Transcript
RELIGION Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration--courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth. ~ H. L. Mencken I am myself a dissenter from all kno religions, and I hope that every kind of religious belief ill die out. Religion is based ... mainly on fear ... fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. !ear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no onder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand .. My o n vie of religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race. ~ "ertrand Russell Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the ~ Lucius #nnaeus $eneca ise as false, and by rulers as useful.
I count religion but a childish toy and hold there is no sin but ignorance. ~ %hristopher Marlo e &he %hristian religion, as organi'ed in its churches, has been and still is the principle enemy of moral progress in the orld. ~ "ertrand Russell !inding that no religion is based on facts and cannot therefore be true, I began to reflect condition of (mankind trained from infancy to believe in error. ~ Robert ) en hat must be the
&he most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind. ~ H. L. Mencken &he 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. ~ *eorge "ernard $ha Religion ... the universal ... neurosis of humanity. ~ $igmund !reud Religion is the opiate of the masses. ~ +arl Mar, Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it and science as our guidelines. ~ "ertrand Russell !ear of things invisible is the natural seed of that Hobbes Religion is all bunk. ~ &homas -dison It is best to read the eather forecast before praying for rain. ~ Mark & ain &here is no point beating around the bush. $upernatural concepts have no philosophical arrant. !urthermore, it is not that such concepts are displaced only if e accept, from the start, a naturalistic or scientific vision of things. &here simply are no good arguments--theological, philosophical, humanistic, or scientific--for beliefs in divine beings, miracles, or heavenly afterlives. ~ ) en !lanagan &hese .religious ideas( are given out as teachings, are not precipitates of e,perience or end-results of thinking/ they are illusions, fulfillments of the oldest, strongest and most urgent ishes of mankind. ~ $igmund !reud I kne that man0s omanish heart has constant need of consolation, a need to hich that super-shre d sophist the mind is constantly ready to minister. I began to feel that every religion hich promises to fulfull ill fade a ay as e adopt reason
hich every one in himself calleth religion. ~ &homas
human desires is simply a refuge for the timid, and un orthy of a true man. ... 1e ought, therefore, to choose the most hopeless of orld vie s, and if by chance e are deceiving ourselves and hope does e,ist, so much the better. #t all events, in this ay man0s soul ill not be humiliated, and neither *od nor the devil ill ever be able to ridicule it by saying that it became into,icated like a hashish-smoker and fashioned an imaginary paradise out of niavete and co ardice--in order to cover the abyss. &he faith most devoid of hope seemed to me not the truest, perhaps, but surely the most valorous. I considered the metaphysical hope an alluring bait hich true men do not condescend to nibble. I anted hatever as most difficult, in other ords most orthy of man, of the man ho does not hine, entreate, or go about begging. ~ 2ikos +a'ant'akis If I have said anything about religions and religion that seems harsh, I have said those things because of a firm belief that the claim on the part of religions to possess a monopoly of ideals and of the supernatural means by hich alone, it is alleged, they can be furthered, stands in the ay of the reali'ation of distinctively religious values inherent in natural e,perience. !or that reason, if for no other, I should be sorry if any ere misled by the fre3uency ith hich I have employed the ad4ective 5religious5 to conceive of hat I have said as a disguised apology for hat have passed as religions. &he opposition bet een religious values as I conceive them and religions is not to be abridged. 6ust because the release of these values is so important, their identification ith the creeds and cults of religions must be dissolved. ~ 6ohn 7e ey I can hardly see ho anyone ought to ish %hristianity to be true8 for if so the plain language of the te,t seems to sho that the men ho do not believe, and this ould include my !ather, "rother, and almost all my best friends, ill be everlastingly punished. #nd this is a damnable doctrine. ~ %harles 7ar in I cannot imagine a *od ho re ards and punishes his creatures or has a ill of the kind that e e,perience in ourselves. 2either can I nor ould I ant to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death8 let feeble souls from fear or absurd egotism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied ith the mystery of the eternity of life and a glimpse of the marvelous sturcture of the e,isting orld, together ith the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of tthe Reason that manifests itself in nature. ~ #lbert -instein )ne does ell to put on gloves hen reading the 2e almost forces one to do this. ~ !riedrich 2iet'sche &estament. &he pro,imity of so much uncleanliness
&he memory of my o n suffering has prevented me from ever shado ing one young soul superstitions of the %hristian religion.~ -li'abeth %ady $tanton
ith the
&here is no greater social evil than religion. It is the cancer in the body of humanity. Human credulity and superstition, and the need for comforting fables, ill never be e,tirpated, so relgion ill al ays e,ist, at least among the uneducated. &he only ay to manage the dangers it presents is to confine it entirely to the private sphere, and for the public domain to be blind to it in all but one respect/ that by la no one0s private beliefs should be allo ed to cause a nuisance or an in4ury to anyone else.~ #.%. *rayling &he time appears to me to have come ~ 6ohn $tuart Mill hen it is the duty of all to make their dissent from religion kno n.
&he man ho is thoroughly convinced of the universal operation of the la of causation cannot for a moment entertain the idea of a being ho interferes in the course of events--that is, if he takes the hypothesis of causality really seriously. He has no use for the religion of fear and e3ually little for social or moral religion. # *od ho re ards and punishes is inconceivable to him for the simple reason that a man0s actions are determined by necessity, e,ternal and internal, so that in *od0s eyes he cannot be responsible, any more than an inanimate ob4ect is responsible for the motions it goes through. Hence science has been charged ith undermining morality, but the charge is un4ust. # man0s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties8 no religious basis is necessary. Man
ould indeed be in a poor death. ~ #lbert -instein
ay if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of re ard after
-very sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the %hristian sect in horror. %hristianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the orld. If e believe absurdities, e shall commit atrocities. $uperstition, born of paganism and adopted by 6udaism, invested the %hristian %hurch from earliest times. #ll the fathers of the %hurch, ithout e,ception, believed in the po er of magic. &he %hurch al ays condemned magic, but she al ays believed in it/ she did not e,communicate sorcerers as madmen ho ere mistaken, but as men ho ere really in communication ith the devil. 2othing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.~ !rancois Marie #rouet 59oltaire5 2o man ho ever lived kno s any more about the hereafter ... than you and I8 and all religion ... is simply evolved out of chicanery, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.~ -dgar #llan :oe I found nothing grand in the history of the 6e s nor in the morals inculcated in the :entateuch. $urely the riters had a very lo idea of the nature of their god. &hey made him not only anthropomorphic, but of the very lo est type, 4ealous and revengeful, loving violence rather than mercy. I kno of no other books that so fully teach the sub4ection and degradation of omen. &he "ible and the %hurch have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the ay of omen0s emancipation.5~ -li'abeth %ady $tanton &here is no harmony bet een religion and science. 1hen science as a child, religion sought to strangle it in the cradle. 2o that science has attained its youth, and superstition is in its dotage, the trembling, palsied reck says to the athlete/ 0Let us be friends.0 It reminds me of the bargain the cock ished to make ith the horse/ 0Let us agree not to step on each other0s feet.0 !or ages, a deadly conflict has been aged bet een a fe brave men and omen of thought and genius upon the one side, and the great ignorant religious mass on the other. &his is the ar bet een $cience and !aith. &he fe have appealed to reason, to honor, to la , to freedom, to the kno n, and to happiness here in this orld. &he many have appealed to pre4udice, to fear, to miracle, to slavery, to the unkno n, and to misery hereafter. &he fe have said, 5&hink;5 &he many have said, 5"elieve;5 ~ Robert *reen Ingersoll !aith is believing hat you kno ain0t so. 5In *od 1e &rust.5 I don0t believe it ould sound any better if it ere true. It ain0t the parts of the "ible that I can0t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand. )ur "ible reveals to us the character of our god ith minute and remorseless e,actness... It is perhaps the most damnatory biography that e,ists in print any here. It makes 2ero an angel of light and leading by contrast. .&he "ible is( a mass of fables and traditions, mere mythology. Man is a marvelous curiosity . . . he thinks he is the %reator0s pet . . . he even believes the %reator loves him8 has a passion for him8 sits up nights to admire him8 yes and atch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks He listens. Isn0t it a 3uaint idea. If there is a *od, he is a malign thug.~ Mark & ain &he hole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone ith a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great ma4ority of mortals ill never be able to rise above this vie of life.~ $igmund !reud I am myself a dissenter from all kno n religions, and I hope that every kind of religious belief ill die out. Religion is based . . . mainly on fear . . . fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. !ear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no onder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. . . . My o n vie on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.~ "ertrand Russell It as, of course, a lie hat you read about my religious convictions, a lie hich is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal *od and I have never denied this but have e,pressed it clearly. If something is in me hich can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the orld so far as our science can reveal it.~ #lbert -instein
