You can't write about the past and ignore religion. It was such a fundamental mind-shaping driving force for pre-modern societies. I'm very interested in what religion does to us - its capacity to create love and empathy or hatred and violence.

People here argue about religion interminably but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.

I'm not a religious person and I'm not too interested in being a part of a religion but I do like having some sort of communal gathering and having some sense of peoples.

It is an interesting and demonstrable fact that all children are atheists and were religion not inculcated into their minds they would remain so.

Today's interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization.

My mother was a modern woman with a limited interest in religion. When the sun set and the fast of the Day of Atonement ended she shot from the synagogue like a rocket to dance the Charleston.

I am not interested in the afterlife. Religion is supposed to be about losing your ego not preserving it eternally in optimum conditions.

Well right now I'm very fascinated with 1920s Berlin. I mean probably the more interesting thing would be to go to the beginning of civilization or precivilization - like polytheistic times. It would be interesting to see what came before modern religion and culture - what circumstances created the environment or the need for it.

I'm interested in the kind of religion that makes life harder. I'm not so interested in the comforting kind of religion.

The difference between religion and morality lies simply in the classical division of things into the divine and the human if one only interprets this correctly.