Elaine Pagels Quotes

Religion is not theory - it is life. It is not intellectual conviction - it is divine humanity, and nothing else.

Religious experiences which are as real as life to some may be incomprehensible to others.

The Way is not a religion: Christianity is the end of religion. 'Religion' means here the division between sacred and secular concerns, other-worldliness, man's reaching toward God in a way which projects his own thoughts.

Religion is love; in no case is it logic.

I hold that religion and faith are two different things.

Religion is the frozen thought of man out of which they build temples.

You can have religion with spirituality. You can also have religion without spirituality.

If you really want to experience God, go and make disciples.

I used to always go to church on holidays, but I don't go much any more.

To me, religion is an agreement between a group of people about what God is. Spirituality is a one-on-one relationship.

I'm interested in taking hold of the dull truth narrative and finding inside it the transcendence and spirituality and hysteria normally associated with religion.

I'm interested in spirituality and in religion and our relationship to the divine.

Spirituality was the main issue. Connection with God was the main issue.

I think there's been a big problem between religion, or organized religion, and spirituality.

The spirituality that I experience sometimes touches on religion, in that I resonate with the thread of continuity that permeates through all religions. But in terms of it being a concretized, organized part of my life, it's not.

Religion points to that area of human experience where in one way or another man comes upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage.

Go beyond science, into the region of metaphysics. Real religion is beyond argument. It can only be lived both inwardly and outwardly.

I tend to place my own value in spirituality rather than religiosity.

A vague religion—all about feeling God in nature, and so on—is so attractive. It is all thrills and no work; like watching the waves from the beach. But you will not get to Newfoundland by studying the Atlantic, and you will not get eternal life by simply feeling the presence of God in Flowers or music.

Religion is a temper, not a pursuit.

I don't believe there's any inherent darkness at the center of religion at all. I think religion actually is a morally neutral force.

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

The emotions that sustain religious belief are all, in fact, deeply ordinary and deeply recognisable to anybody who has ever made their way across the common ground of human experience as an adult.

Superstition is only the fear of belief, while religion is the confidence.

I'm a big believer in the way ritual can put us in connection with our spirituality.