The Sign

They don’t understand that religion and science are there to serve different purposes. We need science to understand how everything on this planet and beyond works – us, nature, everything we see around us. That’s fact – no one with a working brain can question that. But we also need religion. Not for ridiculous counter-theories about things that science can prove. We need it for something else, to fill a different kind of need. The need for meaning. It’s a basic need we have, as humans. And it’s a need that’s beyond the realm of science. Your scientists don’t understand that it’s a need they can’t fulfill no matter how many Hadron colliders and Hubble telescopes they build- and your preachers don’[t understand that their job is to help you discover a personal, inner sense of meaning and not behave like a bunch of zealots intent on converting the rest of the planet to their rigid, literalist view of how everyone should live their lives.

A soldier's job is to put his life on the line for his country.

The Bible tells us the messiah will only return AFTER we've had the final battle between God's children and the army of the antichrist out there in Israel. It's only after that happens that we can be saved by the Rapture . . . we're still waiting for the Israelis to bomb the crap out of Iran and kick-start the whole thing.

You don't need anyone to tell you what to believe or who to worship,....You don't need to follow any set of rituals. You don't need to worry about an angry God not allowing you into heaven. You don't need to march into these great temples of intolerance and be told what is God's inerrant and infallible word, because the simple truth is that nobody really knows that...All I know is that you're not slaves and you're not part of any grand master plan. ...you are all God's children....You create your own destiny. And you need to accept that responsibility and put aside your egocentricity and stop looking for excuses in tired old myths. You make your own fate every single day. You need to look after each other. You need to look after the land that feeds you and gives you the air you breathe. You need to assume your duty toward all of God's creation. And you need to accept the credit for the good and take the blame for the bad.

God doesn't care about what you eat or what you drink. He doesn't care about how often you pray to him or what words you use or where you go to do that....He only cares about how you behave towards one another.

History's shown us time and again, that mixing religion and politics only brings destruction.

People don't take kindly to having others mess around with their beliefs....

We feel (God's) presence every time we make a choice. It's something that's inside us.

the thing that "makes us human. We have minds. We make our own choices and live by them. We shape our own lives with how we behave towards others.

Yelling "God is on our side" is "very effective at rallying the masses. And at winning elections....

Religion in (the US) is so focused on fighting science and these compelling atheist voices that your preachers have lost track of what religion is really about. In... - the Eastern Church - and in Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, religion isn't there to offer theories or explanation. We accept that the divine is unknowable.....for a lot of rational people..., it's become a choice. Fact or faith. Science or religion....You shouldn't have to choose.

The problem with religion right now. It hasn't evolved. And instead of being open and looking for ways to be relevant in today's world, it's gone all defensive and protective and it's regressed into lowest-common-denominator sound bites - and fundamentalism.

Studies have shown that convincing religious agents (have) to have just the right level of outlandishness. Also, the manifestation need(s) to have an emotional resonance in order for belief to set in. Religions use elaborate rituals to stir up people's emotions....

People don't really want change, especially not if it costs something.

all pros have "drive. Ambition. And the cold, rational ability to compartmentalize tragedies...and carry on.

professionals who know what they are doing can "be counted on to follow a well-thought-out methodology

Hope isn't real by definition, is it? It's just a state of mind....

you can't reconcile religion with modern life, with all the knowledge we have, with science....

The only reason - the only need - to believe in God is to try and explain where this all came from....Where we came from. Where we're headed. But it doesn't work. If there was a creator, a designed who created all this, well then there had to be a creator to create that creator, right? And one to create him. And so on.

Social justice is about freeing people from the clutches of witch doctors and superstition....

We'll elect any bumbling fool, any champion of mediocrity to the highest office in the land as long as they have God as their running mate.

There are only two surefire ways to get people to do what you want them to do. You either put on an iron glove and make them do it. Or you tell them God wants them to do it.

What people don't understand they just push away to the far corners of their minds and eventually it fades away and gets forgotten. 'Cause it's safer that way.

framing creates "a misguided belief that anyone who argued against such measures had to be, by definition, a villain trying to stop the innocent sufferers' champion from giving them their medication, a coward shying away from a full-blown war against an aggressor, or - even worse - one too spineless to stand up to Hitler.

framing' - the cunning technique of dumbing down complex, controversial issues and policies by using powerful, evocative, emotive catchphrases and images in order to prejudice and undermine any potential challenge to those polices.

Shallow as it sounded, the relative of a TV newscaster was directly proportional to how much attention guys paid to the screen--especially if the news in question didn't concern armed conflict, a sports result, or a celebrity meltdown.