The struggle of democratic secularism, religious tolerance, individual freedom and feminism against authoritarian patriarchal religion, culture and morality is going on all over the world - including the Islamic world, where dissidents are regularly jailed, killed, exiled or merely intimidated and silenced.
In Iran, there is no freedom of the press, no freedom of speech, no independent judiciary, no free elections. There is no freedom of religion - not even for Shiites, who are forced by Iran's theocracy to adhere to one narrow set of official rules.
I love the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it, which I loved in Sunday school and I collected all the little stickers and put them in my book. But the reality is that organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate.
To have dominion by religion, is to have dominion over men's souls, thus over their very spiritual life, and to use the Divine things, which are in their religion, as the means.
The roles of art, morality, religion, political faith, science itself are not to repair organic exhaustion nor to provide sound functioning of the organs. All this supraphysical life is built and expanded not because of the demands of the cosmic environment but because of the demands of the social environment.
When I think about America, I think about freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion. It's a peaceful country.
Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.
All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way.
Religion and gods and beliefs - for me, it all comes down to your brother. And your brother might be the brother in your family, or it might be the guy next to you in the foxhole - it's about human connections.
The freedoms of religion, thought and speech are all fundamental rights Canadians not only enjoy, we have fought for them at home and abroad. We know that a vibrant democracy means that on some issues, Canadians will understandably have different views.
Like religion, politics, and family planning, cereal is not a topic to be brought up in public. It's too controversial.
Religion as a whole specializes in sin management. It's all about organizing humanity in such a way that we cause as little damage as possible.
Personally, I don't choose any particular religion or symbol or group of words or teachings to define me. That's between me and the most high. You know, my higher self. The Creator.
Whenever you're specific with ethnicity or religion, people find reason to take offence.
There is no religion in which everyday life is not considered a prison; there is no philosophy or ideology that does not think that we live in alienation.
Communism introduced into the world a substitute for true religion. It is a counterfeit of the gospel plan.
True character arises from a deeper well than religion.
The biological evolutionary perception of life and of human qualities is radically different from that of traditional religion, whether it's Southern Baptist or Islam or any religion that believes in a supernatural supervalance over humanity.
Prayer is aligning ourselves with the purposes of God.
You are punished only when you are not performing as per expectation, and not because you belong to a particular religion, caste, or creed. Here, you fail because your vision is not right or you have not worked hard. That's why I believe we have true democracy in the film industry. How I wish the rest of the country was like the industry!
Since all power from the seventh century on was only legitimated by religion, political forces and economic interests pushed for the fabrication of false traditions.
Staying chaste until marriage, a commandment of my faith, was one of the most difficult challenges of my young life. I had a powerful sense that if I did not get a grip on my identity, my ethics, and my religion, I would go off the rails.
Koran says whoever believes in God in the last day shall be saved. It is a religion whose very name, Islam, comes from the word Shalom, which means peace. It's about establishing peace. We greet each other with peace be upon you, which the Jews do in greeting each other.
I don't see why we should alienate anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, nationality, religion, ethnicity.
A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief.
The passion for art is, as for believers, very religious. It unites people, its message is of common humanity. Art has become my religion - others pray in church. It's a banality, but you don't possess art, it possesses you. It's like falling in love.
Whoever seeks to set one religion against another seeks to destroy all religion.
When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.
St. Patrick, bringing the religion to Ireland, this is what we should celebrate.
There are things about organized religion which I resent. Christ is revered as the Prince of Peace, but more blood has been shed in His name than any other figure in history. You show me one step forward in the name of religion, and I'll show you a hundred retrogressions.
Our civilization, such as it is, was shaped by religion, and the men who aspire to public office anyplace in the free world must make obeisance to God or risk immediate opprobrium.
Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ's religion illuminates with His divine light.
I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.
Religion is the idol of the mob; it adores everything it does not understand.
The first time I sang in the church choir; two hundred people changed their religion.
In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.
God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.
There is not enough religion in the world even to destroy religion.
The essence of religion consists in the feeling of an absolute dependence.
Social etiquette dictates that when in mixed company, one should avoid discussing politics and religion. As someone who is quite active on various social portals, I can attest to the visceral emotions that are triggered when these topics are broached!
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.
My religion would be a gentle faith that believed in the sacredness of leisure. Napping as a form of prayer.
Religion has a good place and it has its good people.
This is God's world, not Satan's. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians.
My view on Islam is that it is not so much a religion as a totalitarian political ideology with religious elements.
I think people often come to the synagogue, mosque, the church looking for God, and what we give them is religion.
I'm going to tell you what my religion is. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Period. Terminato. Finito.
Religion is a means of exploitation employed by the strong against the weak; religion is a cloak of ambition, injustice and vice.