"Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the jobs of life." ― John Updike Topic(s): Religion More From John Updike "The first breath of adultery is the freest; after it, constraints aping marriage develop." "Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the change, and the ones most offended by fresh reflections of the facts in the mirror of art." "Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went." More In Religion "Government needs to stay out of the religion business altogether."― Michael Newdow "Well, religion has been passed down through the years by stories people tell around the campfire. Stories about God, stories about love. Stories about good spirits and evil spirits."― Andrew Greeley "There have been two popular subjects for poetry in the last few decades: the Vietnam War and AIDS, about both of which almost all of us have felt deeply."― Thom Gunn