A
"From the point of view of a tapeworm, man was created by God to serve the appetite of the tapeworm." - Edward Abbey
"Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God; this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues." - Edward Abbey
“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?” - Douglas Adams
"The Government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian religion." - John Adams
"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religions in it." - John Adams
"Only those in fear of losing god defend his existence so fervently." - Adomiram
"I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say that one is an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or agnostic. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect that he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time." -Isaac Asimov
"Creationists make it sound like a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night." -Isaac Asimov
B
"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it." - Ambrose Bierce
"Why do people trust in god? Because it's easier to follow a leader, even an imaginary one, than to be responsible for yourself." - Blulu
"Most religions prophecy the end of the world and then consistently work together to ensure that these prophecies come true." - Blulu
"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress. No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever." - Daniel Boorstin
"You are about as likely to go to heaven, as I am to go to hell." - David Brenneman
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy." - David Brooks
"If Jesus had been killed 20 years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little Electric Chairs around their necks instead of crosses." - Lenny Bruce
"Life is a vacation from two eternities, who wants to waste those precious years worrying about what happens when you get back to forever?" - William Burroughs
"Why do people trust in god? Because it's easier to follow a leader, even an imaginary one, than to be responsible for yourself." - Blulu
"Most religions prophecy the end of the world and then consistently work together to ensure that these prophecies come true." - Blulu
"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress. No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever." - Daniel Boorstin
"You are about as likely to go to heaven, as I am to go to hell." - David Brenneman
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy." - David Brooks
"If Jesus had been killed 20 years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little Electric Chairs around their necks instead of crosses." - Lenny Bruce
"Life is a vacation from two eternities, who wants to waste those precious years worrying about what happens when you get back to forever?" - William Burroughs
C
“Atheism is a non-prophet organization” - George Carlin
"Christians worship a dead Jew on a stick." - George Carlin
"I've begun worshipping the Sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the Sun. It's there for me every day. And the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, a lovely day. There's no mystery, no one asks for money, I don't have to dress up, and there's no boring pageantry. And interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered to God are all answered at about the same 50-percent rate." -George Carlin
"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! ..But He loves you." - George Carlin
"To live without god beliefs is intellectually stimulating. To find one's own purpose and be responsible for one's own life is exciting. To be free of the imagined surveillance of good and evil spirits is liberating. To seek a peaceful world through work and friendship and civic action is life-affirming." - Marie Alena Castle
"Why would some all powerful being create creatures capable of reason and then demand that they act in a manner contrary to their creation?" - Josh Charles
"How difficult would it be for 11 men to hang a traitor, move a boulder, remove a body, and replace said boulder within a period of three days?" - Cogito
"Remember, Jesus would rather constantly shame gays than let orphans have a family." - Stephen Colbert
On capital punishment: "I'm disappointed that my own Catholic Church has decided that capital punishment is wrong. Which is pretty hypocritical if you think about it, because they wouldn't even have a religion if it wasn't for capital punishment." - Stephen Colbert
"We owe almost all our knowledge, not to those who have agreed, but to those who have differed." - Charles Caleb Colton
"You are a good person because you fear damnation, I'm a good person without obligation." - Guillermo Garcia Cruz
"Christians worship a dead Jew on a stick." - George Carlin
"I've begun worshipping the Sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the Sun. It's there for me every day. And the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, a lovely day. There's no mystery, no one asks for money, I don't have to dress up, and there's no boring pageantry. And interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered to God are all answered at about the same 50-percent rate." -George Carlin
"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! ..But He loves you." - George Carlin
"To live without god beliefs is intellectually stimulating. To find one's own purpose and be responsible for one's own life is exciting. To be free of the imagined surveillance of good and evil spirits is liberating. To seek a peaceful world through work and friendship and civic action is life-affirming." - Marie Alena Castle
"Why would some all powerful being create creatures capable of reason and then demand that they act in a manner contrary to their creation?" - Josh Charles
