Misinterpretation of Scripture Quotes

It is true Christians have done terrible things throughout history. But they've always been acting in opposition to their Christian faith. There are no New Testament verses that say, Kill unbelievers.

I grew up in North Carolina being told that the Bible approves slavery and segregation, that it was the will of God.

Almost every sect of Christianity is a perversion of its essence, to accommodate it to the prejudices of the world.

Those who read the Scriptures and judge for themselves, not resting satisfied with the perverted application of the text, do not find the distinction that theology and ecclesiastical authorities have made in the condition of the sexes.

I've never had a problem with Jesus. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's just the kind of guy you'd always want to have around. But I have had a big problem with his agents, publicists, and managers. They've abused his message for power and converted moldable, excited people into bullied believers and followers.

This is my only and permanent complaint, that vulgar people, empty of the Spirit of God, want to judge solely by their human thinking what they listen to or read in the Bible, which has been pronounced and written by the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Spirit.

If you look back through history, you'll see that God, in any form - Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed - has always wanted prosperity for everyone. There was a recognition of the need to integrate our material and spiritual lives. But that message was distorted by various leaders with their own agendas.

I don't think that fundamentalism has anything to do with Jesus Christ. They call themselves Christians, but if that's Christian, count me out. Fundamentalism is built on fear and greed. They're telling you to give them your money otherwise you're going to hell.

And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the Bible were used to beat plowshares into swords

… the religion’s [Islam’s] teachings don’t involve acts of terrorism unless — as with every other religion — leaders manipulate the teachings to make whatever they want.

I think every religion is founded with good intentions, but with any good thing, there's a negative use for it.

When I contrast the loving Jesus, comprehending all things in his ample and tender charity, with those who profess to bear his name, marking their zeal by what they do not love, it seems to me as though men, like the witches of old, had read the Bible backward, and had taken incantations out of it for evil, rather than inspiration for good.

But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State

… an economic crime…. A misapplication of Biblical principles.

It was argued that the Negro was inferior by nature because of Noah's curse upon the children of Ham.... The greatest blasphemy of the whole ugly process was that the white man ended up making God his partner in the exploitation of the Negro.

Bad theology dishonors God and hurts people.

You are blinded and you serve the God of the Jews, who is not the God of love but the God of hatred. Why don't you listen to Christ Himself, who said to the Jews: "Ye are of your father the devil!"

The fact is, we sometimes read Scripture, thinking of what it ought to say, rather than what it does say.

A false interpretation of Scripture causes that the gospel of the Lord becomes the gospel of man, or, which is worse, of the devil.

In religion, What damned error but some sober brow Will bless it, and approve it with a text, Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?

The best way in the world to deceive believers is to cloak a message in religious language and declare that it conveys some new insight from God.