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Quote by Christopher Hitchens

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Christopher Hitchens
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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“Religion comes from the period of human prehistory where nobody - not even the mighty Democritus who concluded that all matter was made from atoms - had the smallest idea of what was going on. It comes from the bawling and fearful infancy of our species, and is a babyish attempt to meet our inescapable demand for knowledge. Today the least educated of my children knows much more about the natural order than any of the founders of religion.”

KnowsHumansChildrenMadeIdeasMatterTodayReligionOrderNaturalPeriodsDemandSpeciesEducatedMy ChildrenAtomsFearfulSmallestFoundersInfancyNatural OrderGod Is Not GreatPrehistorySubtle AtheistInfancy Is
Book:Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume
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“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.”

MenLongArtBookPainReligionOrderReligiousAliveHolyEuropeInstrumentsDetailsGuidesDevicesMuseumsInstructionMedievalHeresyHollandDetectionHoly ManTuscanyReligious BooksMedieval Europe
Book:Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume
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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.”

ThinkingWantFeelsMotivationalEarthPainJoyCertainReligionSongHellMysterySadnessAtheismLonelinessPositionAnd LoveAtheistGet UpParadiseMortalityDreadCreedsInsecureLeaving MeThere Is No GodCognitiveSirensTheistDissonanceThere Being No GodCognitive DissonanceSubtle AtheistSiren Song
Book:The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
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“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.”

HumansMadeUsedReligionPrayerSacrificeIgnoranceMiracleDown AndSpeciesJewUselessExplanationWitchEpisodesBurnedCalamityEpidemicsHereticHuntedScapegoatCulprit
Book:The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
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“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.”

HumansSelfReligionIndividualResultsCasesInstrumentsTerrorSurrenderCrushSelf RespectFormulasEntityAutonomyEliminationIndividual Autonomy
Book:The Passionate State of Mind
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“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.”

MenSelfMatterReligionHateCausesSidesChurchReligiousAnimalSourceHolyCreaturesRejectionEtcDespiseDedicationConfinedPreoccupationAccessoriesMalady
Book:The Passionate State of Mind
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