No religion can long continue to maintain its purity when the church becomes the subservient vassal of the state.

I have always said that often the religion you were born with becomes more important to you as you see the universality of truth.

I found it interesting that as people become more technically oriented all over the world at the same time people are becoming increasingly spiritual. The success of the Da Vinci code - even though it was a great yawn - also showed people's interest in religion.

Just in our lifetime our society has become looser and more private it becomes extremely difficult to hold to any permanent commitment whatever least of all to organized religion.

How can you tell when a political ideology has become the equivalent of a religion?

When law and duty are one united by religion you never become fully conscious fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.

Religion has become so many different things. Religion is an economic thing for some people. Religion is a gun.

Twenty five percent of Israeli citizens are not even Jewish. Anybody can become an Israeli citizen if you qualify. Religion is not a criterion for citizenship.

To become a popular religion it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy.

If you are part of a religion that very strongly insists that you believe then to decide not to do that is quite a big hurdle to jump over. You never forget the thought process you went through. It becomes part of your whole intellectual picture.