D Steven Ledingham

“But we're here today to offer a different version of Yahweh's makeover, a different way of looking at this history. This is the story about how humans shaped God's image rather than the other way around. We're going to learn how the transformation of Abraham's god-of-armies to our God Almighty is the result of an evolutionary process, the powerful and inexorable forces known as "survival of the fittest." But it was cultural evolution, not biological evolution, that was at work, changing and improving Yahweh's image over the millennia. And it wasn't just Yahweh who was shaped by cultural evolution; these same forces created and refined all of our religious beliefs.”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“In 1966, the Roman Catholic Church formally ended the largest censorship drive in the history of the world, formally known as the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (the Index of Forbidden Books). Formally launched in 1559 under Pope Paul IV, this four-century project was remarkably successful, even against non-Catholics. The Church was so powerful in Europe and America that many authors would avoid controversial topics, or modify their works according to the Church's dictates, in order to avoid condemnation by the Church. Authors who ignored the Church's dictates and were banned had trouble finding publishers. Even if they were published, their books were often hard or impossible to find because bookstores were under pressure not to stock them.”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“Words like “God” and “Allah” must go the way of “Apollo” and “Baal,” or they will unmake our world.”
― Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

“Microbiology and meteorology now explain what only a few centuries ago was considered sufficient cause to burn women to death.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark