Here's the new thread for posting quotes, with the usual rules:
Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be voted up/down separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself
Do not quote comments/posts on LW/OB
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.
It's notable that Spinoza was a part of a Jewish community, rather than "a church." I've actually read the letter of his excommunication, and WOW. They really went all out. You're considered cursed just for reading what he wrote.
Here's the new thread for posting quotes, with the usual rules: