Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Religion is, by definition, interpretation; and by definition, all interpretations are valid. However, some interpretations are more reasonable than others.
Why? Why not? Why not you? Why not now?
No- one is ever told any story but their own.
The New Testament is not a historical document.
But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.
God doesn't make you a bigot. You're just a bigot.
Indonesia, women are absolutely 100 percent equal to men
Should I act violently in defense of my religion, absolutely.
The language of religion holds the most currency for the masses.
The Islamic Reformation is already here. We are all living in it.
You can be a follower of Jesus and not necessarily be a Christian.
When you forcefully suppress religious nationalism, you radicalize it.
A politician is a politician whether he's wearing a suit or a funny hat.
Every single interview I have ever done on TV or in print says I'm a Muslim.
Religion, it must be understood, is not faith. Religion is the story of faith.
Trump is a narcissistic sociopath; he's doing exactly what he said he would do.
The idea that education will lead to a lessening of bigotry is just factually incorrect.
The key to recognizing who Jesus was is to recognize this fundamental truth: He was a Jew.
It is the job of the historian to say what is likely, and of faith to say what is possible.
The Revolutionary Guard controls almost everything in Iran, and this is hurting the people.
Religion doesn't make people bigots. People are bigots and they use religion to justify their ideology.
The only question that matters with regard to a religion and its mythology is “What do these stories mean?
Is it possible that Jesus, unlike 98 percent of his fellow Jews, was literate and educated? Yes, it's possible.
Anyone who says that Iran will commit suicide with its nuclear power is a moron and has no business in discussion.
Obama has been the single worst president in modern American history in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Muslim community is completely fractured - it doesn't really exist anymore; the only place it does exist is online.
The idea of literalism in the Bible is a very new phenomenon. In many ways, it's a product of the scientific revolution.
In the 5,000-year history of Jewish thought, the notion of a God-man is completely anathema to everything Judaism stands for.
Many poets in Iran have learned to speak almost a secret language, where political issues are talked about in allegorical ways.
My biography of Jesus is probably the first popular biography that does not use the New Testament as its primary source material.
I think if you place Jesus firmly in the historical context... you can make very educated hypotheses and guesses about how he lived.
When you're a brown Muslim from Iran talking about Jesus on TV, you need to keep your cool at all times, OK? That's not rocket science.
I have not ever met Donald Trump, and I plan to go my entire life without ever actually having to breathe the same air that he breathes.
The truth of the matter is that when you write about religion like I do, you're writing about something that people take very seriously.
A cosmic war is like a ritual drama in which participants act out on Earth a battle they believe is actually taking place in the heavens.
There's nothing more distasteful than an academic having to, like, trot out his credentials. You really come off as a jerk when you do that.
Authoritarians tend to consolidate support by using fear, but more importantly by driving a wedge among the people that they want to control.
I have watched Muslims chant 'Death to America!' on the streets of Tehran, then privately beg me to help them get a visa to the United States.
Over the last few years, the Islamic world has produced more female presidents and prime ministers than both Europe and North America combined.
In the history of the prophetic biblical canon that starts with Genesis, the Koran is by far the most tolerant of the views of other religions.
Few Iranians these days go through the fiction of calling themselves 'Persian.' Calling yourself Persian is a way of distancing themselves from Iran.
It is no exaggeration to say that Syria holds the key for nearly all of Americas foreign policy goals in the Middle East. As Syria goes, so goes the region.
It is no exaggeration to say that Syria holds the key for nearly all of America's foreign policy goals in the Middle East. As Syria goes, so goes the region.
I believe in God, which means I am open to some absurd possibilities. But I understand the power of that faith, and I understand the metaphor of that belief.
The Jews integrated themselves into American life to the point that the argument that the Jews aren't American sounded so stupid, that people stopped thinking it.
Literature offers not just a window into the culture of diverse regions, but also the society, the politics; it's the only place where we can keep track of ideas.
We need to do whatever we can, legally and within our power, to remove Donald Trump from office as fast as possible before something serious happens in this country.
I really believe that to have a full impression of Jesus, both as Christ as a man, you must know about the world that gave shape to him - the world out of which he arose.
I wouldn't call myself a Christian because I do not believe that Jesus is God, nor do I believe that he ever thought that he was God, or that he ever said that he was God.
Whether you're talking about MSNBC or Fox or CNN, it's all about getting enough interest out there, sensationalizing the story in such a way that people are compelled to tune in.
