“Look, I don't know whether God exists. I don't know that. And I tell you one thing, I am not frightened of my beliefs. If there is a God who is threatening me with damnation because I don't believe in Him, so be it. I've lived my life in conscience, and I will suffer damnation willingly in conscience against a tyrannical God who would damn me because, on the basis of the intelligence He gave me, I have come to a conclusion doubting His existence, and I will continue to be a skeptic all of my life.” IfsKnowsBelieveLooksSufferingBeliefExistenceDoubtOne ThingConscienceBasesDon't BelieveConclusionDamnFrightenedThreateningSkepticDamnationGod ExistsIf There Is A GodWhether God Exists Author:Alan Dershowitz
“I have done much reporting in what might be termed the religious field. I have interviewed dozens of people-maybe hundreds-asking questions about their beliefs. Some impressed me more than others, but it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the gift of faith (and I think it is a gift) is the most valuable one of all. People who have it are stronger-and kinder-and more unselfish-and happier. It's as simple (and as mysterious) as that.” PeopleThinkingDoneMightFaithBeliefReligiousSimpleImpossibleFieldsStrongerAskingValuableConclusionMysteriousDozenImpressedAsking QuestionsUnselfishKinder Author:Arthur Gordon Webster
“It is commonly said that if rational argument is so seldom the cause of conviction, philosophical apologists must largely be wasting their shot. The premise is true, but the conclusion does not follow. For though argument does not create conviction, the lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.” IfsMayDoeSaidShowsSeemsBeliefCausesAbilityShotsArgumentPhilosophicalClimateConvictionRationalConclusionAbandonedPremises Author:Austin Farrer
“The people, the ultimate governors, must have absolute freedom of, and therefore privacy of, their individual opinions and beliefs regardless of how suspect or strange they may appear to others. Ancillary to that principle is the conclusion that an individual must also have absolute privacy over whatever information he may generate in the course of testing his opinions and beliefs.” PeopleMayCoursesIndividualBeliefOpinionPrinciplesInformationStrangeUltimateAbsolutesConclusionPrivacySuspectsGovernorsFreedom Of SpeechTestingAbsolute FreedomOpinions And Beliefs Author:William O. Douglas
“Something is amiss, deeply wrong, something is deeply wrong with the way we're living our lives collectively, with the way we are creating our collective experience on earth. And we are coming to the conclusion that the problem after all is not political, that the problem after all is not economic, that the problem after all cannot be solved with bombs or missiles or bullets, but that the problem in fact is spiritual, that the problem with the world today is as it has always been, a problem of our most basic beliefs. Without a doubt it`s a spiritual awakening and a spiritual revolution.” WorldWayFactsProblemTodayEarthSpiritualPoliticalBeliefDoubtOur LivesEconomicRevolutionCreatingAwakeningConclusionBombsCollectivesBulletsWorld TodaySpiritual AwakeningMissiles Author:Neale Donald Walsch
“What makes a free thinker is not his beliefs, but the way in which he holds them. If he holds them because his elders told him they were true when he was young, or if he holds them because if he did not he would be unhappy, his thought is not free; but if he holds them because, after careful thought, he finds a balance in their favor, then his thought is free, however odd his conclusions may seem.” IfsWayMaySeemsWould BeYoungBeliefAtheismBalanceCarefulPositive AtheismFavorsUnhappyConclusionOddThinkerEldersFree Thinkers Book:The Value of Free Thought: How to Become a Truth-seeker and Break the Chains of Mental Slavery Source: The Value of Free Thought: How to Become a Truth-seeker and Break the Chains of Mental Slavery
“The a priori method is distinguished for its comfortable conclusions. It is the nature of the process to adopt whatever belief weare inclined to, and there are certain flatteries to the vanity of man which we all believe by nature, until we are awakened from our pleasing dream by rough facts.” MenBelieveFactsDreamCertainBeliefProcessComfortableMethodConclusionVanityRoughFlatteryDistinguishedAwakened Author:Charles Sanders Peirce
“Retaining our capacity for reason is common sense, but definite conclusions and beliefs keep us from seeing life as it really is at any given moment.” ReasonMomentsBeliefGivenCommonSeeingCapacityCommon SenseConclusionDefiniteRetaining Author:H. E Davey
“Dilbert: Evolution must be true because it is a logical conclusion of the scientific method. Dogbert: But science is based on the irrational belief that because we cannot perceive reality all at once, things called time and cause and effect exist. Dilbert: That's what I was taught and that's what I believe. Dogbert: Sounds cultish.” BelieveRealityScienceBeliefI BelieveCausesSoundEffectsTaughtEvolutionAccountsMethodConclusionBeing TruePerceiveLogicalIrrationalCause And EffectScientific MethodDilbertIrrational Beliefs Author:Scott Adams