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On the subject of religious belief, we relax standards of reasonableness and evidence that we rely on in every other area of our lives. We relax so totally that people believe the most ludicrous propositions, and are willing to organize their lives around them.

Stressing the God-centered life can lead to an otherworldly withdrawal from everyday earthly life.

The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it's your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can't package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking.

The tension between the essence of spiritual teachings and the harmful fundamentalism that often arises in the name of religion is an issue that has engaged my mind practically as far back as I can remember.

People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it practiced.

Whatever your religious tradition is, if it's important to you and you don't feel comfortable talking about it, you end up coming across as insincere.

My religion teaches me that whenever there is distress which one cannot remove, one must fast and pray.

Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.

I stress a lot, sometimes.

The secular argument, or the liberal argument, is to as much as possible remove taboos so things do not become unmentionable; to let some air into the discussion.