"How difficult would it be for 11 men to hang a traitor, move a boulder, remove a body, and replace said boulder within a period of three days?" - Cogito
"Remember, Jesus would rather constantly shame gays than let orphans have a family." - Stephen Colbert
On capital punishment: "I'm disappointed that my own Catholic Church has decided that capital punishment is wrong. Which is pretty hypocritical if you think about it, because they wouldn't even have a religion if it wasn't for capital punishment." - Stephen Colbert
"We owe almost all our knowledge, not to those who have agreed, but to those who have differed." - Charles Caleb Colton
"You are a good person because you fear damnation, I'm a good person without obligation." - Guillermo Garcia Cruz
D
"All religious beliefs seem weird to people not brought up in them." - Richard Dawkins
"Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one." - Richard Dawkins
"I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world." - Richard Dawkins
"When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion” - Richard Dawkins
"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." - Richard Dawkins
"Faith is doubt." - Emily Dickinson
"All children are atheists—they have no idea of God." - Baron D'Holbach
"He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that dares not reason is a slave." - William Drummond
"Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one." - Richard Dawkins
"I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world." - Richard Dawkins
"When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion” - Richard Dawkins
"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." - Richard Dawkins
"Faith is doubt." - Emily Dickinson
"All children are atheists—they have no idea of God." - Baron D'Holbach
"He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that dares not reason is a slave." - William Drummond
E
"We don't know one millionth of one percent about anything!" - Thomas Edison
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." - Albert Einstein
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." - Albert Einstein
"Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being." Albert Einstein
"The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a Lunatic Asylum." - Havelock Ellis
"The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"An actually existent fly is more important than a possibly existent angel." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"If I should go out of church whenever I hear a false sentiment, I could never stay there five minutes." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" - Epicurus
"If the gods listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished: for they are always praying for evil against one another." - Epicurus
"Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon." - Susan Ertz
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." - Albert Einstein
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." - Albert Einstein
"Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being." Albert Einstein
"The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a Lunatic Asylum." - Havelock Ellis
"The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"An actually existent fly is more important than a possibly existent angel." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"If I should go out of church whenever I hear a false sentiment, I could never stay there five minutes." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" - Epicurus
"If the gods listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished: for they are always praying for evil against one another." - Epicurus
"Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon." - Susan Ertz
F
"We would be 1,500 years ahead if it hadn't been for the church dragging
science back by its coattails and burning our best minds at the stake." - Catherine Fahringer
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." - Benjamin Franklin
"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." - Benjamin Franklin
"The psychoanalysis of individual human beings, however, teaches us with quite special insistence that the god of each of them is formed in the likeness of his father, that his personal relation to God depends on his relation to his father in the flesh and oscillates and changes along with that relation, and that at bottom God is nothing other than an exalted father." -Sigmund Freud
"When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life." - Sigmund Freud
"I refuse to believe in a god who is the primary cause of conflict in the world, preaches racism, sexism, homophobia, and ignorance, and then sends me to hell if I'm 'bad'." - Mike Fuhrman
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." - Benjamin Franklin
"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." - Benjamin Franklin
"The psychoanalysis of individual human beings, however, teaches us with quite special insistence that the god of each of them is formed in the likeness of his father, that his personal relation to God depends on his relation to his father in the flesh and oscillates and changes along with that relation, and that at bottom God is nothing other than an exalted father." -Sigmund Freud
"When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life." - Sigmund Freud
"I refuse to believe in a god who is the primary cause of conflict in the world, preaches racism, sexism, homophobia, and ignorance, and then sends me to hell if I'm 'bad'." - Mike Fuhrman
G
"I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this
country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I
must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are?
And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their
moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must
endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some
God-granted right to control my every roll call in the Senate. I am
warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try
to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of
'conservatism.'" - Barry Goldwater
"Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and the state forever separated." - Ulysses S. Grant
"There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages." - Ruth Hurmence Green
"Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought." - Graham Greene
"So let me get this straight, the unending, all-powerful force of creation that hand-made the universe funneled himself into the body of a human fetus and then teleported the fetus into the uterus of a married virgin. He then spent 30 years on earth walking around doing basically nothing and then one day rearranged reality to set in motion events that would lead to his own death...effectively committing suicide. He does this because his death will, for some or other reason, clear humanity's sin tally (which he, himself is keeping up in heaven). And then after his plans to get himself killed fall into place, he looks around and asks himself why he has abandoned himself? Is that the basic gist of it?" - Hank Guerin
"Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and the state forever separated." - Ulysses S. Grant
"There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages." - Ruth Hurmence Green
"Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought." - Graham Greene
"So let me get this straight, the unending, all-powerful force of creation that hand-made the universe funneled himself into the body of a human fetus and then teleported the fetus into the uterus of a married virgin. He then spent 30 years on earth walking around doing basically nothing and then one day rearranged reality to set in motion events that would lead to his own death...effectively committing suicide. He does this because his death will, for some or other reason, clear humanity's sin tally (which he, himself is keeping up in heaven). And then after his plans to get himself killed fall into place, he looks around and asks himself why he has abandoned himself? Is that the basic gist of it?" - Hank Guerin
H
"If God created the world, the who created god? and who created whoever
created god? So somewhere along the line something had to just be there.
So why can we just skip god the idea of god and go straight to earth?" - Ryan Hanson
"Every day the voice of atheism grows louder, more confident, backed by ever-increasing evidence, reason and logic. Every day the religious respond by sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting 'La!La!La!La!La!'" - Alan Harvey
"If we are going to teach creation science as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction." - Judith Hayes
"Any religion that makes you eat little pieces of your god is fucked up." - Brian Heberling
"All thinking men are atheists." - Earnest Hemingway
"That which can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." - Christopher Hitchens
"Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power." - Eric Hoffer
"Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise there would be no religious people." - House, M.D.
"There is in every village a torch - the teacher; and an extinguisher- the clergyman." - Victor Hugo
"Every step which the intelligence of Europe has taken has been in spite of the clerical party." - Victor Hugo
"Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous." - David Hume
"Every day the voice of atheism grows louder, more confident, backed by ever-increasing evidence, reason and logic. Every day the religious respond by sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting 'La!La!La!La!La!'" - Alan Harvey
"If we are going to teach creation science as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction." - Judith Hayes
"Any religion that makes you eat little pieces of your god is fucked up." - Brian Heberling
"All thinking men are atheists." - Earnest Hemingway
"That which can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." - Christopher Hitchens
"Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power." - Eric Hoffer
"Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise there would be no religious people." - House, M.D.
"There is in every village a torch - the teacher; and an extinguisher- the clergyman." - Victor Hugo
"Every step which the intelligence of Europe has taken has been in spite of the clerical party." - Victor Hugo
"Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous." - David Hume
I
"Atheists make only a small percentage of the world population and this
proves that the common sense is not so common." - Manulal Inasu
"As people become more intelligent they care less for preaches and more for teachers." - Robert Ingersoll
"The inspiration of the bible depends on the ignorance of the person who reads it." - Robert Ingersoll
"With soap, baptism is a good thing." - Robert Ingersoll
"As people become more intelligent they care less for preaches and more for teachers." - Robert Ingersoll
"The inspiration of the bible depends on the ignorance of the person who reads it." - Robert Ingersoll
"With soap, baptism is a good thing." - Robert Ingersoll
J
"Question with boldness even
the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of
the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." - Thomas Jefferson
""The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." - Thomas Jefferson
"It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong." - Thomas Jefferson
"But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." - Thomas Jefferson
"Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have." - Penn Jillette
""The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." - Thomas Jefferson
"It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong." - Thomas Jefferson
"But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." - Thomas Jefferson
"Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have." - Penn Jillette
K
