Keeping religion immune from criticism is both unwarranted and dangerous.
Interpretation
Religion should be open to scrutiny and criticism to avoid potential harm.
Lawrence M. Krauss argues that shielding religion from criticism prevents healthy discourse and can lead to negative consequences. By challenging religious beliefs, society can address and rectify harmful ideologies and practices, fostering a more informed and rational approach to spirituality and ethics.
In practice
In a debate about the role of religion in public policy, this quote can highlight the necessity for critical examination.
The one experience that I hope every student has at some point in their lives is to have some belief you profoundly, deeply hold, proved to be wrong because that is the most eye-opening experience you can have, and as a scientist, to me, is the most exciting experience I can ever have.
If our species is to survive, our future will probably require outposts beyond our own planet.
The ultimate arbiter of truth is experiment, not the comfort one derives from one's a priori beliefs, nor the beauty or elegance one ascribes to one's theoretical models.
I cannot stress often enough that what science is all about is not proving things to be true but proving them to be false.
To the extent that we even understand string theory, it may imply a massive number of possible different universes with different laws of physics in each universe, and there may be no way of distinguishing between them or saying why the laws of physics are the way they are. And if I can predict anything, then I haven't explained anything.
The illusion of purpose and design is perhaps the most pervasive illusion about nature that science has to confront on a daily basis.
Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.
What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope?
Economics make homeopath and alternative healers look empirical and scientific.
The highest religion is to rise to universal brother hood; aye to consider all creatures your equals.
You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship.
Here rests his head upon the lap of earth, A youth to fortune and to fame unknown: Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.