“Consider, I pray, whether you are not renouncing all shame and sincerity to advance such principles. Because a comet appears in a group of stars which the ancients thought fit to call the Virgin, therefore, shall our women be barren, or have frequent miscarriages, or die old maids. I know of nothing which hangs so ill together! To offer such things in seriousness, shows the greatest contempt of mankind, and the most scandalous lying impunity.” KnowsShowsTogetherLyingDiesStarsPrinciplesGroupsAtheismMankindPrayingFitOffersShameIllPositive AtheismContemptSincerityVirginsI PraySeriousnessMaidsBarrenImpunityCometsScandalousMiscarriageOld Maids Author:Pierre Bayle
“Has it ever occurred to you how lucky you are to be alive? More than 99 percent of all the creatures that have ever lived have died without progeny, but not a single one of your ancestors falls into that group! ... Not a single one of your ancestors, all the way back to the bacteria, succumbed to predation before reproducing, or lost out in the competition for a mate.” WayFallLostAliveGroupsAtheismLuckyCreaturesPercentDiedCompetitionPositive AtheismMatesAncestorBacteriaLucky YouProgenyReproducing Author:Daniel Dennett
“But the United States is neither a Christian nation nor the exclusive home of any particular religious group. Non-Christians are not guests. We are as much hosts as any Mayflower-descendant Protestant. It is our home as well as theirs. And in a home with so many owners, there can be no official sectarian prayer. That is what the First Amendment is all about, and the first act by the new administration was in defiance of our Constitution.” FirstsWellsStatesHomeChristianNationsReligiousPrayerUnitedUnited StatesGroupsAtheismParticularConstitutionPositive AtheismAdministrationOfficialsOwnersHostGuestsAmendmentsExclusiveFirst AmendmentDefianceProtestantsDescendantsChristian NationMayflower Author:Alan Dershowitz
“Zealous groups threaten to infringe civil liberties when they seek government support to impose their own religious views on nonadherents. This has taken many forms, including attempts to introduce organized prayer in public schools, to outlaw birth control and abortion, and to use public tax revenues to finance religious schools.” UseGovernmentSchoolFormReligiousPrayerViewsLibertySupportTakenGroupsAtheismBirthTaxesIncludingPositive AtheismFinanceOrganizedAbortionIntroducingRevenuePublic SchoolCivil LibertiesBirth ControlOutlawZealousReligious Views Author:Norman Dorsen
“I myself am not comfortable with the notion of secularists congregating in groups, except perhaps for defensive purposes: the last thing a secularist should wish to do is to act like a religion, with its rigid hierarchies, its suppression of divergent opinion, and, above all, its ruthless attempts (now mercifully inhibited by laws) to outlaw "heresy" by brute force. Opinions must be changed, one at a time if necessary, but if there are those who wish to persist in religious belief, they should certainly be allowed to do so.” IfsShouldLastsLawPurposeBeliefForceWishReligiousOpinionGroupsAtheismChangedComfortableNotionPositive AtheismPersistHierarchyRuthlessBrutesHeresyReligious BeliefDivergentSuppressionOutlawBrute Force Author:S. T. Joshi
“An ideology can be defined as a group of beliefs that individuals borrow; most people borrow an ideology by identifying with a social group ... with a body of sacred documents and heroes.” PeopleBodyIndividualBeliefSocialGroupsAtheismHeroSacredPositive AtheismIdeologyDefinedDocumentsIdentifyingSocial Groups Author:Robert E Lane
“I am truly amazed that after all this time, religious groups still need to attack entertainment and use these tragedies as a pitiful excuse for their own self-serving publicity. In response to their protests, I will provide a show where I balance my songs with a wholesome Bible reading. This way, fans will not only hear my so-called, violent point of view, but we can also examine the virtues of wonderful 'Christian' stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice. Now that seems like 'entertainment' to me.” WayNeedsChildrenStillsSelfStoriesUseShowsSeemsChristianSongReadingReligiousViewsVirtueWonderfulSacrificeGroupsAtheismFansBalanceDiseaseTragedyMurderSuicideResponseEntertainmentExcusePositive AtheismPoint Of ViewViolentProtestServingAmazedAdulteryPublicityPitifulSelf ServingBible Reading Author:Marilyn Manson
