Did you know that Allah promises you a seat in Paradise if you kill a Christian?

Well, it has done terrifying things. Religious ideas are inflammatory in a way that I find difficult to understand. There are very few wars over the theory of relativity. Very few heated arguments, for that matter. Whereas, in Northern Ireland, they are killing one another over religion.

When asked, 'Shall I tell my mother I'm gay?', I reply, 'Never tell your mother anything.

I don't really act. I say the words the way I would say them if I meant them.

My mother protected me from the world and my father threatened me with it.

When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?'

I stay in one room, and it's easier to live there, to control it, to make it warm. It seems to me a convenient way to live, and it's cheap.