So much damage has been done to this world by people who get all their knowledge from one book – be it The Bible or whatever. And if we could just allow ourselves to be liberated by the fact that this is our only time here, we could just get on with what really matters. I really think we could have put a man on the moon 1000 years ago if we accepted that.

We create entire religions in order to convince ourselves that we’re not going to die. They tie us down and they make us ugly and unkind.

Religion is the yeast of death cakes. It is the most awful agent on a vulnerable mind. It’s the refuge of alienated and lonely people. It’s what people had before television. It yokes people together into an imaginary world. It is just people talking to their imaginary friends, at length. I wouldn’t mind, but some of the people are world leaders.

We need to believe something, and you’re not allowed to believe in religion … well, you can, but people will laugh at you and throw things.

‘Cause it was just sort of decided in the 20th century that religion is basically a formalized panic about death. Look at the Catholic church, the campest organization on the planet with the purple robes, gold bits on the side, jewellery so big if they let it fall it would kill people. What else can it be, but this sort of ritual of panic about death? “DEATH IS COMING! Quick, put on the gold hat!”