Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2001-03-01 Mar 1, 2001There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?~ Barry Goldwater Feb 28, 2001The fact that we became a nation and immediately separated church and state -- it has saved us from all the misery that has beset mankind with inquisitions, internecine and civil wars, and other assorted ills.~ Dumas MaloneMen never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.~ Blaise Pascal Feb 27, 2001The Bible is not my Book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma.~ Abraham LincolnThe day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion, it will cease to be free for religion.~ Justice Robert H. JacksonLet us revise our views and work from the premise that all laws should be for the welfare of society as a whole and not directed at the punishment of sins.~ John Biggs Jr.Remember, there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.~ Frank Zappa Feb 26, 2001I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church.~ Thomas PaineOf all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.~ Thomas Paine Feb 23, 2001The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts as are only injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.~ Thomas JeffersonIn every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is easier to acquire wealth and power by this combination than by deserving them, and to effect this, they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefore the safer for their purposes.~ Thomas JeffersonOur civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.~ Thomas Jefferson Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print