"God is a concept by which we measure our pain." - John Lennon There is a quantifier for your statement.

I have always interpretted this as meaning that humanity would always have religion regardless of its validity.

1) "This statement by Voltaire was so famous that Flaubert included it in his Dictionnaire des idées reçues, and it is still frequently quoted today. But where does it first appear? And what precisely did Voltaire mean when he wrote it? Does it imply, as most of Voltaire's parrots seems to suppose, that God is a fictitious being, created for the comfort of the human race? In its original form, the statement first appeared in a verse epistle from 1768, addressed to the anonymous author of a controversial work, The Three Impostors. According to Voltaire, this was a virulently atheistic text that denied the existence of a divine being. He found that this was an extremely dangerous work since it put into question a notion that was very useful for society: the idea that criminals would be punished in the afterlife. Thus, even when policing was insufficient, there was a strong deterrent against crime. In this poem, Voltaire develops in a general way the idea that the existence of God (or the belief therein) helps establish social order. He then goes on to boast of his own role in eliminating prejudice and injustice in the eighteenth century. In its final sections, the poem turns to personal satire, as Voltaire attacks some of his favorite enemies. As such, the text shows many of Voltaire's complexities, both in his philosophy and in his personality. Although he attacked the abuses of the Catholic Church throughout his life, he also spoke as a defender of religion on many occasions. If he is today often portrayed as a radical opponent of all religious sentiment, this is largely the result of accusations from his opponents and nineteenth-century polemical exchange." French excerpt: "Si les cieux, dépouillés de son empreinte auguste, Pouvaient cesser jamais de le manifester, Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer. Que le sage l'annonce, et que les rois le craignent. Rois, si vous m'opprimez, si vos grandeurs dédaignent Les pleurs de l'innocent que vous faites couler, Mon vengeur est au ciel: apprenez à trembler. Tel est au moins le fruit d'une utile croyance." Translation: "If the heavens, stripped of his noble imprint, Could ever cease to attest to his being, If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. Let the wise man announce him and kings fear him. Kings, if you oppress me, if your eminencies disdain The tears of the innocent that you cause to flow, My avenger is in the heavens: learn to tremble. Such, at least, is the fruit of a useful creed." Source and further information: http://www.whitman.edu/VSA/trois.imposteurs.html (the source gives the full text) 2) "Voltaire, though often mistaken for an atheist, did in fact take part in religious activities and even erected a chapel on his estate at Ferney. The chief source for the misconception is a line from one of his poems (called "Epistle to the author of the book, The Three Impostors") that translates to: "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him." The full body of the work, however, reveals his criticism was more focused towards the actions of organized religion, rather than with the concept of religion itself. Like many other key figures during the European Enlightenment, Voltaire considered himself a Deist. He did not believe that absolute faith, based upon any particular or singular religious text or tradition of revelation, was needed to believe in God. In fact, Voltaire's focus was instead on the idea of a universe based on reason and a respect for nature reflected the contemporary pantheism, increasingly popular throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and which continues in a form of deism today known as "Voltairean Pantheism." He wrote, "What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a God. This is no matter of faith, but of reason." In terms of religious texts, Voltaire's opinion of the Bible has been summarized by a 21st century author as: 1) an outdated legal and/or moral reference, 2) by and large a metaphor, but one that still taught some good lessons, and 3) a work of Man, not a divine gift. These beliefs did not hinder his religious practice, however, though it did gain him somewhat of a bad reputation in the Catholic Church. It may be noted that Voltaire was indeed seen as somewhat of a nuisance to many believers, and was almost universally known; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote to his father the year of Voltaire's death, saying, "The arch-scoundrel Voltaire has finally kicked the bucket...." Voltaire was even more critical of Muhammad. His play Fanaticism, or Mahomet was “written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect”; he also referred to Muhammad as “a false prophet.” However, his views on Islam were more favourable. He called him the founder of "a wise, severe, chaste, and humane religion", and also said "The legislator of the Muslims, a terrible and powerful man, established his dogmas with his valor and arms; yet, his religion became benign and tolerant." From translated works on Confucianism and Legalism, Voltaire drew on Chinese concepts of politics and philosophy (which were based on rational principles), to look critically at European organized religion and hereditary aristocracy." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire