We from every religion feel comfortable in Britain because there is a host. The Church of England is a good host it has been a major force in shaping England into such a tolerant society.

There was no religion in my life growing up. Did God invent us or did we invent God?

I try to just talk about human stories and what I think about religion or teapots or whatever.

Selfishness is the only real atheism unselfishness the only real religion.

Religion which requires persecution to sustain it is of the devil's propagation.

Even the weakest disputant is made so conceited by what he calls religion as to think himself wiser than the wisest who think differently from him.

Some people are that - more than a parent more than a role model more than anything less than a religion.

Every man either to his terror or consolation has some sense of religion.

A religion without mystery must be a religion without God.

The wise man regulates his conduct by the theories both of religion and science. But he regards these theories not as statements of ultimate fact but as art-forms.

One person's religion is another person's cult.

Religion always remains higher than everyday life. In order to make the elevation towards religion easier for people religion must be able to alter its forms in relation to the consciousness of modern man.

Of course God is endlessly multi-dimensional so every religion that exists on earth represents some face some side of God.

You know I get much more Jewish in Israel because I like the way that religion is done there.

Well right now I'm very fascinated with 1920s Berlin. I mean probably the more interesting thing would be to go to the beginning of civilization or precivilization - like polytheistic times. It would be interesting to see what came before modern religion and culture - what circumstances created the environment or the need for it.

The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of religion.

I have never made fun of religion. Religion is something I don't even want to mess with because I am really afraid of the clouds opening up and my being struck by lightning.

I wish your increase in holiness number love religion and righteousness and wait you and cease to contend with these men that are gone from us for there is nothing that shall convince them but judgment.

Religion is run by thought police. 'Obey. Listen. This is what you do. Don't ask questions. Go die for your country.' The spirituality says 'Okay you can die for your country but know what you're doing while you're doing it.'

I was 21 in 1968 so I'm as much a child of the '60s as is possible to be. In those years the subject of religion had really almost disappeared the idea that religion was going to be a major force in the life of our societies in the West anyway would have seemed absurd in 1968.

If I were asked for a one-sentence sound bite on religion I would say I was against it.

Haven't two hundred years of failed missionary work overseas taught anybody anything? You can't convert people to anything - whether religion or something as inane as our flicks.

It just so happens that the green religion is now taking over from the Christian religion. I don't think people have noticed that but it's got all the sort of terms that religions use... The greens use guilt. That just shows how religious greens are. You can't win people round by saying they are guilty for putting (carbon dioxide) in the air.

I'm a scientist not a theologian. I don't know if there is a God or not. Religion requires certainty.