"It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science." - Darwin

"If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities." - Voltaire

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism." - Albert Einstein

"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." - Nietzsche

"I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul.... No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life, our desire to go on living, our dread of coming to an end." - Thomas Edison

"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma." - Abraham Lincoln

"Religion is a byproduct of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?" - Arthur C. Clarke

"Religions are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies." -Thomas Jefferson

"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile." - Kurt Vonnegut

"Religion is based . . . mainly on 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

Voltaire's statement shows how it is dangerous to make decisions based on the slogan "In God we trust".

Love these! Sharing with dh. We just had a long philosophical discussion today on whether it was ok to believe in myths/religion/dogma if they gave the believer comfort, and as long as the beliefs were harmless.

We concluded no, it wasn't ok, because for one it gave the person perpetuating these beliefs power over you (if you believe whatever he tells you, what's to keep him from feeding you even more bs, esp. if he stands to gain) and two, it makes you more gullible. If you're willing to forego critical thinking and logic in exchange for comforting fairy tales, you're worse off.

"You know you just gotaa keep on keepin on. Life's a garden Sig it" Joe Dirt

Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool.

"I don't object to the concept of a deity but I'm baffled by the notion of one that takes attendance."

Amy Ferah Fowler