A wise architect observed that you could break the laws of architec75tural art provided you had mastered them first. That would apply to religion as well as to art. Ignorance of the past does not guarantee freedom from its imperfections.

The fanatic is dangerous.

Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values.

Perhaps the most significant moral characteristic of a nation is its hypocrisy.

All this talk about atheistic materialism and God-fearing American I think is beside the point; it's a rather vapid form of religion.

For democracy is a method of finding proximate solutions for insoluble problems.

There must be a realm of truth beyond political competence, that's why there must be a separation of churches, but if religion is bad and a bad religion is one that gives an ultimate sanctity to some particular cause.