QUOTES: Freeman Dyson's response to Steven Weinberg

"With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion." --Steven Weinberg

"Weinberg's statement is true as far as it goes, but it is not the whole truth. To make it the whole truth, we must add an additional clause: 'And for bad people to do good things—that [also] takes religion.' The main point of Christianity is that it is a religion for sinners. Jesus made that very clear. When the Pharisees asked his disciples, 'Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?' he said, 'I come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.' Only a small fraction of sinners repent and do good things but only a small fraction of good people are led by their religion to do bad things." --Freeman Dyson