Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes

Why should any man have power over any other man's faith, seeing Christ Himself is the author of it?

We cannot command the religion of our subjects, since no-one can be forced to believe against his will.

Humanity will never be religious unless all organized religions disappear and religion becomes an individual commitment towards existence.

I hate organized religion. I think you have to love thy neighbor as thyself. I think you have to pick your own God and be true to him. I always say 'him' rather than 'her.' Maybe it's because of my generation, but I don't like the idea of a female God. I see God as a benevolent male.

I am a Catholic because I choose to be a Catholic. And then I go to the Mass because I choose. It is out of my free will.

Allah hates disbelievers.

The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right.

Freedom of religion also implies the right not to have or profess a religion. This is sometimes overlooked. It is a sad commentary on religion that religionists, probably quite well-meaning at times, have throughout history tried to force fellow human beings into a required religious mold. Apart from the very wrong theological assumptions involved, this is a flagrant violation of the dignity of the human person. Coerced religion is demeaning and of little value.

Faith comes not by compulsion, but it is a matter of free choice; therefore, no one has the authority to compel anyone else in such matters, nor to coerce him with new laws

At its core, America’s public religion is strongest when it speaks softly, most influential when it is the least prideful, and most convincing when it is the least coercive. We are not, and should never become, a theocracy; we are, instead, a democracy of believers—and crucial to a democracy of believers is fighting to the death to protect the right of anyone to choose not to believe. Crusades are for the insecure, literalism for the weak. Faith that is forced on others is not faith—conviction does not come from compulsion.

Freedom requires virtue. Virtue requires faith. And faith, in turn, requires freedom. You can't have coerced state-sanctioned religion. It has to be utterly free.

My religion is a matter solely between my Maker and myself.

If we import compulsion in matters of religion, there is no doubt that we shall be committing suicide.

A man who feels that his religion is a slavery has not begun to comprehend the real nature of religion.

The Free Exercise Clause at the very least was designed to guarantee freedom of conscience by prohibiting any degree of compulsion in matters of belief. It was offended by a burden on one's religion. The Establishment Clause can be understood as designed in part to ensure that the advancement of religion comes only from the voluntary efforts of its proponents and not from support by the state. Religious groups are to prosper or perish on the intrinsic merit and attraction of their beliefs and practices.

Men cannot abandon their religious faith without a kind of aberration of intellect and a sort of violent distortion of their true nature; they are invincibly brought back to more pious sentiments. Unbelief is an accident, and faith is the only permanent state of mankind.

It is less hurtful to compel a man to marry someone whom he does not love than to follow a religion in which he does not believe.

Religion and faith are very personal matters. So far as the government is concerned, there is only one holy book, which is the Constitution of India.

I would like to see the lack of demonization for those of us who stand on sincerely held religious beliefs. It's overdue. That's where you see the demonization of people who stand on their beliefs.

The one thing that can be more disconcerting than intelligent hatred is demanding love.

Among the most inestimable of our blessings is that ... of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.

I remember that the priest finally said to me, 'You wouldn't like to have a religion that makes things easy for you.' Now I know that both faith and intellect are components of religious belief.

Our particular principles of religion are a subject of accountability to our god alone. I enquire after no man's and trouble none with mine; nor is it given to us in this life to know whether yours or mine, our friend's or our foe's, are exactly the right.

Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God's help, it will continue to be.

The great writers to whom the world owes what religious liberty it possesses, have mostly asserted freedom of conscience as an indefeasible right, and denied absolutely that a human being is accountable to others for his religious belief. Yet so natural to mankind is intolerance in whatever they really care about, that religious freedom has hardly anywhere been practically realised, except where religious indifference, which dislikes to have its peace disturbed by theological quarrels, has added its weight to the scale.