“It is evident, indeed, that such a doctrine, taken by itself in a literal manner, had no future. The world, in continuing to exist, caused it to crumble. One generation of man at the most was the limit of its endurance. The faith of the first Christian generation is intelligible, but the faith of the second generation is no longer so. After the death of John, or of the last survivor, whoever he might be, of the group which had seen the master, the word of Jesus was convicted of falsehood.” MenWorldFirstsMightChristianLastsJesusTakenGenerationsGroupsAtheismMastersLimitsPositive AtheismDoctrineEnduranceSurvivorFalsehoodContinuingEvidentLiteral Book:The Life of Jesus: Works of Renan Source: The Life of Jesus: Works of Renan
“The kind of propaganda that some of the religious groups, aided and abetted by the opposition, put forth in that campaign utterly disgusted me. If I needed anything to show me what prejudice can do to the intelligence of human beings that campaign was the best lesson I could have had.” IfsHumansKindShowsCan DoReligiousHuman BeingsGroupsAtheismNeededLessonsPrejudiceCampaignsPropagandaOppositionShow MeDisgusted Book:The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt Source: The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
“As [The Nation columnist Katha] Pollitt points out, when one starts looking beneath the surface of things and adding together the out-front atheists with the indifferent nonbelievers, you end up with a much larger group of people than Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Unitarians put together.” PeopleEndsTogetherNationsGroupsAtheismFrontsAtheistJewPositive AtheismSurfaceBuddhistIndifferentColumnistsBeneath The SurfaceUnitarian Author:Natalie Angier
“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.” WorldBelieveImportantBookPrayerSinSpaceLeaderMoralGroupsAtheismDivineHolyJudgmentWorshipAbsolutesSacredDon't BelieveAtheistPrivilegeMythCodeRitualAfterlifeCreedsProphecyForbiddenOrthodoxyTranscendentShrinesMoral CodeHoly BooksSacred Space Author:Dan Barker
“The truth is that family values, as used by the American Family Association, Dan Quayle, and the southern Baptists, has nothing to do with either family or values, nor does it really have anything to do with homosexuals, abortionists, or pornographers. Those groups actually only serve as windmills to tilt at. The true agenda is power - power over the intellectually weak, emotionally immature, and ethically deficient Americans who are incapable of critical thinking and independent decision-making, and who are easily manipulated by the basest of human emotions - fear and the desire for revenge.” ThinkingHumansDoeUsedDesireValuesDecisionEmotionGroupsAtheismTruth IsWeakIndependentCriticalPositive AtheismRevengeAgendasDecision MakingSouthernAssociationIncapableHomosexualCritical ThinkingBaptistsImmatureFamily ValuesHuman EmotionsAmerican FamilyTiltWindmillsSouthern Baptist Author:Morris Sullivan
“Christian churches and Muslim groups have no more right to have their say than women's institutes or trades unions. The government has actively encouraged faith-based education, and therefore given a megaphone to religious voices and fundamentalists.” GovernmentChristianGivenVoiceChurchReligiousGroupsAtheismTradeUnionsInstituteChristian ChurchTrade UnionsFaith BasedInstitutes Author:A.C. Grayling
“Intelligent Design has been hijacked by a narrow group of creationist fundamentalists in America to mean something it didn't originally mean at all. It's another form of the God of the gaps. It's bad theology in that it turns God once again into the pagan god of thunder and lightning.” MeanHas BeensAmericaFormTurnsGroupsAtheismDesignIntelligentTheologyGapsLightningThunderPaganIntelligent DesignThunder And LightningCreationistPagan Gods Author:Guy Consolmagno