For Centuries, The Muslims Were Able To

Religion Is Hard Work. Its Insights Are Not Self-evident And Have To Be Cultivated In The Same Way As An Appreciation Of Art, Music, Or Poetry Must Be Developed.

Zionism Was Originally A Rebellion Against Religious Judaism And The Plo Charter Was Essentially Secularist. But Because The Conflict Was Allowed To Fester Without A Resolution, Religion Got Sucked Into The Escalating Cycle Of Violence And Became Part Of The Problem.

After I Left The Convent, For 15 Years I Was Worn Out With Religion, I Wanted Nothing Whatever To Do With It. I Felt Disgusted With It. If I Saw Someone Reading A Religious Book On A Train, I'd Think, How Awful.

Religion Is Not About Accepting Twenty Impossible Propositions Before Breakfast, But About Doing Things That Change You. It Is A Moral Aesthetic, An Ethical Alchemy. If You Behave In A Certain Way, You Will Be Transformed. The Myths And Laws Of Religion Are Not True Because They They Conform To Some Metaphysical, Scientific Or Historical Reality But Because They Are Life Enhancing. They Tell You How Human Nature Functions, But You Will Not Discover Their Truth Unless You Apply These Myths And Doctrines To Your Own Life And Put Them Into Practice.

God Is Not Good, Or Wise, Or Intelligent Anyway That We Know. So, People Like Maimonides In The Jewish Tradition, Eboncina In The Muslim Tradition, Thomas Aquinas In The Christian Tradition, Insisted That We Couldn't Even Say That God Existed Because Our Concept Of Existence Is Far Too Limited And They Would Have Been Horrified By The Ease With Which We Talk About God Today.