"Now I think one of the reasons why religion developed in the way that it did over the centuries was precisely to curb this murderous bent that we have as human beings.“

-Karen Armstrong

posted in religion

Karen Armstrong quote about religion: "Now I think one of the reasons why religion developed in the way that it did over the centuries was ..."

Other Quotes

Discover more inspiring quotes from our collection

"Today we often think that before we start living a religious life we have first to accept the creedal doctrines and that before one can have any comprehension of the loyalty and trust of faith, one must first force one's mind to accept a host of incomprehensible doctrines. But this is to put the cart before the horse."

-Karen Armstrong

trustView Quote

"We have domesticated God's transcendence. We often learn about God at about the same time as we are learning about Santa Claus but our ideas about Santa Claus change, mature and become more nuanced, whereas our ideas of God can remain at a rather infantile level."

-Karen Armstrong

"Today mythical thinking has fallen into disrepute we often dismiss it as irrational and self-indulgent. But the imagination is also the faculty that has enabled scientists to bring new knowledge to light and to invent technology that has made us immeasurably more effective."

-Karen Armstrong

technologyView Quote

"Mythology and science both extend the scope of human beings. Like science and technology, mythology, as we shall see, is not about opting out of this world, but about enabling us to live more intensely within it."

-Karen Armstrong

technologyView Quote

"Islam is a religion of success. Unlike Christianity, which has as its main image, in the west at least, a man dying in a devastating, disgraceful, helpless death."

-Karen Armstrong

successView Quote

"Mohammed was not an apparent failure. He was a dazzling success, politically as well as spiritually, and Islam went from strength to strength to strength."

-Karen Armstrong

successView Quote

Same Category

More quotes in this category

"Civilisation has ever accompanied emigration and conquest - the conflict of opinion, of religion, or of race."

-Alfred Russel Wallace

religionView Quote

"Religion is no more the parent of morality than an incubator is the mother of a chicken."

-Lemuel K. Washburn

religionView Quote

"I appreciate the 'Surreal Life.' I had a really positive experience on that show, and with those people. I found some love in my heart for religion again, and had the support of a new family of friends. I wouldn't have had the pleasure of meeting those people, if we were not all placed in that fishbowl."

-Vince Neil

religionView Quote

"Contradictory to my religion, I think, is journalism."

-Sydney Schanberg

religionView Quote

"Religion is the idol of the mob it adores everything it does not understand."

-Frederick II

religionView Quote

"When men take pleasure in feeling their minds elevated with strong drink, and so indulge their appetite as to disorder their understandings, neglect their duty as members of a family or civil society, and cast off all regard to religion, their case is much to be pitied."

-John Woolman

religionView Quote