This page contains quotations about religion, atheism, skepticism, freethought, and associated politics.
My writings are in black. Plagiarized text is in maroon, sometimes highlighted by me in red.
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Articles by Wayne (continued)
Continuation of article Some of my beliefs.
. . . about Islam ___ about the Sep. 11 terrorism ___ Atrocities of Christianity ___ Bible text
. . . by Atheists & Agnostics ___ by Ayn Rand ___ by Bierce ___ by Arthur C. Clarke ___ by Dawkins
. . . by Einstein ___ by Emma Goldman ___ by Rev. Jerry Falwell ___ Freethought ___ by Haught
. . . by Hitler ___ by Ingersoll ___ by Islamists ___ to bury alive
. . . on Disbelief, Death, Slavery ___ by James Madison ___ by Jefferson ___ by Jesus ___ by Luther
. . . by Neitzsche ___ by Paine ___ by Paulson ___ by Popes ___ by Russell
. . . various ___ by Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota ___ by Edward O. Wilson ___ by Woody Allen
Quotes on Religion - Islam and Muslims: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_MiscIslam.htm
" . . . there are a significant number in the Middle East -- probably a large majority -- who genuinely hate the United States and rejoice in the success of the September 11 attacks." -- Otto J. Helweg, Ph.D., in Terrorism and Islam.
Quotes about the Sep. 11 terrorism
Libertarian Conservative Page of Eye Opening Quotes: http://www.justright.com/liberty/quotesb.htm
"I saw the towers collapse but felt nothing for the Americans inside. I may hold an American passport, but I am not an American – I am a Muslim" -- 26-year-old Mohammad Junaid, in London on his way to Pakistan to join the Taliban, Nov 6, 2001. Junaid's own mother was led to safety from the ninth floor of the blazing World Trade Centre by New York's firefighters and policemen. His parents immigrated to the US from Pakistan. Good riddance Mo. Say hi to your buddies in hell when you get there. And can we please tighten up the immigration laws now?
"The suicide bombers of today are the noble successors of the Lebanese suicide bombers, who taught the U.S. Marines a tough lesson in [Lebanon].. These suicide bombers are the salt of the earth, the engines of history.. They are the most honorable people among us.." -- Al Hayat Al Jadida, Sep. 11, 2001 edition. This is Yassir Arafat’s government controlled newspaper.
Quotes by Atheists & Agnostics
Non-Believing Quotes: http://www.dcd.net/NBP/quotes.html The quote pile.
thewaronfaith.com. http://members.aol.com/nogodhere/index.html The War on Faith home page, including . . .
. . . Atheist Quotes: http://members.aol.com/nogodhere/atheistquotes.html The War on Faith Quotes by Robert Ingersoll, Mark Twain, Mencken, George Bernard Shaw, Sigmund Freud, Mahatma Gandhi, Ambrose Bierce, Robert A. Heinlein, Bertrand Russell, Founding Fathers of the USA (all of whom were anti-religious), and many others.
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature." -- Thomas Jefferson
"I don't believe in God because don't believe in Mother Goose." -- Clarence Darrow
"Suppose, however, that God did give this law to the Jews, and did tell them that whenever a man preached a heresy, or proposed to worship any other God that they should kill him; and suppose that afterward this same God took upon himself flesh, and came to this very chosen people and taught a different religion, and that thereupon the Jews crucified him; I ask you, did he not reap exactly what he had sown? What right would this god have to complain of a crucifixion suffered in accordance with his own command?" -- Robert Ingersoll. "Some Mistakes of Moses", in Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 2.