"As stated many times: "Those whom have faith are happier then those
without." Of course this is true! Have you never heard..." ignorance
is bliss?" - Patrick Timothy Kirk
"I just talked to god and he says he’s a gay pro-abortion Atheist! Now, prove that statement false." - Baron von Knifty
"If money could be made in not believing in god, you’d see millions and millions of born-again atheists." - Baron von Knifty
"The beginning of wisdom is the awareness that there is insufficient evidence that a god or gods have created us and the recognition that we are responsible in part for our own destiny." - Paul Kurtz
"Human life has no meaning independent of itself.... The meaning of life is what we choose to give it." - Paul Kurtz
"I just talked to god and he says he’s a gay pro-abortion Atheist! Now, prove that statement false." - Baron von Knifty
"If money could be made in not believing in god, you’d see millions and millions of born-again atheists." - Baron von Knifty
"The beginning of wisdom is the awareness that there is insufficient evidence that a god or gods have created us and the recognition that we are responsible in part for our own destiny." - Paul Kurtz
"Human life has no meaning independent of itself.... The meaning of life is what we choose to give it." - Paul Kurtz
L
"The Bible is not my book nor
Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long,
complicated statements of Christian dogma." - Abraham Lincoln
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln
M
"The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church." - Ferdinand Magellan
"If you believe that the world is going to come to an end - and perhaps any day now - does it not drain one's motivation to improve life on earth while we're here?" -Bill Maher
"The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world could actually come to an end. The plain fact is religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people - by irrationalists - by those who would steer the ship of state, not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken. George Bush prayed a lot about Iraq, but he didn't learn a lot about it. Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It's nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith, and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction. Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings who don't have all the answers to think that they do. Most people would think it's wonderful when someone says, 'I'm willing, Lord! I'll do whatever you want me to do!' Except that since there are no gods actually talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions and limitations and agendas. And anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die, I promise you, you don't. How can I be so sure? Because I don't know, and you do not possess mental powers that I do not. The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble, and that's what man needs to be, considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong. This is why rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you actually comes at a terrible price. If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you'd resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife, for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers. If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future, decimated by the effects of religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let's remember what the real problem was that we learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it. That's it. Grow up or die." -Bill Maher
"Religion is the opiate of the masses." - Karl Marx
"To say that atheism requires faith is as dim-witted as saying that disbelief in pixies or leprechauns takes faith. Even if Einstein himself told me there was an elf on my shoulder, I would still ask for proof and I wouldn't be wrong to ask." - Geoff Mather
"In church, sacred music would make believers of us all— but preachers can be counted on to restore the balance." - Mignon McLaughlin
"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart." - H. L. Mencken
"Religious hatreds ought not be propagated at all, but certainly not on a tax-exempt basis." - James Michener
“In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners.” - Jonathon Miller
"Jesus' last words on the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" hardly seem like the words of a man who planned it that way. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure there is something wrong here." - Donald Morgan
"Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat." - John Morley
"If you believe that the world is going to come to an end - and perhaps any day now - does it not drain one's motivation to improve life on earth while we're here?" -Bill Maher
"The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world could actually come to an end. The plain fact is religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people - by irrationalists - by those who would steer the ship of state, not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken. George Bush prayed a lot about Iraq, but he didn't learn a lot about it. Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It's nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith, and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction. Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings who don't have all the answers to think that they do. Most people would think it's wonderful when someone says, 'I'm willing, Lord! I'll do whatever you want me to do!' Except that since there are no gods actually talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions and limitations and agendas. And anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die, I promise you, you don't. How can I be so sure? Because I don't know, and you do not possess mental powers that I do not. The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble, and that's what man needs to be, considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong. This is why rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you actually comes at a terrible price. If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you'd resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife, for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers. If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future, decimated by the effects of religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let's remember what the real problem was that we learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it. That's it. Grow up or die." -Bill Maher
