Religious Dogma Quotes

“I want an avowed atheist in the White House. When time comes to push that button, I want whoever's making the decision to understand that once it's pushed, it's over. Finito. They're not gonna have lunch with Jesus. Won't be deflowering 72 virgins on the great shag carpet of eternity, or reincarnated as a cow. I want someone making that decision who believes life on this Earth isn't just a dress rehearsal for something better -- but the only shot we get.”
― Quentin R. Bufogle

“On the other side, Church spokesmen could scarcely become enthusiastic about Planck's deism, which omitted all reference to established religions and had no more doctrinal content than Einstein's Judaism.”
― J.L. Heilbron, Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science

“Plain speaking is necessary in any discussion of religion, for if the freethinker attacks the religious dogmas with hesitation, the orthodox believer assumes that it is with regret that the freethinker would remove the crutch that supports the orthodox. And all religious beliefs are 'crutches' hindering the free locomotive efforts of an advancing humanity. There are no problems related to human progress and happiness in this age which any theology can solve, and which the teachings of freethought cannot do better and without the aid of encumbrances.”
― David Marshall Brooks, The Necessity Of Atheism

“The most important and uniquely glorious element of Buddha’s character was that, he did not compel his pupils to be slaves either to his teachings or to himself, but like a conscientious human, demanded from his followers to accept his words not merely out of regard for him but after subjecting them to a thorough examination. And this is where Buddha stands out from the crowd of self-proclaimed prophets.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“She seemed to feel now, what she had only vaguely suspected before, the restraint which would be put upon her the moment she should submit to his will.

Must you know why I have broken down and run away? she said at last. Well I will tell you. It was because, after a violent struggle with myself, I found I could not enter a church without a feeling of-- of hostility. I can only be friendly by staying away from it. I felt as though it were pat of a different world. You will be angry with me for saying it, but I never saw you conduct a service without feeling as though you were a priest in a Pagan temple centuries apart from me. At any moment I half expected to see you bring out a goat or a ram and sacrifice it on the high altar. How could I, with such ideas, join you at communion?

Her little speech was not meant in ridicule of Hazard, but it stung him to the quick.

What you call Pagan is to me proof of an eternal truth handed down by tradition and divine revelation, he said at length. But the mere ceremonies need not stand in your way. Surely you can disregard them and feel the truths behind.

Oh yes! answered Esther, plunging still deeper into the morass. The ceremonies are picturesque and I could get used to them, but the doctrines are more Pagan than the ceremonies. Now I have hurt your feeling enough, and will say no more. What I have said proves that I am not fit to be your wife. Let me go in peace!”
― Henry Adams, Esther

“Was it not her constant study to second the will of Heaven? -- But, alas! she often fell into the terrible mistake of taking for the will of Heaven, the vain imaginings of her own brain.”
― Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed

“No literature is infallible, but while errors in scientific literature are proudly mended by later scientists, errors in religious literature are rarely mended - they are interpreted, reinterpreted, and justified in a million ways, but never questioned, as very few persons of faith have got the brain and backbone to acknowledge errors, let alone correct them - this is not holiness, it's blindness most primitive.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Reverence without revision isn't sanctity, it's stagnation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“No literature is infallible, but while errors in scientific literature are proudly mended by later scientists, errors in religious literature are rarely mended - they are interpreted, reinterpreted, and justified in a million ways, but never questioned, as very few persons of faith have got the brain and backbone to acknowledge errors, let alone correct them - this is not holiness, it's blindness most primitive.

Reverence without revision isn't sanctity, it's stagnation - and stagnation might feel honorous, but it leads to devolution. Just because it's habit doesn't make it holy - admission of error is the beginning of enlightenment.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Blind faith is obstacle to holiness.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Dogma is barrier to understanding,”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“When ethnic cleansing feels enlightened, Sinai becomes septic, Bethlehem becomes Bedlam.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat