"In the end, I am both amazed and amused at people like Kingsnorth who long for the good old days when people embraced Christianity and thus were both moral and fulfilled. There were no god-shaped holes then. But, given a choice of living then and now, I’m sure that all the Christian luddites would choose to live now. As for the god-shaped hole, all I can say is that many people, including me, don’t have one. Our lives get meaning not from embracing Jesus, but from whatever we find fulfilling: friends, loved ones, and family, work, hobbies, and so on. True, some people will always glom onto faith because it’s so easy: all you have to do is go to a church and you get a preexisting set of beliefs, friends and supporters. But people like me simply can’t believe in god if there’s no evidence for god."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesScience authors from the United StatesBiologists from the United StatesGeneticists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Pinker and Tupy vs. Kingsnorth: do we need a god in these troubled times?" November 25, 2025
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jerry_Coyne
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Jerry Coyne
182 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Jerry Coyne →
Related Quotes
"Religion has nothing to tell scientists that can improve their trade. Indeed, the progress of science has required sh…"
"In the end, why isn’t it better to find out how the world really works instead of making up stories about it, or acce…"
"Medicine can cure; faith cannot."
"The first argument, that religion is a social necessity and will always be with us, is dubious. It can be demolished …"
"What might be considered a real contribution of science to religious belief is the empirical demonstration that some …"
"I have argued that religion is to science as superstition is to reason; indeed, that is the very reason they are inco…"
"I’m not a Marxist, but Marx got at least one thing right: for many, religion weakens the incentive to fix both person…"
"Religion has no warrant and no method for decreeing what is and what is not beyond science."
"Above all, religion, faith healing, and alternative medicine all show the diagnostic feature of faith: an agenda not …"
"It is time to stop seeing faith as a virtue, and to stop using the term “person of faith” as a compliment."