The God Delusion: 10th Anniversary Edition

by Richard Dawkins

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

My original hope was to finance scholarships for atheistic clergymen and women, retraining them to make their living in a more reputable career – carpentry, perhaps.

‘Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion.’ Blaise Pascal (he of the wager) said something similar: ‘Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.’

It was religion that made the difference between children condemning genocide and condoning it.

Enjoy your own sex life (so long as it damages nobody else) and leave others to enjoy theirs in private whatever their inclinations, which are none of your business. • Do not discriminate or oppress on the basis of sex, race or (as far as possible) species. • Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you. • Value the future on a timescale longer than your own.

‘Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.’