"I should like to see, and this will be the last and most ardent of my desires, I should like to see the last king strangled with the guts of the last priest." -- J. Messelier of Paris, dated 1733
Famous Quotes: http://www.crosswinds.net/~sawdustdog/quote.html
The Bible tells us to be like God, and then on page after page it describes God as a mass murderer. This may be the single most important key to the political behavior of Western Civilization. -- Robert A. Wilson (Right Where You Are Sitting Now)
Truth does not demand belief. Scientists do not join hands every Sunday, singing, "yes, gravity is real! I will have faith! I will be strong! I believe in my heart that what goes up, up, up must come down, down. down. Amen!" If they did, we would think they were pretty insecure about it. -- Former Preacher Dan Barker
While there, visit Holy Temple of Mass Consumption, if you dare, and from there, Church of the SubGenius!!!, where you can meet Dr. Bob!
Positive Atheism's Big List of Quotations: http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/qframe.htm
Resources for the Rational: http://hometown.aol.com/magyckme/Resources001.html Many resources, including Bible searching.
. . . if devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking . . . the alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind. [Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged]
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." -- Ambrose Bierce
"Scriptures, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based." -- Ambrose Bierce
Quotes on Religion - Arthur C. Clarke: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_ACClarke.htm
It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him. [Arthur C. Clarke]
I would defend the liberty of concenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent. [Arthur C. Clarke]
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. [Arthur C. Clarke, Clarke's Third Law from Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible]
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow' disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins (The Humanist, Vol. 57, No. 1)
The Godlessheathen Blasphemous Quotes Page: http://www.infidels.org/~godlessheathen/Quotes.html Includes the most barbaric statement ever made (except for some made by God, which are even more depraved) -- by Pope Paul III, 1576.
Quotes on Disbelief, Death, Slavery
Words of Wisdom - Disbelief, Death, Slavery: http://home.att.net/~danfake/philosophy_general/words_of_wisdom.htm
"Thus that which is the most awful of evils, death, is nothing to us, since when we exist there is no death, and when there is death we do not exist." -- Epicurus
"Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism." -- Isaac Asimov, 'On Religiosity', Free Inquiry.
There was no deathbed conversion," Druyan says. "No appeals to God, no hope for an afterlife, no pretending that he and I, who had been inseparable for twenty years, were not saying goodbye forever." "Didn't he want to believe?" she was asked. "Carl never wanted to believe," she replies fiercely. "He wanted to KNOW**." --Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan's wife, from Newsweek magazine.
** Recall my quote: What science canot tell us, man cannot know.
"In the presence of death I affirm and reaffirm the truth of all that I have said against the superstitions of the world. I would say that much on the subject with my last breath." -- Robert G. Ingersoll
"Infidelity is liberty; all religion is slavery." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'Thomas Paine', 1870
The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge." -- Albert Einstein
It was, of course, a lie that you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. -- Albert Einstein
Freethought and Religion Quotations - Index: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_QuotesIndex.htm
Religion Quotes: http://www.humanismbyjoe.com/religion_quotes.htm (Many of the following quotes are from James Haught's wonderful book 2000 Years of Disbelief and are used here with Mr. Haught's permission.)
"The U.S. has more churchgoing than any other major democracy and it reports much higher rates of murder, rape, robbery, shootings, stabbings, drug use, unwed pregnancy, and the like, as well as occasional tragedies such as those at Waco and Jonestown. . . . There may be no link between the two conditions, but the saturation of religion has failed to prevent the severe crime level. . . . Societies rife with fundamentalism and religious tribalism are prone to sectarian violence. In contrast, England, Scandinavia, Canada, Japan, and such lands have scant churchgoing, yet their people are more inclined to live peaceably, in accord with the social contract. The evidence seems clear: To find living conditions that are safe, decent, orderly, and 'civilized,' avoid places with intense religion." -- James Haught
Excellent quotes covering all aspects of religion and its abuses.
Religion Quotes - Adolf Hitler: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_AHitler.htm
Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am doing the Lord's work. -- Adolf Hitler
Of more importance than whether the answer is yes or no, is whether Christians were willing to believe such statements of Hitler. The appaling answer is that, yes, they were -- enthusiastically!. Why should they not -- given the statements of their churches that Jews should be murdered! See Quotes by Luther and Quotes by Popes.
Ingersoll the Magnificent: http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/lewis/lewing00.htm by JOSEPH LEWIS, 1957. THE FREETHOUGHT PRESS ASSOCIATION. All collected works and quotes.
Robert G. Ingersoll: http://home.att.net/~danfake/history/robert_g_ingersoll.htm Who was Robert G. Ingersoll?
The Bloody Bible, by Louis Cable, Freethought Today, June-July 1997: http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/june_july97/cable.html
Robert G. Ingersoll, the great nineteenth century agnostic and philosopher, put it succinctly when he said, "Somebody ought to tell the truth about the Bible[1]." The Bible, characterized by some Christians as that "most uniquely consistent of all books," is, in reality, a horrible story of murder, torture, incest and genocide. The blood of innocent victims drips from practically every page.
Killing, much of it nothing more than senseless murder, is just business as usual in the Holy Bible, euphemistically known as the "Good Book[2]." The unvarnished truth is that killing, or the threat of killing, most of it totally irrational, occurs unabated throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelations.
In about half the versions I consulted, the word "kill" in the sixth commandment (Exodus 20:13) has been changed to "murder." This amounts to a significant revision. Kill is an umbrella term covering all cases, whereas murder is more narrowly defined. Forbidding murder creates much less of a problem for the Bible believer, hence the change. This revision helps them, of course, but they are by no means off the hook. Need I remind them that Moses, the man selected by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, was a murderer (Exodus 2:12) never brought to justice for his crime. However, God, himself, is the most notorious murderer of them all. . . .
Many quotes from the Bible, outlining the totally depraved and barbaric basis for Judaism and Christianity.
Words of Wisdom - Disbelief, Death, Slavery: http://home.att.net/~danfake/philosophy_general/words_of_wisdom.htm
"The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called 'faith'." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'The Gods', 1872
"All the meanness, all the revenge, all the selfishness, all the cruelty, all the hatred, all the infamy of which the heart of man is capable, grew, blossomed and bore fruit in this one word, Hell." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'The Great Infidels', 1881
"Our ignorance is God; what we know is science." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'The Gods', 1872
"Infidelity is liberty; all religion is slavery." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'Thomas Paine', 1870
"I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous - if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one and all, because they enslave the minds of men." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'The Ghosts', 1877
"When I became convinced that the Universe is natural-that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'Why Am I An Agnostic?', 1896
"Mental slavery is mental death and every man who has given up his intellectual freedom is the living coffin of his dead soul." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'Individuality', 1873
"How long, O how long will mankind worship a book? How long will they grovel in the dust before the ignorant legends of the barbaric past? How long, O how long will they pursue phantoms in a darkness deeper than death?" -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 'Heretics and Heresies', 1874
JESUS ANOINTED: http://www.kurtsaxon.com/practical/page0001.htm JESUS ANOINTED? by Kurt Saxon
Robert Ingersoll, the great atheist lecturer of the 19th century made the greatest omission since the writer of John 18:38 failed to answer Pilate's "What is truth?" (Any sort of drivel would satisfy a believer, but a non-believer would demand a definition acceptable by all).
Throughout Ingersoll's works he refers to Jesus mainly as "Christ", believed to be a title of honor and majesty. But the real definition of the word "Christ", explained as to its importance, shows it was not a title at all and so destroys the beliefs of those who consider themselves Christians. "Christ", from the Greek "krist" means only to anoint. (Anoint. To smear or pour oil or ointment on the head or body of a person or an object). So why wasn't Jesus called "Anointed", "Jesus Anointed" or "Anointed Jesus"? . . .
Seeing that Jesus was definitely not what the Jews expected or wanted, how come his memory didn't fade away as did the memories of so many other wanna-be Mesiahs before him? Many scholars believe that Paul, a Jew and second-class Roman citizen, had evil intentions in his spread of Jesusitis. He hated Rome and all Gentiles and wanted to infect them with an alien belief system which could only confuse and weaken them. After all, the Biblical god chose only the family of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). It was Paul who chose the Gentiles. Was Paul a god?
