Roshan Gupta

“When superstitious Bronze Age primitives invented God, they gave him every single human character flaw they had, because they simply projected their own uneducated thoughts onto their imaginary God.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, Atheism Memes: 40 Reasons Why I'm An Atheist

“Not only does this make theistic morality relativistic; it can make it immoral. Invisible gods can command people to slay heretics, infidels, and apostates. And an immaterial soul is unmoved by the earthly incentives that impel us to get along. Contestants over a material resource are usually better off if they split it than fight over it, particularly if they value their own lives on earth. But contestants over a sacred value (like holy land or affirmation of a belief) may not compromise, and if they think their souls are immortal, the loss of their body is no big deal—indeed, it may be a small price to pay for an eternal reward in paradise.”
― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“The most obvious add-on is supernatural enforcement: the belief that if one commits a sin, one will be smitten by God, damned to hell, or inscribed on the wrong page of the Book of Life. It’s a tempting add-on because secular law enforcement cannot possibly detect and punish every infraction, and everyone has a motive to convince everyone else that they cannot get away with murder.31 As with Santa Claus, he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake.”
― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“A grim pattern is visible in history: When religion is the ruling force in a society, it produces horror. The stronger the supernatural beliefs, the worse the inhumanity. A culture dominated by intense faith invariably is cruel to people who don't share the faith--and sometimes to many who do.”
― James A. Haught, Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness