How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"So you might say that the nam-shub of Enki was the beginnings of human consciousness—when we first had to think for ourselves. It was the beginning of rational religion, too, the first time that people began to think about abstract issues like God and Good and Evil." (56.27)
If you think about how much religion is used to control people in these books, it's kind of ironic that religion as we know it emerged only after Enki forced everyone to have free will and creative thought.
Quote #8
"I wonder if viruses have always been with us […] Maybe there was a period of history when they were nonexistent or at least unusual. And at a certain point, when the metavirus showed up, the number of different viruses exploded, and people started getting sick a whole lot. That would explain the fact that all cultures seem to have a myth about Paradise, and the Fall from Paradise." (30.53)
World religions do tend to have a lot in common. Some kind of ancient flood, for instance, also appears in a lot of mythology. Maybe there is some historical basis for this, or maybe not. Most creation myths are bizarrely imaginative when you get down to it.
Quote #9
The Reverend Dale T. Thorpe holds the vial up to his left nostril. When the LED counter gets to zero, it hisses […] At the same time, he inhales deeply, sucking it all into his lungs. Then he shoots the vial expertly into his wastebasket. (25.47)
Religious officials purchasing illegal drugs and doing them in their offices—that sounds just dandy. No hypocrisy here, move along folks.