I hold that religion and faith are two different things.

Religion points to that area of human experience where in one way or another man comes upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage.

Yet higher religion which is only a search for a larger life is essentially experience and recognized the necessity of experience as its foundation long before science learnt to do so.

I think it's been hard for people to understand how Islam can be a good religion and yet the Islamists are evil. Those of us who have had experience with Islam understand this just as we understand the difference between snake handlers and people going to church on Sunday morning.

Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion.

Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them.

I like the religion that teaches liberty equality and fraternity.

Let them be reassured it has never been one of our intentions to ban religion in society but solely to protect the national education system from any conspicuous display of religious affiliation.

Politics should share one purpose with religion: the steady emancipation of the individual through the education of his passions.