What do you think about this quote from British explorer and orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton?
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ETpro (
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August 19th, 2010
Commenting on man’s various religions, Sir Richard Francis Burton said, “The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.” What do you think he meant? What’s your opinion? Is he right or wrong, and why do you think so?
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7 Answers
i have two books on him- really interesting ! he saw religions as shaped by human emotions and jealousies, god modeled after man and not the other way round.
I think that’s exactly what he meant – religion is a human institution, period and I agree with him.
@trailsillustrated @Austinlad & @Simone_De_Beauvoir Thanks for your thoughts. It was one of Google’s featured quotes today. Interestingly, in researching it, I found that a number of sites, mainly blogs but some Famous Quotes sites as well, had misattributed it to the recent actor, Richard Burton. One of the most amusing was from someone who commented that they shared the same birthday with Burton as well as the same take on religin. Of course, they meant the Burton born 10 November 1925, not the one born on 19 March 1821.
There are scientific studies that have identified a portion of the brain which is activated when a subject is having a religious experience. This might mean that religious experience is really an internal event. Burton’s comment might be taken as a similar observation.
“Man made God in his own image…”
– Eckhart Tolle
“If triangles had a god, he would have three sides”
– Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
@ftp901 Thanks. Clever way of stating it.
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