See also Quotes about the Sep. 11 terrorism.
When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and pay the alms tax, let them go their way. Allah is forgiving and merciful. -- The Koran, 9.5
Quotes on Religion - James Madison: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_JMadison.htm
. . . several of the first presidents, including Jefferson and Madison, generally refused to issue public prayers, despite importunings to do so. Under pressure, Madison relented in the War Of 1812, but held to his belief that chaplains shouldn't be appointed to the military or be allowed to open Congress. [Richard Shenkman, I Love Paul Revere, Whether He Rode Or Not]
Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize [sic]
The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries. [James Madison, 1803]
Experience witnesseth
that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the
purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries
has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What
has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and
indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in
both, superstition, bigotry and persecution. [James Madison, A Memorial
and Remonstrance, addressed to the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1785]
"Shake off all fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blind faith." -- Thomas Jefferson
"The clergy believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyrrany known to the mind of man." -- Thomas Jefferson
"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology." -- Thomas Jefferson
But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. -- Jesus, Luke 19: 27
Jesus, on praying in public:
Bible: Matthew 6, King James Version
From: Resources for the Rational: http://hometown.aol.com/magyckme/Resources001.html
[5] And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
[6] But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
[7] But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
[9] After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
christianity: http://www.geocities.com/polkster_1/christianity.htmlchristianity
Religion Quotes - Martin Luther: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_MLuther.htm
Famous Quotes: http://www.crosswinds.net/~sawdustdog/quote.html
If I had to baptise a Jew, I would take him to the bridge of the Elbe, hang a stone around his neck and push him over with the words 'I baptise thee in the name of Abraham'. -- Martin Luther, Hitler's Spiritual Ancestor by Peter F. Weiner (1985, Gustav Broukal Press)
quotes from MARTIN LUTHER, German leader of the Protestant Revolution:
http://www.2think.org/hii/mlquotes.shtml LUTHER, THE DERANGED THEOLOGIAN. German leader of the Protestant Revolution, founder of Lutheranism, Protestant theologian, was behind much of Protestant theology. An examination of some of his quotes makes it quite obvious that we are not looking at a rational man. Modern Protestants would do well to learn something about the heritage of their present theology.
"We are at fault for not slaying them [the Jews]."
"What shall we do with...the Jews?...I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings...are to be taken from them."
"What shall we do with...the Jews?...I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews."
"What shall we do with...the Jews? I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach on pain of loss of life and limb."
"What shall we do with...the Jews?...set fire to their synagogues or schools and bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them."
"What shall we do with...the Jews?...their homes also should be razed and destroyed."
"When I was a child there were many witches, and they bewitched both cattle and men, especially children."
"Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason."
"Women...have but small and narrow chests, and broad hips, to the end that they should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children."
"I should have no compassion on these witches; I should burn them all."
"Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the devils have established themselves: and all the physicians who heal these infirmities, as though they proceeded from natural causes, are ignorant blockheads...."
"In many countries there are particular places to which devils more especially resort. In Prussia there is an infinite number of evil spirits."
I checked last year with the Web site of a large, respected Lutheran divinity college ** in the midwestern USA re his statements re Jews. Their FAQ answer was that, yes Luther had made such statements, but, although they were anti-Judaic, they were not anti-Semitic. Therefore, Luther could do no wrong.
** Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne: http://www.ctsfw.edu/
300 years of the state subsidization (continuing to today!) of such teachings in Germany laid a ready foundation for the ravings of Hitler. The Christian public loved it! I wonder why?
Racism: http://www.senet.com.au/~brucehan/index23.htm INTOLERANCE OF RACISM, RELIGION AND POLITICS.
