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"God had to kill himself to appease himself, so that he wouldn’t have to roast us (his beloved creations) alive for all eternity, except that he didn’t really die."
-unknown, capsule description of Christiianity |
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"Who is it that really dishonors the Word, and blasphemes the Name of God Most High?--he who believes, and teaches others to believe, that such acts, as those [in the Pentateuch], were really perpetrated by Moses under express Divine sanction and command, or he who declares that such commands as these could never have emanated from the Holy and Blessed One, the All-Just and All-Loving, the Father of the spirits of all flesh."
-J.W. Colenso |
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"Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only
animal that has the True Religion--several of them. He is the only animal
that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't
straight."
-Mark Twain |
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"Why do you write to me 'God should punish the English'? I have no close connection to either one or the other. I see only with deep regret that God punishes so many of His children for their numerous stupidities, for which only He Himself can be held responsible; in my opinion, only His nonexistence could excuse Him."
-Albert Einstein |
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"As soon as it is held that any belief, no matter what, is important for some other reason than that it is true, a whole host of evils is ready to spring up."
-Bertrand Russel |
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(On going to war over religion:) "You're basically killing each other to see who's got the better imaginary friend."
-Rich Jeni |
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"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -Voltaire |
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"The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."
-Bertrand Russell |
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"Organized Religion is like Organized Crime; it preys on peoples’ weakness, generates huge profits for its operators, and is almost impossible to eradicate."
-Mike Hermann |
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"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
-Blaise Pascal |
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"You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."
-Anne Lamott |
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"The Bible is not my Book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma."
-Abraham Lincoln, who praised the Bible elsewhere. I'm not sure what to make of him. |
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"The very concept of sin comes from the bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?"
-Dan Barker |
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"Not thinking critically, I assumed that the successful prayers were proof that God answers prayer while the failures were proof that there was something wrong with me."
-Dan Barker |
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"To think that the ruler of the universe will run to my assistance and bend the laws of nature for me is the height of arrogance. That implies that everyone else (such as the opposing football team, driver, student, parent) is de-selected, unfavored by God, and that I am special, above it all."
-Dan Barker |
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"Once we can look at religion objectively and impartially, it becomes entirely obvious that religion has all the characteristics of a form of insanity. To one degree or another the religious mind must accept, and believe in, another world; a supernatural or unnatural world, a world filled with all sorts of imaginary beings called gods, devils, angels, saints, demons, etc. These imaginary creatures are talked to, asked for favors, guidance, "signs", or miracles, and then blamed or thanked for natural events that follow. Except for the cloak of religion, such beliefs and actions would otherwise cause an individual to be judged insane, and committed to an institution for treatment."
-Emmet F. Fields |
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"Real religion should be something that liberates men. But churches don’t want free men who can think for themself and find their own divinity within. When a religion becomes organized it is no longer a religious experience but only superstition and estrangement."
-Federico Fellini, c.1981 60 Minutes intterview by Harry Reasoner |
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"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."
-Susan B. Anthony |
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"Over the years I realized the god I prayed to was the god I invented. When I was talking to him, I was talking to myself. He had no understanding or qualities that I did not have. When I realized god was an extension of my imagination, I stopped praying to him."
-Howard Kreisner, host of The American Atheist Hour |
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"Fundamentalism isn’t about religion, it’s about power."
-Salman Rushdie |
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"You will notice that in all disputes between Christians since the birth of the Church, Rome has always favored the doctrine which most completely subjugated the human mind and annihilated reason."
-Voltaire |
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"The main doctrine of a fanatic’s creed is that his enemies are the enemies of God."
-Andrew White |
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"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
-George Bush Sr. |
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"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."
-Pat Robertson Consider in light of George Bush's quote (above). |
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"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."
-Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Resscue |
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"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith . . . we need believing people."
-Adolf Hitler, who at least began as a ddevout Roman Catholic |
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"Whatever there is of God and goodness in the universe, it must work itself out and express itself through us. We cannot stand aside and let God do it."
-Albert Einstein |
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"Where principles and heart stand in conflict with each other, let us make the law of the spirit free from the law of principles."
-Albert Schweitzer |
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"Preservation of life is the only true joy."
-Albert Schweitzer |
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"The great enemy of morality is indifference."
-Albert Schweitzer |
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"Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise--why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool--why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes."
-Ecclesiastes 7:16-18 How many times have you heard this one in church? |
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"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away."
-Philip K. Dick |
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"There is perhaps no beguilement more insidious and dangerous than an elaborate and elegant mathematical process built upon unfortified premises."
-Thomas Chamberlain |