The doctrine of the sacredness of the soul sounds vaguely uplifting, but in fact is highly malignant. It discounts life on earth as just a temporary phase that people pass through, indeed, an infinitesimal fraction of their existence…the gradual replacement of lives for souls as the locus of moral value was helped along by the ascendency of skepticism and reason

The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence In History And Its Causes (ed. Penguin UK, 2011) - ISBN: 9780141959740