"Religion is the opiate of the masses." - Karl Marx
"To say that atheism requires faith is as dim-witted as saying that disbelief in pixies or leprechauns takes faith. Even if Einstein himself told me there was an elf on my shoulder, I would still ask for proof and I wouldn't be wrong to ask." - Geoff Mather
"In church, sacred music would make believers of us all— but preachers can be counted on to restore the balance." - Mignon McLaughlin
"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart." - H. L. Mencken
"Religious hatreds ought not be propagated at all, but certainly not on a tax-exempt basis." - James Michener
“In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners.” - Jonathon Miller
"Jesus' last words on the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" hardly seem like the words of a man who planned it that way. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure there is something wrong here." - Donald Morgan
"Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat." - John Morley
N
"I want nothing to do with any religion concerned with keeping the
masses satisfied to live in hunger, filth and ignorance. I want nothing
to do with any order, religious or otherwise, which does not teach
people that they are capable of becoming happier and more civilized, on
this earth, capable of becoming true man, master of his fate and captain
of his soul." - Jawaharlal Nehru
"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." - Friedrich Nietzsche
O
"Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of
human history than any other single idea." - Madalyn Murray O'Hair
P
"Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions." - Blaise Pascal
"If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself." - Alexandre Dumas Père
"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion." - Robert Pirsig
"If god created man in his own image, how come I'm not invisible?" - David Powers
"God sacrificing his only son, knowing he would resurrect him shortly thereafter? That doesn't sound like much of a sacrifice to me." - David Powers
"One cannot disprove the existence of a God anymore than one can the existence of the Tooth Fairy. But if enough people believed in the latter, would it make it any more credible?" - Jack Pritchard
"If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself." - Alexandre Dumas Père
"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion." - Robert Pirsig
"If god created man in his own image, how come I'm not invisible?" - David Powers
"God sacrificing his only son, knowing he would resurrect him shortly thereafter? That doesn't sound like much of a sacrifice to me." - David Powers
"One cannot disprove the existence of a God anymore than one can the existence of the Tooth Fairy. But if enough people believed in the latter, would it make it any more credible?" - Jack Pritchard
Q
R
"It can not be conducive for good mental health to have an All-Powerful
'Judge of Right and Wrong' watching your every move and reading your
every thought ready to cast you into hell for eternity for the slightest
infraction." - Larry Rhodes
“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” - Stephen Roberts
"In 1000 years we will all be Atheist or we will no longer be." - Rich Rodriguez
"It is very difficult to reason someone out of a position they did not reason themselves into." - Rich Rodriguez
"And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt his existence." Bertrand Russell
"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence." - Bertrand Russell
"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong." - Bertrand Russell
“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” - Stephen Roberts
"In 1000 years we will all be Atheist or we will no longer be." - Rich Rodriguez
"It is very difficult to reason someone out of a position they did not reason themselves into." - Rich Rodriguez
"And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt his existence." Bertrand Russell
"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence." - Bertrand Russell
"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong." - Bertrand Russell
S
"In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know
that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they
would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them
again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because
scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day.
I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or
religion." -Carl Sagan
"If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness." -Carl Sagan
"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
"Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of the astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy." - Carl Sagan
"The method of science is tried and true. It is not perfect, it's just the best we have. And to abandon it with its skeptical protocols is the pathway to a dark age." -Carl Sagan
"There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny." -Carl Sagan
"We wish to find the truth, no matter where it lies. But to find the truth we need imagination and skepticism both. We will not be afraid to speculate, but we will be careful to distinguish speculation from fact." -Carl Sagan
"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan
"The existence of a world without God seems to me less absurd than the presence of a God, existing in all his perfection, creating an imperfect man in order to make him run the risk of Hell." - Armand Salacrou
“If atheism is a religion, then bald is a hair color.” - Mark Schnitzius
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." - Seneca the Younger
"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose." - William Shakespeare
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." George Bernard Shaw
