If God existed, and if He cared for humankind, He would never have given us religion.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that religion may be a flawed creation if a benevolent deity existed.
In this quote, Martin Amis proposes a critical view of religion, implying that if a caring God truly existed, He would not have allowed the creation of religion, which often leads to conflict and division among people. The statement raises questions about the nature of God and the impact of religious belief on humanity, suggesting that it can be more harmful than beneficial.
In practice
In a debate about the role of religion in society, one might cite this quote to emphasize the negative aspects of religious institutions.
Oh Christ, the exhaustion of not knowing anything. It's so tiring and hard on the nerves. It really takes it out of you, not knowing anything. You're given comedy and miss all the jokes. Every hour you get weaker. Sometimes, as I sit alone in my flat in London and stare at the window, I think how dismal it is, how heavy, to watch the rain and not know why it falls.
Sometimes I feel that life is passing me by, not slowly either, but with ropes of steam and spark - spattered wheels and a hoarse roar of power or terror. It's passing, yet I'm the one who's doing all the moving.
You know how it is when two souls meet in a burst of ecstatic volubility, with hearts tickling to hear and to tell, to know everything, to reveal everything, the shared reverence for the other's otherness, a feeling of solitude radiantly snapped by full *contact* - all that?
All my adult life I have been searching for the right adjective to describe my father's peculiarly aggressive comic style. I recently settled on 'defamatory.'
Love is an abstract noun, something nebulous. And yet love turns out to be the only part of us that is solid, as the world turns upside down and the screen goes black.
Jane was my wicked stepmother: she was generous, affectionate and resourceful; she salvaged my schooling and I owe her an unknowable debt for that. One flaw: sometimes, early on, she would tell me things designed to make me think less of my mother, and I would wave her away, saying, Jane, this just backfires and makes me think less of you.
Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than malice and wickedness.
Where annual elections end where slavery begins.
We live, we die, and like the grass and trees, renew ourselves from the soft earth of the grave. Stones crumble and decay, faiths grow old and they are forgotten, but new beliefs are born. The faith of the villages is dust now... but it will grow again... like the trees.
We become aware of the void as we fill it.
Life without pain has no meaning.
A lady could not boast of her chastity who was never tempted.
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