From Mark Tindall:

From Lou Marinoff, "The Big Questions: How philosophy can change your life" Bloomsburey; London: 2003)

... the pagan Roman emperor Nero cruelly put people to death for believing in Christianity. Some centuries later, the Inquisition cruelly put people to death for not believing its version of Christianity. p. 13

Deontology. This comes from the Greek word deon, related to the notion of duty. In practice, it means following a rule book of morality. ... In religious contexts, one such rule book consists of the Ten Commandments .... Its main strength is a clear statement of moral rules. When people are in doubt about what's right or wrong, they have a book to consult. Its main weakness, however, is its inability to resolve exceptions to the rule. ... The black-and-white nature of deontologies doesn't easily admit shades of gray. p. 27

... Religious fanaticism ... the devout agent argument. If a religious authority issues orders and you obey without question, you are a "devout agent." This may be fine as long as you are in the business of helping others. however, suppose you start believing that God commands you to explode a bomb in a crowded public place, or to murder a doctor who performs abortions, or to assualt a person whose tastses you do not share. Are you following divine orders, and therfore behaving justly? Are callous indifference toward human life willingness to inflict suffering, and reverence for death good things? Claiming that God has ordained such things is not defensible. So radical religious moralism isn't necessarily conducive to goodness, and can in fact produce and justify evil. p. 45

... doubt is an important tool in exercising reason, and is complementary to faith. So people relying entirely on faith will find it difficult to exercise doubt, which will restrict their ability to make philosophical inquiries, leaving them, perhaps, passionately wedded to fairy tales or superstitions. Having faith does not eliminate the experience of doubting, but it may cause you to conceal your doubt, which only leads to unhappiness. ... People of faith suppressing their own doubts often seek to impose their views on everyone, in the vain hope that this will alleviate their doubts. It never does, of course. p. 75

... Religious fanatics only increase suffering by failing to perceive the humanity of others who worship different gods in different ways; and by making the equally egregious error of supposing that there are "infidels" in the world, whom they must either convert or destroy. Another great test of any religious person, or any "religious nation", is whether that person or nation needs an enemy, somebody or some group to scapegoat or demonize. If so, it fails this test and increases human suffering. p. 130

Every gropup tends to believe it is the "in-group," and so sees all others as "out-groups," and therfore as potential enemies. p. 195

Tribes are usually bound tightly together under some totem, such as ... a book ... something that symbolizes their unity and mobilzes their sentiment. p. 197

The Puritan Mantra: "keep busy, but don't enjoy yourself." p. 250

... the idea is to avoid sin by avoiding fun. This is the puritan attitude toward sex, food, and other appetites: Pleasure is fun, therefore sinful. Non-pleasure isn't fun; therefore permissable. Is this convoluted logic? You bet. p.252

Jung's insights support a more holistic interpretation of life's challenges. Jung saw each of us as a pilgrim on a personalized spiritual quest. ... When we are doing the thing we are made to do - when we are pursuing our quest - we endeavour to attain unity and harmony among the competing forces of mythos (mythology), logos (reason), cosmos (order), and chaos (disorder), forces which otherwise push and pull the human being in many different directions. p. 265

... if religion becomes too dogmatic ... followers may lose their capacity to exercise doubt, and may find their spiritual growth actually stifled. You can be reliously observant without being spiritual, and following rituals as mere rote behaviour may even impoverish your spirit. pp. 267-268

Reading great books can change your life for the better: This is "bibliotherapy." p. 268

He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being. - Paul Tillich. p. 275