Rodney Stark Religious Quotations

Many people who say they have no religion are simply saying they have no official religious affiliation. They may actually have strong personal beliefs.

It seems that not being religious is a form of risk-taking, consistent with other patterns of short-sighted behaviour in men.

Theology is in disrepute among most Western intellectuals. The word is taken to mean a passe form of religious thinking that embraces irrationality and dogmatism. So too, Scholasticism.

It can be demonstrated that in any society there is a distribution of religious tastes and concerns.

That new technologies and techniques would be forthcoming was a fundamental article of Christian faith. Hence, no bishops or theologians denounced clocks or sailing ships-although both were condemned on religious grounds in various non-Western societies.

America is an unusually religious nation.

The overwhelming majority of social scientists were irreligious or even anti-religious. This led them to believe that religion was a disappearing and unimportant factor in human affairs.

Evolution has primarily been an attack on religion by militant atheists who wrap themselves in the mantle of science in an effort to refute all religious claims concerning a creator - an effort that has also often attempted to suppress all scientific criticisms of Darwin's work.

That's true that I'm "not religious as that term is conventionally understood," though I've never been an atheist. Atheism is an active faith; it says, "I believe there is no God." But I don't know what I believe. I was brought up a Lutheran in Jamestown, North Dakota. I have trouble with faith. I'm not proud of this. I don't think it makes me an intellectual. I would believe if I could, and I may be able to before it's over. I would welcome that.

... One thing about religious truths is that we have to take them on faith, and faith needs reassurance. What's more reassuring than noticing that some other people, whom you admire, are so certain that it's all true that they're willing to go the ultimate mile?

Not only were science and religion compatible, they were inseparable--th e rise of science was achieved by deeply religious Christian scholars.

The success of the West, including the rise of science, rested entirely on religious foundations, and the people who brought it about were devout Christians.