When Violence Becomes Imbedded In A Region,

After I Left The Convent, For 15 Years I Was Worn Out With Religion, I Wanted Nothing Whatever To Do With It. I Felt Disgusted With It. If I Saw Someone Reading A Religious Book On A Train, I'd Think, How Awful.

It Is People Who Are Violent, Rather Than "religions"; And Since We Secularised Our Politics We Have Had Two Major World Wars, The Holocaust, The Soviet Gulag, And The Atomic Attacks On Hiroshima And Nagasaki - None Of Which Were Inspired By Religion. If We Want To Understand The Dangers Of Our World, We Can No Longer Accept The Old Received Ideas.

Respect Only Has Meaning As Respect For Those With Whom I Do Not Agree.

Western Liberal Humanism Is Not Something That Comes Naturally To Us: Like An Appreciation Of Art Or Poetry, It Has To Be Cultivated. Humanism Is Itself A Religion Without God-not All Religions, Of Course, Are Theistic. Our Ethical Secular Ideal Has It's Own Disciplines Of Mind And Heart And Gives People The Means Of Finding Faith In The Ultimate Meaning Of Human Life That Were Once Provided By The More Conventional Religions.

Religions Have Always Stressed That Compassion Is Not Only Central To Religious Life, It Is The Key To Enlightenment And It The True Test Of Spirituality. But There Have Always Have Been Those Who'd Rather Put Easier Goals, Like Doctrine Conformity, In Place.