Religious Sects Quotes

• Knowledge and liberty are so prevalent in this country, that I do not believe that the United States would ever be disposed to establish one religious sect, and lay all others under legal disabilities. But as we know not what may take place hereafter, and any such test would be exceedingly injurious to the rights of free citizens, I cannot think it altogether superfluous to have added a clause, which secures us from the possibility of such oppression.

  Oliver Wolcott

  Country, Religious, Father

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• What has been the effect of [religious] coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Hypocrite, Errors

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Change, Religious, Religion

  Thomas Jefferson, Brett F. Woods (2009). “Thomas Jefferson: Thoughts on War and Revolution : Annotated Correspondence”, p.143, Algora Publishing

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• Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Children, Hypocrite

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia II, Correspondence 1782-1786”, p.80, Cosimo, Inc.

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• A man of abilities and character, of any sect whatever, may be admitted to any office of public trust under the United States.

  Edmund Randolph

  Trust, Character, Equality

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• When one guy sees an invisible man he's a nut case; ten people see him it's a cult; ten million people see him it's a respected religion.

  Richard Jeni

  Funny, Life, Men

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• Preachers dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Faith Religion, Daylight, Witch

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• Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor - over each other.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Differences, Office

  Thomas Jefferson, Jean M. Yarbrough (1963). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.128, Hackett Publishing

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• It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to unsurpastion on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded agst. by an entire abstinence of the Gov't from interfence in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect agst. trespasses on its legal rights by others.

  James Madison

  Order, Rights, Doubt

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• Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror.

  Voltaire

  Christian, Atheist, Men

  "L'examen important de Milord Bolingbroke écrit sur la fin de 1736". Book by Voltaire. Conclusion, 1736.

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• If a sect arises whose tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair play and reasons and laughs it out of doors without suffering the State to be troubled with it.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Doors, Play, Laughing

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• The Church of Rome has made it an article of faith that no man can be saved out of their church, and all other religious sects approach this dreadful opinion in proportion to their ignorance, and the influence of ignorant or wicked priests.

  John Adams

  Religious, Ignorance, Men

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1850). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: Diary, with passages from an autobiography. Notes of debates in the Continental Congress, in 1775 and 1776. Autobiography”, p.5

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• Religion shows a pattern of heredity which I think is similar to genetic heredity. ... There are hundreds of different religious sects, and every religious person is loyal to just one of these. ... The overwhelming majority just happen to choose the one their parents belonged to. Not the sect that has the best evidence in its favour, the best miracles, the best moral code, the best cathedral, the best stained-glass, the best music when it comes to choosing from the smorgasbord of available religions, their potential virtues seem to count for nothing compared to the matter of heredity.

  Richard Dawkins

  Religious, Science, Thinking

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• Of publishing a book on religion, my dear sir, I never had an idea. I should as soon think of writing for the reformation of Bedlam, as of the world of religious sects. Of these there must be, at least, ten thousand, every individual of every one of which believes all wrong but his own.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Book, Believe

  Thomas Jefferson, Martin Alfred Larson (1981). “Jefferson: Magnificent Populist”, Robert B Luce

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• Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States, is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect.

  James Madison

  Religious, Rights, Perfect

  James Madison (1867). “1816-1828”, p.179

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• Nostalgia is also a trait of the organizations that I call lodges - everything from corporate cultures to religious sects. Their bonding power often exceeds loyalty to family or country because they create intimacy through shared ideals and beliefs, ceremonies, stories, and legends, and depend on it for their survival. The message is clear: Don't question what we're doing. Just appreciate how long we've been doing it.

  Jennifer James

  Loyalty, Country, Religious

  Jennifer James (2012). “Thinking In The Future Tense”, p.131, Simon and Schuster

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• The Yen Buddhists are the richest religious sect in the universe. They hold that the accumulation of money is a great evil and a burden to the soul. They therefore, regardless of personal hazard, see it as their unpleasant duty to acquire as much as possible in order to reduce the risk to innocent people.

  Terry Pratchett

  Religious, Buddhist, Order

  Terry Pratchett (2010). “Witches Abroad: (Discworld Novel 12)”, p.136, Random House

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• Chord substitution isn't some mysterious religious sect.

  Howard Roberts

  Funny, Inspiring, Religious

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• The gravest error a thinking person can make is to believe that one particular version of history is absolute fact. History is recorded by a series of observers, none of whom is impartial. The facts are distorted by sheer passage of time and thousands of years of humanity's dark ages, deliberate misrepresentations by religious sects, and the inevitable corruption that comes from an accumulation of careless mistakes. The wise person, then, views history as a set of lessons to be learned, choices and ramifications to be considered and discussed, and mistakes that should never again be made.

  Frank Herbert

  Wise, Religious, Mistake

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• We all agree that neither the Government nor political parties ought to interfere with religious sects. It is equally true that religious sects ought not to interfere with the Government or with political parties. We believe that the cause of good government and the cause of religion both suffer by all such interference.

  Rutherford B. Hayes

  Religious, Party, Believe

  Rutherford B. Hayes' Speech in Marion, Ohio, July 31, 1875.

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• The emigrants although of different parties and different religious sects all flew from persecution in pursuit of liberty.

  James Monroe

  Religious, Party, Presidential

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• It was seldom that I attended any religious meetings, as my parents had not much faith in and were never so unfortunate as to unite themselves with any of the religious sects.

  Orson Pratt

  Faith, Religious, Parent

  Orson Pratt (1975). “The Orson Pratt Journals”

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• EUCHARIST, n. A sacred feast of the religious sect of Theophagi. A dispute once unhappily arose among the members of this sect as to what it was that they ate. In this controversy some five hundred thousand have already been slain, and the question is still unsettled.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Religious, Food, Cooking

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.71, University of Georgia Press

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• Every one of the numberless religions and religious sects views the Deity after its own fashion; and, fathering on the unknown its own speculations, it enforces these purely human outgrowths of overheated imagination on the ignorant masses, and calls them "revelation." As the dogmas of every religion and sect often differ radically, they cannot be true. And if untrue, what are they?

  H. P. Blavatsky

  Fashion, Religious, Views

  H.P. Blavatsky (2014). “Isis Unveiled”, p.780, Lulu Press, Inc

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• People yearn to be in one of the best--a combat marine regiment, an elite college, the executive committee of a company, a religious sect, a fraternity, a garden club--any collectivity that can be compared favorably with other, competing groups.

  E. O. Wilson

  Religious, Marine, College

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