever. We need someone to blame - illegal immigrants, single
moms, people in prison. We need someone to victimize."
Robin Toma, executive director for the Los Angeles County
Human Relations Commission, commented on the rise in hate crimes
directed at Muslims and persons of Middle Eastern ancestry: "Fear combined
with prejudice resulted in hate." 3
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
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