Religious beliefs evolved by group-selection tribe competing against tribe and the illogic of religions is not a weakness but their essential strength.

It is my own firm belief that the strength of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh.

I understand why society especially American society is gravitating toward fairy tales given our economy. We've been exploring the world of witches and wizards for years. We've been exploring the world of vampires for years. Clearly the public - I mean I feel like all of this was ushered in by 'Harry Potter' - in my own fannish beliefs.

The belief that the good in American society will finally win out... I don't believe any more.

Science moves with the spirit of an adventure characterized both by youthful arrogance and by the belief that the truth once found would be simple as well as pretty.

Science rests on reason and experiment and can meet an opponent with calmness but a belief is always sensitive.

For me science is already fantastical enough. Unlocking the secrets of nature with fundamental physics or cosmology or astrobiology leads you into a wonderland compared with which beliefs in things like alien abductions pale into insignificance.

The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief... that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.

Besides the healthcare bill being unconstitutional and a great expansion of federal government I think if it does not respect people's individual religious views and makes groups or individuals do things that are contrary to their deeply held beliefs there is going to be a visceral negative reaction.

In fact the U.S. military has bent over backwards to respect the religious beliefs of some very dangerous fanatics who want to kill us.