Behaving morally because of a hope of reward or a fear of punishment is not morality. Morality is not bribery or threats. Religion is bribery and threats. Humans have morality. We don't need religion.

When 9/11 hit, the second thing I said to myself was, 'This really is what religious people do.' Those people flying the plane were very good, very pious, truly faithful believers. There's no other way to paint them. Of course, they are extremists by definition, but they certainly aren't going against Islam in any real way.

In reality, many people let go of religion later in life.

In music, if you hit a wrong note, people forgive you. In magic when something goes wrong, the entire art is destroyed.

I came to magic absolutely hating magic on a very, very deep level.

Once you have somebody that is telling you, 'We are interpreting God for you,' it seems like you either agree or you don't. You either say, like Martin Luther, 'I'm going to have a direct relationship with the word of God,' or I''m going to go through a conduit of God on Earth,' which would be the Pope.

I like things matching. I have an upright bass, a drum kit and a grand piano that's the same color. I tend to overthink things.