“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.”

“The story Grandpa told us helped me realize that people cannot be divided into groups by ethnicity, religion, or any other feature, only into groups of good, bad, and indifferent people.”

“The greatest threat to religion in any society is not persecution, but rather apathy born of irrelevance.”

“It is said that peace is the basic tenet of all religion. Yet it is in the name of religion that there has been so much disturbance, bloodshed and persecution. It is indeed a pity that even at the close of the twentieth century we've had to witness such atrocities because of religion. Flying the flag of religion has always proved the easiest way to crush to nothingness human beings as well as the spirit of humanity.”

“No power of government ought to be employed in the endeavor to establish any system or article of belief on the subject of religion.”

“It's a curious thing in American life that the most abject nonsense will be excused if the utterer can claim the sanction of religion. A country which forbids an established church by law is prey to any denomination. The best that can be said is that this is pluralism of a kind.”