Who Said That?

"Teachings that pointed the way beyond the dysfunction of the human mind, the way out of the collective insanity, were distorted and became themselves part of the insanity.  And so religions, to a large extent, became divisive rather than unifying forces. Instead of bringing about an ending of violence and hatred through a realization of the fundamental oneness of all life, they brought more violence and hatred, more divisions between people as well as between different religions and even within the same religion."

OK, who said that?  Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches! 

Update on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 04:24PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This quote comes from Eckhart Tolle's book -- "A New Earth 2005."  Tolle is Oprah's latest new age guru.

Comments

[chance]

Richard Dawkins?

[Michael Sapp]

It does sound like one of the neo-atheists. I know I won't get any points for this but I think it is the author of "God is not Great" Cannot remember his name though! So that I don't break the rules, I will google after I submit ;).

[Jaxdagger]

That's Obama. It has his phraseology and looney logic.

[walt]

Eckhart Tolle

[Anonymous]

Christopher Hitchickens

[Ivan]

fundamental oneness?
sounds awfully New Age to me...

Deepak Chopra?

[George]

Hmmmmm....a long-shot, but it sounds a lot like Ted Kacynski's manifesto...

[Jim]

It's Obama, Tolle, and Chopra rolled into one -- OPRAH!

[Ivan]

Kim,
I just want to publicly thank you for the "Who Said That?" portion of your blog.

I always enjoy it so much, and actually look forward to it.
Thanks!

["lee n. field"]

Brian McClaren

[Anonymous]

its the Pope talking about Protestantism

[johnsenmom]

I would have to go with "lee n. field"...
Brian McClaren would be my guess

[jason]

Brian McClaren,

[Zrim]

These guesses look to have been trained to look for villians behind the quotes (!). But insofar as Jesus said he came to divide and Paul seems to think "there must divisions amongst you to show who has God's approval," is it really so bad that "...religions, to a large extent, became divisive rather than unifying forces"?

Well, it probably is a villain, one who means to disparage true religion. But for all the wrong reasons. We should be careful not to champion true religion for the same bad reasons he/she wants to disparage it.

[Greg]

Since I don't know who Brian McClaren is, I'll guess Brian McLaren. (I used to make the same misspelling error myself.)

[Philip Walker]

Sounds like a kind of neo-gnostic New Age type of thing, with humanity going collectively insane and needing to discover "the teaching" that leads us out, but then managing to wreck even that (well, the belief in total depravity is accurate, anyway!). "The fundamental oneness of all life," is another giveaway as New Age-inspired rubbish.

Oprah?

[Ivan]

[laughing]
Good Grief, Zrim, just guess, would you?

[Timinator]

Eckhart

[Coyle]

Hmm... It does sound new age-ish, Rhonda Byrne?

[Zrim]

Ivan,

Oh, all right...Neil Diamond! No, Eckhart Tolle!