Empirical explorations ultimately change our understanding of which questions are important and fruitful and which are not.

You shouldn't be afraid of science. Accepting the reality of nature makes life more exciting and even more precious.

[The writers of the holy books] did not even know the earth revolves around the sun. Why are we listening?

Most people don't base their morality on religion in spite what they say. If you ask people, "If you didn't believe in God, would you go out and kill your neighbour?" Most people will say, "No".

A significant fraction of evangelical voters appear more likely to ignore the candidates' specific economic and foreign policy platforms in favor of concerns about gay marriage or abortion.

Now, almost one hundred years later, it is difficult to fully appreciate how much our picture of the universe has changed in the span of a single human lifetime. As far as the scientific community in 1917 was concerned, the universe was static and eternal, and consisted of a one single galaxy, our Milky Way, surrounded by vast, infinite, dark, and empty space. This is, after all, what you would guess by looking up at the night sky with your eyes, or with a small telescope, and at the time there was little reason to suspect otherwise.

The really important thing is learning how to sceptically question and rely on empirical evidence.