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." - George Bernard Shaw
"Martyrdom . . . is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability." - George Bernard Shaw
"God is my favorite fictional character!" - Bart Simpson
"I am certain of only one thing. That is, that I know nothing." - Socrates
"Religion. It's given people hope in a world torn apart by religion." - Jon Stewart
"Theists should never complain no matter what happens in the world because nothing happens without the almighty's will. So if I break your head, murder your kin, don't blame me. God made me to do it." - Suresh
"If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness." -Carl Sagan
"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
"Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of the astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy." - Carl Sagan
"The method of science is tried and true. It is not perfect, it's just the best we have. And to abandon it with its skeptical protocols is the pathway to a dark age." -Carl Sagan
"There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny." -Carl Sagan
"We wish to find the truth, no matter where it lies. But to find the truth we need imagination and skepticism both. We will not be afraid to speculate, but we will be careful to distinguish speculation from fact." -Carl Sagan
"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan
"The existence of a world without God seems to me less absurd than the presence of a God, existing in all his perfection, creating an imperfect man in order to make him run the risk of Hell." - Armand Salacrou
“If atheism is a religion, then bald is a hair color.” - Mark Schnitzius
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." - Seneca the Younger
"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose." - William Shakespeare
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." George Bernard Shaw
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." - George Bernard Shaw
"Martyrdom . . . is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability." - George Bernard Shaw
"God is my favorite fictional character!" - Bart Simpson
"I am certain of only one thing. That is, that I know nothing." - Socrates
"Religion. It's given people hope in a world torn apart by religion." - Jon Stewart
"Theists should never complain no matter what happens in the world because nothing happens without the almighty's will. So if I break your head, murder your kin, don't blame me. God made me to do it." - Suresh
T
"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." - Mark Twain
"Faith is believing what you know ain't so." - Mark Twain
"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." - Mark Twain
"A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows." - Mark Twain
"Faith is believing what you know ain't so." - Mark Twain
"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." - Mark Twain
"A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows." - Mark Twain
U
V
"Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people." - David Viaene
W
"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things
and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil
things, that takes religion." - Steven Weinburg
"May it not suffice for me to say .. . that, of course, like every other man of intelligence and education, I do believe in organic evolution. It surprises me that at this late date such questions should be raised." - Woodrow Wilson
"The fool says in his heart: 'There is no God.' The Wise Man says it to the world." - Troy Witte
"May it not suffice for me to say .. . that, of course, like every other man of intelligence and education, I do believe in organic evolution. It surprises me that at this late date such questions should be raised." - Woodrow Wilson
"The fool says in his heart: 'There is no God.' The Wise Man says it to the world." - Troy Witte
X
Y
Z
"At least people hundreds of years ago believed in gods because they were
ignorant... the only excuse for belief today has to be intellectual
laziness or cowardice." - Esiah Zakite
"So god can make a universe over 28 billion light years across containing billions of stars and planets just so a few apes on one single, insignificant world can worship him... but he can't be bothered to help a starving baby?" - Godfrey Zoan
"Some theists say scientists are "playing god" but I don't see any scientists deliberately making babies that will die of cancer before they can even walk." - Godfrey Zoan
"So god can make a universe over 28 billion light years across containing billions of stars and planets just so a few apes on one single, insignificant world can worship him... but he can't be bothered to help a starving baby?" - Godfrey Zoan
"Some theists say scientists are "playing god" but I don't see any scientists deliberately making babies that will die of cancer before they can even walk." - Godfrey Zoan
Anonymous
"Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence."
"Geology shows that fossils are of different ages. Paleontology shows a fossil sequence, the list of species representing changes through time. Taxonomy shows biological relationships among species. Evolution is the explanation that threads it all together. Creationism is the practice of squeezing one's eyes shut and wailing 'Does not!'"
"Primates often have trouble imagining a universe not run by an angry alpha male."
"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered, religion is answers that may never be questioned."
"What is the difference between a cult and a religion? About 100 years."
"Geology shows that fossils are of different ages. Paleontology shows a fossil sequence, the list of species representing changes through time. Taxonomy shows biological relationships among species. Evolution is the explanation that threads it all together. Creationism is the practice of squeezing one's eyes shut and wailing 'Does not!'"
"Primates often have trouble imagining a universe not run by an angry alpha male."
"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered, religion is answers that may never be questioned."
"What is the difference between a cult and a religion? About 100 years."