“The skeptic has no illusions about life, nor a vain belief in the promise of immortality. Since this life here and now is all we can know, our most reasonable option is to live it fully.” KnowsBeliefAtheismPromiseIllusionPositive AtheismThis LifeVainImmortalityReasonableHere And NowSkeptic Book:The Transcendental Temptation: A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal Source: The Transcendental Temptation: A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal
“As Stephen Jay Gould pointed out in Time, in no other Western country is the teaching of Evolution regarded as controversial. Throughout the world, one way or another, most Christian denominations have managed to reconcile belief in God with belief in the mechanisms of natural selection. A French or German or Scandinavian politician who called for students to entertain as a reasonable deduction from existing evidence the proposition that Earth is at most 10,000 years old would be bundled off to a mental hospital.” WorldWayYearsCountryWould BeEarthChristianBeliefNaturalAtheismTeachingStudentsEvolutionPoliticianEvidenceWesternPositive AtheismOne WayReasonableHospitalsMechanismPropositionsSelectionControversialReconcileNatural SelectionBelief In GodDeductionsDenominationsScandinaviansChristian DenominationsJay Gould Author:Katha Pollitt
“Harmonizing religion and science makes you seem like an open-minded and reasonable person, while asserting their incompatibility makes enemies and brands you as “militant.” The reason is clear: religion occupies a privileged place in our society. Attacking it is off-limits, although going after other supernatural or paranormal beliefs like ESP, homeopathy, or political worldviews is not. Accommodationism is not meant to defend science, which can stand on its own, but to show that in some way religion can still make credible claims about the world.” WorldWayPersonsStillsReasonShowsSeemsPoliticalBeliefEnemyClearLimitsClaimsBrandsParanormalReasonableOur SocietyPrivilegedScience And ReligionAttackingWorldviewOpen MindedCredibleMilitantHomeopathyIncompatibilityEsp Author:Jerry A. Coyne
“I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, aplant, an inanimate object, indeed lost to us until the day, which for some never arrives, when we find that we pass near the tree, or come to possess the object which is their prison. Then they quiver, call us, and as soon as we have recognized them, the spell is broken. Freed by us, they have vanquished death and return to live with us.” SoulDeathBeliefLostAnimalTreeObjectsBrokenReturnPrisonReasonableSpellsTrappedInferiorsDepartedCelticQuiverInanimate Objects Author:Marcel Proust
“A picnic may well be a metaphor for life. The essentials for happiness are the right company, moderate if sanguine expectations and a reasonable standard of physical sustenance and comfort, the whole being bedeviled by the belief that there is always something better to be had if only one presses on.” IfsWellsMayWholeBeliefCompanyComfortEssentialsStandardsExpectationsPressesMetaphorReasonableModeratesSomething BetterSustenancePicnicsSanguine Author:P. D. James
“Properly conducted scientific studies . . . give us a pretty good idea of when something is likely to be correct. To me, pretty good is a linguistic statistic that falls somewhere in between more likely than not and beyond a reasonable doubt, et avoides the pitfalls arising from the belief in complete objectivity.” GivingIdeasFallBeliefStudyDoubtHumilityReasonableGood IdeasObjectivityPitfallsReasonable DoubtBeyond A Reasonable Doubt Author:Robert A. Burton
“A lawyer once told a jury that the person his client stood accused of having killed was about to walk through the courtroom door. When the jurors looked startled, the lawyer asserted that if those jurors had wondered, even for one second that the victim might appear, that belief constituted enough reasonable doubt for them to find his client innocent.” IfsPersonsEnoughMightLawBeliefWalksDoubtDoorsVictimLawyerInnocentReasonableClientsAccusedJuryCourtroomJurorsReasonable Doubt Author:John Adams
“Faith means intense, usually confident, belief that is not based on evidence sufficient to command assent from every reasonable person.” MeanPersonsReligionBeliefEvidenceIntenseCommandSufficientReasonable Author:Walter Kaufmann