Rodney Stark Quotes

24 quotes in 428 categories

• Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They're aggressive on…
• Not only were science and religion compatible, they were inseparable--th e rise of science was achieved by deeply religious Christian scholars.
• For one, thing, the media are dominated by the irreligious. So are universities.
• America is an unusually religious nation.
• It can be demonstrated that in any society there is a distribution of religious tastes and concerns.
• It seems that not being religious is a form of risk-taking, consistent with other patterns of short-sighted behaviour in men.
• Many people who say they have no religion are simply saying they have no official religious affiliation. They may actually have strong personal beliefs.
• Theology is in disrepute among most Western intellectuals. The word is taken to mean a passe form of religious thinking that embraces irrationality and dogmatism.…
• Although it has been fashionable to deny it, anti-slavery doctrines began to appear in Christian theology soon after the decline of Rome and were accompanied…
• Far too long, historians have accepted the claim that the conversion of the Emperor Constantine (ca. 285-337) caused the triumph of Christianity. To the contrary,…
• The success of the West, including the rise of science, rested entirely on religious foundations, and the people who brought it about were devout Christians.
• That new technologies and techniques would be forthcoming was a fundamental article of Christian faith. Hence, no bishops or theologians denounced clocks or sailing ships-although…
• American churches work very hard at reaching out to people to bring them in.
• The more members of the clergy that are out there working to expand their congregations, the more people will go to church.
• High testosterone levels have been proven to make men more likely to commit crimes. The tendency in men toward risky behaviour keeps turning up even…
• A whole lot of Americans have never met a Mormon.
• There was only one decline in church attendance, and that was in the late 1960s when the Vatican said it was not a sin to…
• Those who belong to megachurches display as high a level of personal commitment as do those who attend small congregations.
• Had the followers of Jesus remained an obscure Jewish sect, most of you would not have learned to read, and the rest of you would…
• Can anyone seriously imagine a society without stable families? Maybe we should raise all the kids in state orphanages.

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