Karen Armstrong

Religion is not about accepting twenty impossible propositions before breakfast, but about doing things that change you. It is a moral aesthetic, an ethical alchemy. If you behave in a certain way, you will be transformed.

We have been compelled to think of God as a hypothesis, a proposition that can be argued for and against. But this is not how religious people see God.

Religion is not simply about the existence of God or the merits of belief in the afterlife. It is about the way we behave towards one another in this life.

Religion is a practical discipline that teaches us to discover new capacities of mind and heart.

The paradox of religious violence is that it is committed in the name of the God of life, by people who are trying to escape from death.

Religion is not a matter of intellectual assent, but of practice and transformation.

The modern world has seen the rise of a peculiar notion of 'faith' that is often equated with 'belief without evidence'. This is not how faith was understood in the past.

Religion is not primarily concerned with answers, but with the experience that transforms our lives.

The God of the mystics is not a being 'out there' but a reality experienced in the depths of the self.

Religion is not about being right or wrong, but about finding meaning and purpose in life.

Religion is not a set of beliefs, but a way of life that seeks to connect with the transcendent.

The God of religion is not a scientific hypothesis, but a symbol that points beyond itself to a reality that is beyond our comprehension.