“The explanation of types of structure in classes - as resulting from the will of the Deity, to create animals on certain plans - is no explanation. It has not the character of a physical law and is therefore utterly useless. It foretells nothing because we know nothing of the will of the Deity, how it acts and whether constant or inconstant like that of man.” KnowsMenCharacterLawCertainAnimalClassPlansTypeStructureConstantUselessExplanationDeities Author:Charles Darwin
“Modern transcendental idealism, Emersonianism, for instance, also seems to let God evaporate into abstract Ideality. Not a deity in concreto, not a superhuman person, but the immanent divinity in things, the essentially spiritual structure of the universe, is the object of the transcendentalist cult. In that address of the graduating class at Divinity College in 1838 which made Emerson famous, the frank expression of this worship of mere abstract laws was what made the scandal of the performance.” PersonsMadeSeemsSpiritualLawUniverseClassModernObjectsCollegeExpressionLetting GoWorshipPerformancesStructureMereInstanceAbstractDivinityAddressesGraduatesFrankIdealismCultScandalDeitiesTranscendentalSuperhumanGraduating Class Author:William James
“But we're not God. We're humans, and at the end of the day we have to march to the beat of a certain kind of drum. And if you step outside too far into thinking you're some sort of deity that can transcend law and order, then you've crossed a line.” IfsThinkingHumansKindEndsLawCertainOrderLinesStepsBeatsThe End Of The DayMarchDeitiesLaw And OrderAnd At The End Of The Day Author:Ronald Perelman
“It has been handed down in mythical form from earliest times to posterity, that there are gods, and that the divine (Deity) compasses all nature. All beside this has been added, after the mythical style, for the purpose of persuading the multitude, and for the interests of the laws, and the advantage of the state.” Has BeensStatesFormLawPurposeInterestStyleDivineAdvantageMultitudesCompassDeitiesPosterityPersuading Author:Aristotle
“Some of the old laws of Israel are clearly savage taboos of a familiar type thinly disguised as commands of the Deity.” LawAtheismTypeIsraelPositive AtheismFamiliarCommandSavagesDeitiesTaboo Author:James G. Frazer