Where we have reasons for what we believe, we have no need of faith; where we have no reasons, we have lost both our connection to the world and to one another.
You are using your own moral intuitions to authenticate the wisdom of the Bible – and then, in the next moment, you assert that we human beings cannot possibly rely upon our own intuitions to rightly guide us in the world.
Let me assure you that my intent is not to offend or merely be provocative. I’m simply worried.
The second commandment is “Thou shall not construct any graven images.” Is this really the pinnacle of what we can achieve morally? The second most important moral principle for all the generations of humanity?
Words like ‘God’ and ‘Allah’ must go the way of ‘Apollo’ and ‘Baal’ or they will unmake our world.
The science of morality is about maximizing psychological and social health. It’s really no more inflammatory than that.
Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil, or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely.
You know, when you get to the New World and you develop your three branches of government and you have a civil society, you can just jettison all the barbarism I recommended in the first books.
All civilized nations must unite in condemnation of a theology that now threatens to destabilize much of the earth.
I am one of the few people I know of who has argued in print that torture may be an ethical necessity in our war on terror.
We will continue to spill blood in what is, at bottom, a war of ideas.
We should profile Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim, and we should be honest about it.
We must continually remind ourselves that there is a difference between what is natural and what is actually good for us.
Atheism is just a way of clearing the space for better conversations.
While religious tolerance is surely better than religious war, tolerance is not without its liabilities. Our fear of provoking religious hatred has rendered us incapable of criticizing ideas that are now patently absurd and increasingly maladaptive.
In my own case, the most inflammatory statements I have ever made are ones that I have written and remain willing to defend.
It’s simply untrue that religion provides the only framework for a universal morality.
Anyone familiar with my work knows that I am extremely critical of all religious faiths.
Any conception of human well-being you could plausibly have, the Taliban patently fails to maximize it.
You can learn something about a person by the company she keeps.