The Religion Virus Quotes

“It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts that I do understand. – Mark Twain (1835-1910) The”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart. – H. L. Mencken”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“In 1966, the Roman Catholic Church formally ended the largest censorship drive in the history of the world, formally known as the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (the Index of Forbidden Books). Formally launched in 1559 under Pope Paul IV, this four-century project was remarkably successful, even against non-Catholics. The Church was so powerful in Europe and America that many authors would avoid controversial topics, or modify their works according to the Church's dictates, in order to avoid condemnation by the Church. Authors who ignored the Church's dictates and were banned had trouble finding publishers. Even if they were published, their books were often hard or impossible to find because bookstores were under pressure not to stock them.”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“Religion is a man using a divining rod. Philosophy is a man using a pick and shovel.
– Author Unknown”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“This book is primarily about memes and evolution, and how religion came into existence and evolved via the forces of natural selection.”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“I don’t know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn’t.
– Jules Renard (1864-1910)”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic. – Bertrand Russell Here’s”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“The Pilgrims' experience was the rule rather than the exception. Everywhere Europeans went, their diseases caused staggering death rates: fifty percent, eighty percent, even ninety-nine percent of indigenous people would die.”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“Guns, Germs and Steel Infectious diseases introduced [into America] with Europeans ... spread from one Indian tribe to another, far in advance of Europeans themselves, and killed an estimated 95% of the New World's Indian population. – Jared Diamond”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“But we're here today to offer a different version of Yahweh's makeover, a different way of looking at this history. This is the story about how humans shaped God's image rather than the other way around. We're going to learn how the transformation of Abraham's god-of-armies to our God Almighty is the result of an evolutionary process, the powerful and inexorable forces known as "survival of the fittest." But it was cultural evolution, not biological evolution, that was at work, changing and improving Yahweh's image over the millennia. And it wasn't just Yahweh who was shaped by cultural evolution; these same forces created and refined all of our religious beliefs.”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

“God is a comic playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh – Voltaire (1694-1778)”
― Craig A. James, The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity