Richard Dawkins Quotes

Freedom of religion has been replaced by freedom from religion.

The prevailing notion is that the state should be neutral as to religion, and furthermore, that the best way to be neutral about it is to avoid all mention of it. By this sort of logic, nudism is the best compromise among different styles of dress. The secularist version of 'pluralism' amounts to theological nudism.

Political activity of political parties shall not be based on any religious background or foundation.

The freedom of all faiths, and non faiths, is best protected when government does not give its blessings to any.

A good deal of the political battle of the future will be a conflict between religion and unbelief:

Freedom of religion does not entitle your religion to have a privileged position within the public sphere.

We are a people of faith. We have been so secure in that faith that we have enshrined in our Constitution protection for people who profess no faith. And good for us for doing so. That is what the First Amendment is all about.

Church and state are, and must remain, separate.

Religious freedom does not mean freedom from religion.

Quite often you hear people say, 'What about separation of church and state?' There is no such thing.

America's freedom of religion, and freedom from religion, offers every wisdom tradition an opportunity to address our soul-deep needs: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, secular humanism, agnosticism and atheism among others.

Whatever America's founders believed about Christianity - and they believed a wide range of things - they clearly rejected the idea of an established church.

I'm not a religious person; I'm not even, like, a spiritual person.

There's no question that there is more anti-religion noise in Britain.

I believe in an America where the separation of Church and State is absolute—where no Catholic prelate would tell the President, should he be a Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners how to vote.... I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant or Jewish ... for while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew—or a Quaker—or a Unitarian—or a Baptist.

There is always a certain non-denominational piety which we expect from our President …. There are over 100 million Americans who have no religious affiliation.

No religious consensus is possible in the United States, and to impose one would be both unconstitutional and unjust.

In a pluralistic society, public schools are places for persons of all faiths and none. Schools may neither promote nor denigrate any religion.

We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to practice faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.

Personal religious convictions have no place in political campaigns or in dictating public policy.

We want a separation of church and state, but we also want the human and civil rights of all people. Religion is a human right.

The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest to grant indulgence; whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians. Test Oaths and established creeds should be avoided as the worst of evils.

T]he prevailing opinion in Europe, England not excepted, has been that religion could not be preserved without the support of government nor government be supported without an established religion that there must be at least an alliance of some sort between them. It remained for North America to bring the great and interesting subject to a fair, and finally a decisive test

As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion …. The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation.

Secularism is a very neutral thesis that simply states that all religions, and the state – and its sources of authority – should be kept very distinct from one another so that different religions can flourish and survive without any one of them being privileged above the others so the public domain in the state can be a neutral one where everyone meets as equals.