"God is dead: but considering the state Man is in, there will perhaps be caves, for ages yet, in which his shadow will be shown."-- Friedrich Neitzsche
I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means are venomous enough, or secret, subterranean and small enough -- I call it the one immortal blemish upon the human race." -- Friedrich Neitzsche
"Faith: not wanting to know what is true." -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time. -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Which is it: is man one of God's blunders or is God one of man's? -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Quotes on Religion - Thomas Paine: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_TPaine.htm
The declaration which says that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children is contrary to every principle of moral justice. [Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason]
. . . but the Bible is such a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which part to believe or whether any . . . [Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason]
Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests, but so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter. [Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason]
What is it the Bible teaches us? - raping, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? -- to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.
Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has been the most destructive to the peace of man since man began to exist. Among the most detestable villains in history, you could not find one worse than Moses, who gave an order to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers and then rape the daughters. One of the most horrible atrocities found in the literature of any nation. I would not dishonor my Creator's name by attaching it to this filthy book. [Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason]
Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody persecutions, and tortures unto death, and religiosu wars, that since that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but from this impious thing called religion, and this monstrous belief that God has spoken to man? [Thomas Paine, quoted in 2000 Years of Disbelief, Famous People with the Courage to Doubt by James Haught]
The Christian religion begins with a dream and ends with a murder.
All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for imposters to preach and fools to believe.
What science canot tell us, man cannot know. -- Wayne Paulson (This quote might or might not not be original to me, but I have not found its author. If you know of its author, please contact me, and I will cite the author acordingly.)
There is no chance for world peace until the last god has died and become but a perverse and pernicious myth, freeing up mankind from ridiculous and dangerous bonds of mental slavery and superstition.
"Religion is superstition, but with even more rabbit's feet to shake hands with. There's the Shroud, the wooden chips from the Cross, belief in God, Elvis sightings , . . ." -- Wayne Paulson
"Censorship of the Internet is the important first step needed in order to rewrite history in the image of a Christian Disneyland. It is already partly rewrittten. One wonders what George Orwell would have thought!" -- Wayne Paulson
"God must have either fallen asleep during the Holocaust, or his prayer-line was out of order, or He just thought the whole affair was of no more importance than an ant pile getting flooded. Do ants know how to pray? I think that the Jews tried to -- but maybe not in the "right" language?" -- Wayne Paulson
"Hitler at least had his victims killed before burning them. Christianity, however, chose to burn its victims alive on its "sacred" crosses." -- Wayne Paulson
"I do further promise and declare, that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do and to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth, and that I will spare neither sex, age nor condition and that I will hang, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants' heads against the wall, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race." -- Pope Paul III, 1576
My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race. -- Bertrand Russell
I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian, 1957
What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry combined with a belief that the torture of millions is not desirable, whether inflicted by Stalin or by a Deity imagined in the likeness of the believer. -- Bertrand Russell
"Religion is based ... mainly upon fear ... fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand . . . . My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race." -- Bertrand Russell
It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion. -- Bertrand Russell
"The Christian view that all intercourse outside marriage is immoral was, as we see in the...passages from St. Paul, based upon the view that all sexual intercourse, even within marriage, is regrettable. A view of this sort, which goes against biological facts, can only be regarded by sane people as a morbid aberration. The fact that it is embedded in Christian ethics has made Christianity throughout its whole history a force tending towards mental disorders and unwholesome views of life." -- Bertrand Russell
Freethought and Religion Quotations - Index: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_QuotesIndex.htm Excellent!
Freedom's Nest Religion Quote Search: http://www.freedomsnest.com/religion.html Quotes on religious subjects. Many links, by many authors, on many topics. Excellent!
Humanist Society of Gainesville: http://www.lipsio.com/gainesvillehumanists/index.html
Quotes by: Religious Right, Pat Robertson, George W. Bush, Supreme Court, Bumper Stickers, Creation vs.Evolution.
Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. -- Napolean
"Everything Hitler did to the Jews, all the horribly unspeakable misdeeds, had already been done to the smitten people before by the Christian churches. . . . The isolation of Jews into ghetto camps, the wearing of the yellow spot, the burning of Jewish books, and finally the burning of the people - Hitler learned it all from the church. However, the church burned Jewish women and children alive, while Hitler granted them a quicker death, choking them first with gas." -- Dagobert Runes
"Religion has come to mean placing our trust outside ourselves, remaining like children following a long succession of father figures, teachers, preachers, and politicians. And how do we know, once we have ceased to trust ourselves, whether they are Gods or psychopaths?" -- xX_Fairuza_Xx
"What if we chose the wrong religion? We're just making God madder and madder every Sunday."-- Homer Simpson
"The Vision of
Christ that thou dost see,
Is my vision's greatest enemy.
Thine is the Friend of all Mankind,
Mine speaks in Parables to the blind.
Thine loves the same world that mine hates,
Thy heaven-doors are my hell gates." --
William
Blake
"Religion...is the opium of the masses." . . . Karl Marx
"Physics isn't a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising money." -- Leon Lederman
"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him." -- Arthur C. Clarke
"Imagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable." -- H. L. Mencken
"They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse." -- Emily Dickinson
"Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone and you are a God." -- Jean Rostand
"I think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability." -- Oscar Wilde
"I'm still an atheist, thank God." -- Luis Bunuel
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -- Voltaire
"Superstition is the religion of feeble minds." -- Edmund Burke
"Men never do evil so cheerfully and so completely as when they do so from religious conviction." -- Blaise Pascal
"Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think." -- Arthur Shopenhauer
"If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever." -- Woody Allen
"I'm not afraid to die -- as long as I'm not there at the time." -- Woody Allen
"I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of." -- Clarence Darrow
"I don't believe in God because I don't believe in Mother Goose." -- Clarence Darrow
"The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact than a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- George Bernard Shaw
"I want to tear out his heart .... I want to eat his children .... praise be to Allah." -- Mike Tyson, referring to Lennox Lewis, after a recent fight.
CYBERLYLE'Z Religious Shrine: http://www.cyberlyle.org/cl_relishquotes.html
pickover.com Clifford Pickover home page. The Risks Digest Volume 16: Issue 18
Quotes on Religion: http://www.truthbeknown.com/religionquotes.htm
relquotes: http://www.geocities.com/polkster_1/relquotes.html
Quotes by Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota
Libertarian Conservative Page of Eye Opening Quotes: http://www.justright.com/liberty/quotesb.htm
"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business." -- Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota, in an interview to be published in the November, 1999 issue of Playboy magazine. That's real nice Jesse. Meanwhile desperate shallow-thinking dupes still believe in the reform party. A "sham"? Does Jesse consider pro "wrestling" to be an organized religion?
Quotes on Religion - Edward O. Wilson: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_EOWilson.htm
[T]heology made no provision for evolution. The biblical authors had missed the most important revelation of all! Could it be that they were not really privy to the thoughts of God? [Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge.]
[P]rescientific people... could never guess the nature of physical reality beyond the tiny sphere attainable by unaided common sense. Nothing else ever worked, no exercise from myth, revelation, art, trance, or any other conceivable means; and notwithstanding the emotional satisfaction it gives, mysticism**, the strongest prescientific probe in the unknown, has yielded zero. [Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge.]
[** Why not just say it directly? Mysticism means religion. Religion has yielded zero. In fact it has rendered less than that; it has wreaked untold misery upon the human race, and continues to do so. -- WRP]
No statistical proofs exist that prayer reduces illness and mortality, except perhaps through a psychogenic enhancement of the immune system; if it were otherwise the whole world would pray continuously. [Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge.]
Quotes on Religion - Woody Allen: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_WAllen.htm
Continued on Page 40.
End of the extract Tough Questions for the Christian Church
End of the article Some of my beliefs.
End of part 30 of 60 of Religion Page 30. More articles on Page 40.
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You can e-mail me at waynerp@sympatico.ca