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Quote by Christopher Hitchens

“The museums of medieval Europe, from Holland to Tuscany, are crammed with instruments and devices upon which the holy men labored devoutly, in order to see how long they could keep someone alive while being roasted. It is not needful to go into further details, but there were also religious books of instruction in this art, and guides for the detection of heresy by pain.”

Quote by Christopher Hitchens

Book:Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume

Work

Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume

In Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume, readers are treated to a curated selection of Hitch's most celebrated works. The collection showcases the author's ability to craft compelling narratives that explore complex human emotions and moral dilemmas. Each story within the volume is a testament to Hitch's skillful prose and engaging storytelling. more

Author

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens was an English-American author, journalist, and social critic. He was known for his sharp wit and controversial views, particularly on religion and politics. Hitchens was a prominent figure in the public discourse of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. more

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“The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.”

Source: The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever

“The pre-history of our species is hag-ridden with episodes of nightmarish ignorance and calamity, for which religion used to identify, not just the wrong explanation, but the wrong culprit. Human sacrifices were made preeminently in times of epidemics, useless prayers were uttered, bogus miracles attested to, and scapegoats - such as Jews or heretics or witches - hunted down and burned.”

Source: The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever

“Both Faith and Terror are instruments for the elimination of individual self-respect. Terror crushes the autonomy of self-respect, where Faith obtains its more or less voluntary surrender. In both cases, the result of the elimination of individual autonomy is - automatism. Both Faith and Terror reduce the human entity to a formula that can be manipulated at will.”

Humans Self Religion Individual Results Cases Instruments Terror Surrender Crush Self Respect Formulas Entity Autonomy Elimination Individual Autonomy

Book:The Passionate State of Mind

Source: The Passionate State of Mind

“Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in the self, or rather the rejection of the self. Dedication in the obverse side of self-rejection. Man alone is a religious animal because, as Montaigne points out, it is a malady confined to man, and not seen in any other creature, to hate and despise ourselves.”

Men Self Matter Religion Hate Causes Sides Church Religious Animal Source Holy Creatures Rejection Etc Despise Dedication Confined Preoccupation Accessories Malady

Book:The Passionate State of Mind

Source: The Passionate State of Mind

“Those who are in love with the present can be cruel and corrupt but not genuinely vicious. They cannot be methodically and consistently ruthless.”

Religion Consistently Vicious Ruthless

Book:The Passionate State of Mind

Source: The Passionate State of Mind

“To be ruthless requires belief that our life on earth is but a brief prelude to an afterlife, or a temporary sacrifice before some utopia can be instituted. Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.”

Needs Earth Moving Religion Belief Our Lives Sacrifice Skills Mountain Temporary Afterlife Utopia Ruthless Move Mountains Prelude Technical Skills

Author:Eric Hoffer

“If experience be consulted, it will be found there is no action, however abominable, that has not received the applause of some people. Parricide - the sacrifice of children - robbery - usurpation - cruelty - intolerance - prostitution, have all in their turn been licensed actions, and have been deemed laudable and meritorious deeds with some nations of the earth. Above all, Religion has consecrated the most unreasonable, the most revolting customs.”

People Ifs Children Has Beens Action Earth Religion Turns Found Nations Sacrifice Deeds Cruelty Customs Intolerance Applause Prostitution Unreasonable Robbery Usurpation

Author:Baron d'Holbach

“If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them.”

Ifs Science Religion Knowledge Atheism Ignorance Birth Atheist Atheistic Theism Theist Ignorance And Fear

Author:Baron d'Holbach

“If we go back to the beginnings of things, we shall always find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that imagination, rapture and deception embellished them; that weakness worships them; that custom spares them; and that tyranny favors them in order to profit from the blindness of men.”

Ifs Men Religion Order Imagination Ignorance Worship Weakness Atheist Profit Favors Tyranny Deception Customs Spares Blindness Rapture Ignorance And Fear

Author:Baron d'Holbach

“In Nature nothing; is mean or contemptible, and it is only pride, originating in a false idea of our superiority, which causes our contempt for some of her productions. In the eyes of Nature, however, the oyster that vegetates at the bottom of the sea is as dear and perfect as the proud biped who devours it.”

Mean Ideas Eye Religion Causes Perfect Sea Pride Proud Bottom Dear Productions Contempt Superiority Oysters

Author:Baron d'Holbach