Writers obviously are a peculiar breed and consequently have some interesting (and occasionally controversial) views and quotes on religion. Here are some of the more interesting quotations on religion from some of my favorite writers. Please feel free to add any of your own quotes in the comments.
Tom Robbins: Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide.”
Mark Twain: Satan (impatiently) to Newcomer: The trouble with you Chicago people is, that you think you are the best people down here; whereas you are merely the most numerous.
Mark Twain: Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion – several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven.
Terry Pratchett: There is a rumour going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.
Jonathon Swift: We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
Isaac Asimov: Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
Annie Dillard: “Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" Priest: "No, not if you did not know." Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"”
Tennessee Williams: A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages.
Phillip Pullman: There is another consequence of any belief in a single god, and that is that it is a very good excuse for people to behave very badly."
CS Lewis: Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.
Thomas Paine: I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
Beatrix Potter: All outward forms of religion are almost useless, and are the causes of endless strife. . . . Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.
Zora Neale Hurston: "I do not pray. . . . I do not expect God to single me out and grant me advantages over my fellow men. . . . Prayer seems to me a cry of weakness, and an attempt to avoid, by trickery, the rules of the game as laid down. I do not choose to admit weakness. I accept the challenge of responsibility."
Robert Ingersoll: With soap, baptism is a good thing.
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