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The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's littl...more

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You could just as well say that an agnostic is a deeply religious person with at least a rudimentary knowledge of human fallibility.

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A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.

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I consider it an extremely dangerous doctrine, because the more likely we are to assume that the solution comes from the outside, the less likely we a...more

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But if the Bible is not everywhere literally true, which parts are divinely inspired and which are merely fallible and human? As soon as we admit that...more

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Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

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The suppression of uncomfortable ideasmay be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no placein the endeavor of s...more

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Religions are often state-protected nurseries of pseudoscience, although there's no reason why religions have to play that role. In a way, it's an art...more

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Present global culture is a kind of arrogant newcomer. It arrives on the planetary stage following four and a half billion years of other acts, and af...more

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Does trying to understand the universe at all betray a lack of humility? I believe it is true that humility is the only just response in a confrontati...more

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I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to be...more

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It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, there's a couple lying naked in bed reading Encyclopediea Brittannica to each other, and arguing about whether the And...more

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In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually chang...more

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I don't want to believe. I want to know.

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You see, the religious people — most of them — really think this planet is an experiment. That's what their beliefs come down to. Some god or other is...more