Commonsense lets us down, because commonsense evolved in a world where nothing moves very fast, and nothing is very small or very large; the mundane world of the familiar.
I find that religion really does motivate people to do horrible things because they have this passionate faith in whatever their religion happens to be, and it teaches them that the other religion is the wrong one.
It’s very important to try to inculcate into children moral rules, such as “do as you would be done by.”
Human beings are just gene machines.
The fact that somebody does good doesn’t make their beliefs true.
I guess there are some rights of parents with what they choose their children to learn, but I’m biased in favor of freeing children to learn and not letting parents be too doctrinaire in indoctrinating their children.
We have this one life, let’s enjoy it, let’s live it to the full and don’t get so worked up about don’t identify yourself so passionately with this business called religion.
Much as we might wish to believe otherwise, universal love and the welfare of the species as a whole are concepts which simply do not make evolutionary sense.
If any remedy is tested under controlled scientific conditions and proved to be effective, it will cease to be alternative and will simply become medicine. So-called alternative medicine either hasn’t been tested or it has failed its tests.
Who will say with confidence that sexual abuse is more permanently damaging to children than threatening them with the eternal and unquenchable fires of hell?
The human psyche has two great sicknesses: the urge to carry vendetta across generations, and the tendency to fasten group labels on people rather than see them as individuals.
Science boosts its claim to truth by its spectacular ability to make matter and energy jump through hoops on command, and to predict what will happen and when.
I’m not one of those who wants to purge our society of our Christian history.
I can remember at the age of about six being fascinated by the planets and learning all about Mars and Venus and things.
Bush and bin Laden are really on the same side: the side of faith and violence against the side of reason and discussion. Both have implacable faith that they are right and the other is evil.
By dislaiming the idea of a next life, we can take more excitement in this one!
Evolution is just a theory? Well, so is gravity and I don’t see you jumping out of buildings.
I think what I’d really like to see would be a mass consciousness-raising movement so that we would all become vegetarian.
It is an essential part of the scientific enterprise to admit ignorance, even to exult in ignorance as a challenge to future conquests.
There’s no point of having faith if you have evidence.