Karen Armstrong Quotes

How it came to pass that man, originally taught, as we doubt not he was, to know and to worship the true Jehovah, is found, at so early a period of his history, a worshiper of baser objects, it is foreign to our present purpose to inquire.

Banish afar the foul worship of idols. On their alters let the blood of animals smoke no more, nor the soothsayer look for omens in warm entrails, nor the meaningless augur attend to the song of birds. Let all the images of the gods be smashed to the ground.

India has 2,000,000 gods and worships them all. In religion, all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.

People should never worship images. The spread of mental darkness is due to the prevalence of idolatry.

Wheresoever thou findest a high mountain or a lofty hill and a green tree, know that an idol is there!

The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief.

Monotheism makes me grouchy. I don't trust any religion that makes God look like one of the ruling class. I guess I'm a pagan or an animist.

When men destroy their old gods they will find new ones to take their place.

The opposite of Christianity is not atheism, but idolatry.

Gods are called many by the error of some who worshipped many deities, thinking as they did the planets and other stars were gods, and also the separate parts of the world.

The day of the absolute is over, and we're in for the strange gods once more.

I believe in mystery and multiplicity. To religious believers this may sound almost pagan. But I don't think so.

An idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.

All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.

If you go back far enough and get a wider enough picture of history, we have let go of many things that follow a religious narrative. We don't burn witches anymore. Most people would consider that barbaric. We don't sacrifice human beings, which was a religious act practiced by numerous cultures on this planet.

Nearly every tribe and nearly every human being has gods. Belief in gods is all over the place. It's universal. It squeaks and squoozes from every pore of humanity.

Paganism is infectious, more infectious than diphtheria or piety.

Jeremiah has to lament that there are as many altars as towns in Judah.

There are gods, but there is no God; and all gods become devils eventually.

A woman playing God in a passion play is tantamount to paganism.

The opposite of theism is not atheism, it’s idolatry

The deepest difference between religions is not that between polytheism and monotheism.

Paganism is wholesome because it faces the facts of life.

Throughout the Old Testament, God warns his chosen people about the perils of assimilation, shiksappeal and false gods.

I belong to the middle class that grew up very influenced by the Catholic church. The people of the novel are from a more pagan and practical world in which the Christianity is just a veneer.