Julian Baggini Quotes

It's simply untrue that religion provides the only framework for a universal morality.

The very idea that we get a moral compass from religion is horrible. Not only should we not get our moral compass from religion, as a matter of fact we don't.

Let us with Caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.

Now, I'm an atheist. I really don't believe for a moment that our moral sense comes from a god.

To discover the true principles of Morality, men have no need of theology, of revelation, or of gods: They have need only of common sense.

Being an atheist makes someone a clearer thinking, fairer person. They [atheists] are not doing things to be rewarded in heaven; they're doing things because they're right, because they live by a moral code.

Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.

Any simple claim that you need religion to be good is flat wrong.

I do not want to suggest that you have to be religious to be moral.

Personally, I think it is possible to build a society that is moral on a nonreligious basis, but the jury is still out on that.

No morality can be founded on authority, even if the authority were divine.

Whereas religions may serve a benign purpose by letting many people feel comfortable with the level of morality they themselves can attain, no religion holds its members to the high standards of moral responsibility that the secular world of science and medicine does!

I think we have to give religion its due. I think we have to respect those for whom religion is important, but equally respect those who can achieve good morality without religion.

One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion.

Religious belief is not a precondition either of ethical conduct or of happiness.

Religion attacks us in our deepest integrity by saying we wouldn't be able to make a moral decision without it.

Morality comes from humanism and is stolen by religion for its own purposes.

All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness, can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I believe the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics that is beyond religion.

Democracy without God is mans worship and elevation of himself and his own intelligence or humanism, where man becomes his own measure for morality, judgment, and justice.

If there is no God or no evidence of God and certainly no evidence of a very morally engaged god, then whatever has to be done has to be done by us.

So I have just one wish for you – the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom.

Some people automatically associate morality and altruism with a religious vision of the world. But I believe it is a mistake to think that morality is an attribute only of religion. We can imagine two types of spirituality: one tied to religion, while the other arises spontaneously in the human heart as an expression of love for our neighbors and a desire to do them good.

I was brought up an atheist and have always remained so. But at no time was I led to believe that morality was unimportant or that good and bad did not exist. I believe passionately in the need to distinguish between right and wrong and am somewhat confounded by being told I need God, Jesus or a clergyman to help me to do so.

It is well to be independent also well not to be neutral.

We know that men and women can be good without faith. We know that.