
“The call to religion is not a call to be better than your fellows, but to be better than yourself.”
Source: Life Thoughts (1858), p. 18
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), X : Religion, the Mythology of the Beyond and the Apocatastasis
Context: Religion is better described than defined and better felt than described. But if there is any one definition that latterly has obtained acceptance, it is that of Schleiermacher, to the effect that religion consists in the simple feeling of a relationship of dependence upon something above us and a desire to establish relations with this mysterious power.
“The call to religion is not a call to be better than your fellows, but to be better than yourself.”
Source: Life Thoughts (1858), p. 18
“You are better than your god. You are better than your religion.”
Episode 578: "Still More Scamlets" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDcLAeTm5AY, Channel Austin (November 9, 2008)
The Atheist Experience
Context: You are better than your god. You are better than your religion. So am I, so is damn near everybody on the planet. I wish you people would wake up and see this. Stop apologizing for this! [holds up The Bible] It's not the Good Book, there's nothing good about it. All it does is poison minds. All it does is make you sacrifice your humanity— the only thing that you have that is of any value— in order to sit around in deference to your gods.
About her intent to practice Hinduism.
Q&A with Wendy Doniger, the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor and author of The Hindus
“I have described religion as the metaphysics of the people.”
... deshalb ich diese als die Metaphysik des Volkes bezeichnet habe.
E. Payne, trans. (1974) Vol. 1, p. 140
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), On Philosophy in the Universities
Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1843)
Source: Many Witnesses, One Lord
Chips from a German Workshop (1866)
Context: I do not wish by what I have said to raise any exaggerated expectations as to the worth of these ancient hymns of the Veda, and the character of that religion which they indicate rather than fully describe. The historical importance of the Veda can hardly be exaggerated; but its intrinsic merit, and particularly the beauty or elevation of its sentiments, have by many been rated far too high. Large numbers of the Vedic hymns are childish in the extreme: tedious, low, commonplace. The gods are constantly inyoked to protect their worshippers, to grant them food, large flocks, large families, and a long life; for all which benefits they are to be rewarded by the praises and sacrifices offered day after day, or at certain seasons of the year. But hidden in this rubbish there are precious stones.
"Lecture on the Vedas" - first presented at the Philosophical Institution, Leeds (March 1865)
“Every religion is the product of the conceptual mind attempting to describe the mystery.”
Source: Tabari 17:187