Charles Eastman Quotes

You can't write about the past and ignore religion. It was such a fundamental, mind-shaping, driving force for pre-modern societies. I'm very interested in what religion does to us - its capacity to create love and empathy or hatred and violence.

I believe religion is man-made.

Religion is not a conclusion of the reason.

I don't necessarily believe in organized religion.

Religion is induced insanity.

As a scientist I cannot help feeling that all religions are on a tottering foundation. None is perfect or inspired. As for their prophets, there are as many today as ever before, only now science refuses to let them overstep the bounds of common sense.

Religion can thrive only in a personal universe.

Every major question in history is a religious question. It has more effect in molding life than nationalism or a common language.

I hold that religion and faith are two different things.

Religion, oh, just another of those numerous failures resulting from an attempt to popularize art.

Science is increasingly answering questions that used to be the province of religion.

Primitive societies without religion have never been found.

I don't really like the word 'religion.' To me, that's like rules and regulations and paying money to send up prayers. That kind of all weirds me out, honestly.

I love religion and have contemplated going back to school to get a world religion degree.

Religion has for too long been placed on the back burner of history, when it may be one of the driving forces in history.

In the forefront of science, there is not much difference between religion and science. People harbor beliefs. That's what happens when people believe something religiously.

For some people, miracles serve as evidence of God's existence.

By religion, then, I understand a propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life.

Religion is part of the human make-up. It's also part of our cultural and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature, the texts, our first attempt at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at health care, believing in faith healing, our first attempt at philosophy.

Religion is like magic. It is all about tricks.

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.

It is clear that rituals and sacrifices can bring people together, and it may well be that a group that does such things has an advantage over one that does not. But it is not clear why a religion has to be involved. Why are gods, souls, an afterlife, miracles, divine creation of the universe, and so on brought in?

Religion is all bunk.

Religion is never going to go away, and anyone who thinks it will doesn't understand what religion is. It is a language to describe the experience of human nature, so for as long as people struggle to describe what it means to be alive, it will be a ready-made language to express those feelings.

The usefulness of religion - the fact that it gives life meaning, that it makes people feel good - is not an argument for the truth of any religious doctrine. It's not an argument that it's reasonable to believe that Jesus really was born of a virgin or that the Bible is the perfect word of the creator of the universe.