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Dan Barker

Dan Barker Quotes

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Famous Dan Barker Quotes

“The next time believers tell you that 'separation of church and state' does not appear in our founding document, tell them to stop using the word 'trinity.' The word 'trinity' appears nowhere in the bible. Neither does Rapture, or Second Coming, or Original Sin. If they are still unfazed (or unphrased), by this, then add Omniscience, Omnipresence, Supernatural,Transcendence, Afterlife, Deity, Divinity, Theology, Monotheism, Missionary, Immaculate Conception, Christmas, Christianity, Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Methodist, Catholic, Pope, Cardinal, Catechism, Purgatory, Penance, Transubstantiation, Excommunication, Dogma, Chastity, Unpardonable Sin, Infallibility, Inerrancy, Incarnation, Epiphany, Sermon, Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer, Good Friday, Doubting Thomas, Advent, Sunday School, Dead Sea, Golden Rule, Moral, Morality, Ethics, Patriotism, Education, Atheism, Apostasy, Conservative (Liberal is in), Capital Punishment, Monogamy, Abortion, Pornography, Homosexual, Lesbian, Fairness, Logic, Republic, Democracy, Capitalism, Funeral, Decalogue, or Bible.”

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Book:Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
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“It is wrong for a secular government to promote prayer. We think the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. What if the president declared a National Day of Cursing God because He failed us on September 11? Americans would say, "You've overstepped your authority." That's how we feel when he promotes prayer.”

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Author:Dan Barker
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“Even if it is true that all cultures share a common morality, why does this prove a supreme intelligence? After all, don't we humanists sometimes claim that there is a common thread of humanistic values running through history across cultural and religious lines?”

IfsDoeSometimesRunningReligionValuesCultureReligiousLinesCommonShareMoralityProveClaimsSupremeThreadHumanisticCommon Threads
Book:Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
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“Isn't atheism just another religion?' No, it isn't. Atheism has no creeds, rituals, holy book, absolute moral code, origin myth, sacred spaces or shrines. It has no sin, divine judgment, forbidden words, prayer, worship, prophecy, group privileges, or anointed 'holy' leaders. Atheists don't believe in a transcendent world or supernatural afterlife. Most important, there is no orthodoxy in atheism.”

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Author:Dan Barker
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“Either in or out of time, the decision of a personal agency to commit an action happens antecedent to the action itself. Even if the deciding and the acting happened simultaneously, it would still not be true that the acting was antecedent to the deciding. Imagine God saying, "Oh, look! I just created a universe. Now I'd better decide to do it.”

IfsLooksStillsHappensActionUniverseDecisionActingImagineHappenedCommitBeing TrueAgency
Book:Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
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“I have something to say to the religionist who feels atheists never say anything positive: You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil—you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself.”

WorldFeelsMindHumansHelpingLife IsJoyPurposeReligionUniverseEvilHuman BeingsClassAtheismMoralityIntelligentSakeAtheistValuableRationalSay AnythingTrust YourselfPossessingPeace And Joy
Book:Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
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“I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being.”

PeopleLoveHumansI CanSelfReasonGodChristianReligionSufferingGivenHuman BeingsLove IsCompassionChristianityKindnessBloodSonHealthyEgoAuthorityEternalRespectHatredMurderRewardsBillionsPunishmentVanityDenialObedienceTortureAdmirationConformitySubmissionOffendedWrathLove And RespectKindness And CompassionTrue Love IsYour SonUnafraidCounterfeitFreedom Of ReligionSelf-denialChristian LoveAppeaseOffendingDisobeying
Book:Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
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“People are invariably surprised to hear me say I am both an atheist and an agnostic, as if this somehow weakens my certainty. I usually reply with a question like, “Well, are you a Republican or an American?” The two words serve different concepts and are not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism addresses knowledge; atheism addresses belief. The agnostic says, “I don't have a knowledge that God exists.” The atheist says, “I don't have a belief that God exists.” You can say both things at the same time. Some agnostics are atheistic and some are theistic.”

PeopleIfsWellsTwoDifferentBeliefAtheismRepublicanConceptsAtheistCertaintyAddressesAgnosticExclusiveAgnosticismAtheisticGod Exists
Book:Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
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“Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being.”

LoveHumansDreamGivenHuman BeingsLove IsCompassionKindnessLove YouHealthyAuthorityRewardsPunishmentObedienceAdmirationConformitySubmissionKindness And CompassionTrue Love IsUnafraidCounterfeitAppease
Book:Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
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“Some theists, observing that all 'effects' need a cause, assert that God is a cause but not an effect. But no one has ever observed an uncaused cause and simply inventing one merely assumes what the argument wishes to prove.”

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Book:Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
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“There is not a single contemporary historical mention of Jesus, not by Romans or by Jews, not by believers or by unbelievers, during his entire lifetime. This does not disprove his existence, but it certainly casts great doubt on the historicity of a man who was supposedly widely known to have made a great impact on the world. Someone should have noticed.”

MenWorldShouldDoeMadeReligionJesusExistenceKnownDoubtAtheismShould HaveImpactHistoricalLifetimeCastsJewBelieverContemporaryUnbelieversImpact On The World
Book:Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
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“There is no evidence for a god, no coherent definition of a god, no good argument for a god, good positive arguments against a god, no agreement among believers about the nature or moral principles of a god, and no need for a god. We can live happy, moral, productive lives without such belief, and we can do it better.”

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Author:Dan Barker
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“It is a fact of history and of current events that human beings exaggerate, misinterpret, or wrongly remember events. They have also fabricated pious fraud. Most believers in a religion understand this when examining the claims of other religions.”

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Book:Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
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“Freethinkers reject faith as a valid tool of knowledge. Faith is the opposite of reason because reason imposes very strict limits on what can be true, and faith has no limits at all. A Great Escape into faith is no retreat to safety. It is nothing less than surrender.”

ReasonFearAtheismLimitsToolsOppositesSafetyRageSurrenderBeing TrueRejectsStrictRetreatFreethinkerGreat Escape
Book:Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
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