Opinion | Where Does Religion Come From?
nytimes.com
Opinion | Where Does Religion Come From?
Belief and unbelief are poses the mind adopts in the face of an unimaginable reality. A godless world is as mysterious as one suffused with divinity, and the difference between the two may be less than you think.
John Gray • Seven Types of Atheism
If we’re ever to replace traditional beliefs, we must remember just how much religion is helped along by ritual, tradition, art and a desire to belong – all things that Spinoza, despite his great wisdom, ignored at his peril in his bold attempt to replace the Bible.
The School of Life Press • Great Thinkers: Simple Tools from 60 Great Thinkers to Improve Your Life Today (The School of Life Library)
Religion is not a coherent set of propositions that are either true or false, the way a scientific theory is. Instead, many people believe because of their personal subjective experiences. These might include the awe and wonder of nature, the intimacy of belonging to a close community, or the comforting experience of hearing God speak to you in a f
... See moreKeith Payne • The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Changes the Way We Think, Live and Die
We who look at religion from the outside think of transcendence as something that occurs at special moments, in concentrated bursts of illumination, but people raised in homes where religious ritual occurs over breakfast and at dinner and in school and throughout weekends know that revelation commingles promiscuously with routine. If ritual is art,
... See moreJudith Shulevitz • The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time
Religion gives a complete description of the world, and offers us a well-defined contract with predetermined goals.