"On no account should the church allow infidels to have power over the faithful or to be set above them in any way. ... The church is above the state ... kings must be subject to priests." (Thomas Aquinas)

Rude-but-obvious questions are not encouraged, such as: Why did God allow the Muslim Turks to take control of Palestine in the first place? And: Why couldn't the Pope ask God, rather than soldiers, to liberate the holy lands?

The three days of feasting, dancing, singing and game-playing at the first Thanksgiving would not have fit the decorum dictated by Pilgrim piety.

If God wanted us to know the truth, he wouldn't have given us badly translated revelations!

The fact is, Atheism is not opposed to religion, per se, but is at best (or at worst) indifferent to religion. Stalin was a Soviet first, an Atheist only incidentally.

"The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, not even East vs. West," wrote Durant, "it is whether men can bear to live without God."

The reign of Amenhotep III is generally considered Egypt's Golden Age, yet historians call it an age of heresy. "If I knew where God is," says one inscription, "I would certainly make an offering to him."