James Russell Lowell Quotes

Sectarianism, bigotry, and it's horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful Earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.

The slayers of the heretics are the worst heretics of all.

Religious hatreds tend to be merciless and absolute.

Here [in Jerusalem], no mercy is shown. One hates one's fellow man to the glory of God.

Is it really true that religion makes people more kindly, generous, or loving? History tends to disprove this. The worst wars, the most vicious Inquisitions, the cruelest pogroms and persecutions, were both fomented and supported by religion.

The most rabidly religious people are the most rabidly evil.

The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their 'beliefs.'

All the religious wars that have caused blood to be shed for centuries arise from passionate feelings and facile counter-positions, such as Us and Them, good and bad, white and black.

In the name of noble purposes men have committed unspeakable acts of cruelty against one another.

All religion seems to need to prove that it's the only truth. And that's where it turns demonic. Because that's when you get religious wars and persecutions and burning heretics at the stake.

People nearly always believe, and are willing to back it up with weapons and cruelty, that their religion and way of life is better than the other person's.

A religion, even if it calls itself a religion of love, must be hard and unloving to those who do not belong to it

The whole history of the last thousands of years has been a history of religious persecutions and wars, pogroms, jihads, crusades. I find it all very regrettable, to say the least

Holy war against lackeys, Jews, Christians and atheists.

Religious persecution may shield itself under the guise of a mistaken and overzealous piety.

If my son were to oppose the Catholic Church, I myself would carry the faggots to burn him.

May we not return to those scoundrels of old, the illustrious founders of superstition and fanaticism, who first took the knife from the altar to make victims of those who refused to be their disciples?

Blood is shed over politics, religion and the two in combination.

Religious extremism. We hear about it all the time. We see it all the time. Heck, most of us are just sick of talking about it all the time.

It is usually when men are at their most religious that they behave with the least sense and the greatest cruelty.

Religious persecutors are not believers, they are rascals.

Bigotry murders religion to frighten fools with her ghost.

I just heard a story from someone the other day where somebody was beaten up by Christians for wearing one of our shirts. Of course, that's a very Christian thing to do.

Everyone is tearing each other apart in the name of their personal god. And the irony is, by definition, they're probably worshiping the same god.

A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world.