Daniel Dennett Religion Quotations

There are no good reasons to believe in god.

There are no forces on this planet more dangerous to all of us than the fanaticisms of fundamentalism.

Religions have depended on the relative isolation and ignorance of their flocks, forever and this is all breaking down.

Religion is defined as social systems whose participants avow a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought.

The best thing about saying thank goodness in place of thank God this that here really are lots of ways of repaying your debt of goodness - by setting to create more of it, for the benefit of those to come.

We have had plenty of atheist presidents; they just wouldn't admit it.

In the beginning, there were no reasons; there were only causes. Nothing had a purpose, nothing has so much as a function; there was no teleology in the world at all.

...but I also can't prove that mushrooms could not be intergalactic spaceships spying on us.

... there could be talking bunny rabbits, spiders who write English messages in their webs, and for that matter, melancholy choo-choo trains. There could be, I suppose, but there aren't-so my theory doesn't have to explain them.

I think that there are no forces on this planet more dangerous to us all than the fanaticisms of fundamentalism, of all the species: Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, as well as countless smaller infections. Is there a conflict between science and religion here? There most certainly is.

I even agree that the concept of god helps some people lead better lives. That does happen. Don't ever forget it. I just think there are better ways to help people lead better lives.

Keep Darwinian thinking out of cosmology, out of psychology, out of human culture, out of ethics, politics, and religion!

Reasons for declaring belief is not are not the same as reasons for believing in god.

You can't get through seminary and come out believing in God!