“Many of them [people who escaped religion] recounted both the terror and the relief they felt after leaving religion behind. Terror at realizing there was no longer an imaginary friend; relief that no one was looking over their shoulder any more. Several described the experience as similar to that of a child learning to go to sleep without a favorite teddy bear. Others described it as simply growing up or outgrowing the need for the imaginary friends of childhood.”
![“Many of them [people who escaped religion] recounted both the terror and the relief they felt after leaving religion behind. Terror at realizing there was no longer an imaginary friend; relief that no one was looking over their shoulder any more. Several described the experience as similar to that…” quote by Darrel Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/20d/darrel-ray-22623_bears_many-of-them-people-who-escaped-religion_2297245.jpg)
![“Simply disabling specific critical thinking skills is all that is necessary for the god virus [to take control of a person].” quote by Darrel Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b75/darrel-ray-22623_critical_simply-disabling-specific-critical-think_30410.jpg)
![“Education is the key to perpetuation of the [god] virus for the Taliban, Baptist or Catholic. If the virus cannot control public education, it will seek to divert resources from public coffers to fundamentalist school funding. From the madrassa schools of Pakistan to the Christian push for school…” quote by Darrel Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d0b/darrel-ray-22623_baptists_education-is-the-key-to-perpetuation-of_568881.jpg)
![“The rationale which accompanies that imposition of male authority euphemistically referred to as 'the battle of the sexes' bears a certain resemblance to the formulas of nations at war, where any heinousness is justified on the grounds that the enemy is either an inferior [part of the] species or…” quote by Kate Millett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/895/kate-millett-7301_accompany_the-rationale-which-accompanies-that-imp_8896.jpg)