the capacity for clear and realistic thought. He is not a mere ass/ he is actually ill.~ H. L. Mencken &he fact that so little of the findings of modern science is prefigured in $cripture to my mind casts further doubt on it divine inspiration.~ %arl $agan *od is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. &hey find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos8 He ill set them above their betters.~ H. L. Mencken !or centuries, theologians have attempted to e,plain the unkno able in terms of the-not- orth-kno ing. ~ H. L. Mencken has been elevated beyond the reach of criticism, hile hat is best =reason and intellectual honesty> must remain hidden, for fear of giving offense.~ $am Harris RELIGION (ACCORDING TO SOME OF AMERICAN'S FOUNDERS) It does me no in4ury for my neighbor to say there are @A gods, or no *od. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.~ &homas 6efferson :ersecution is not an original feature in any religion8 but it is al ays the strongly marked feature of all religions established by la .~ &homas :aine 1henever e read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous e,ecutions, the unrelenting vindictiveness ith hich more than half the "ible .by hich :aine means the )ld &estament( is filled, it ould be more consistent that e called it the ord of a demon than the ord of *od. It is a history of ickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutali'e mankind8 and, for my o n part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel. :ersecution is not an original feature in any religion8 but it is al ays the strongly marked feature of all religions established by la . #ll national institutions of churches, hether 6e ish, %hristian or &urkish appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind and monopoli'e po er and profit.~ &homas :aine 7uring almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of %hristianity been on trial. 1hat has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy8 ignorance and servility in the laity8 in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution. In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people. Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.~ 6ames Madison I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal e,ample of the abuses of grief hich the history of .hu(mankind has preserved - the %ross. %onsider hat calamaties that engine of grief has produced; ~ 6ohn #dams RELIGION/SCIENCE Religion is based upon blind faith supported by no evidence. $cience is based upon confidence that results from evidence. ... $cience approaches truth, closer and closer ... Religion already has it all
decided, and it0s 0in the book.0 It0s dogma, unchangeable, and unaffected by .. upon in the real orld. ~ 6ames Randi SAINT LOUIS
hatever facts
e come
If you send a damned fool to $t. Louis, and you don0t tell them he0s a damned fool, they0ll never find out. ~ Mark & ain SALVATION If the ay hich, as I have sho n, leads hither seem difficult, it can nevertheless be found. It must indeed be difficult since it is so seldom discovered, for if salvation lay ready to hand and could be discovered ithout great labor, ho could it be possible that it should be neglected almost by everybody? "ut all noble things are as difficult as they are rare.~ "aruch $pino'a SCIENCE #ll our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike--and yet it the most precious thing have.~ #lbert -instein e
It appears to me = hether rightly or rongly> that direct arguments against %hristianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public8 and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men0s minds hich follo s from the advance of science.~ %harles 7ar in &here is nothing hich can better serve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. +no ledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.~ *eorge 1ashington #t the heart of science is an essential tension bet een t o seemingly contradictory attitudes- an openness to ne ideas, no matter ho bi'arre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and ne . &his is ho deep truths are inno ed from deep nonsense.... ~ %arl $agan If e ere to back off from science and technology, population of the -arth to death. ~ %arl $agan e ould in fact be condemning most of the human
&he end of our foundation is the kno ledge of causes, and secret motions of things8 and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible. ~ !rancis "acon !or my part, I have no doubt, although progressive changes are to be e,pected in physics, the present doctrines are likely to be nearer to the truth, than any rival doctrines no before the orld. $cience is at no moment 3uite right, but it is seldom 3uite rong, and has, as a rule, a better chance of being right than the theories of the unscientific. It is, therefore, rational to accept it hypothetically. ~ "etrand Russell &hus have I made as it discover. ~ !rancis "acon ere a small globe of the intellectual orld, as truly and faithfully as I could
&hose to hom intellectual freedom is personally important may be a minority in the community, but among them are the .humans( of most importance to the future. 1e have seen the importance of %opernicus, *alileo, and 7ar in in this history of mankind, and it is not to be supposed that the future ill produce no more such men. If they are prevented from doing their ork and having their due effect, the human race ill stagnate, and a ne 7ark #ges ill succeed, as the earlier 7ark #ges succeeded the brilliant period of anti3uity. 2e truth is often uncomfortable, especially to the holders of po er8 nevertheless, amid the long record of cruely and bigotry, it is the most important achievement of our
intelligent ~ "etrand Russell
but
ay ard
species.
$cience is founded on the conviction that e,perience, effort, and reason are valid8 magic on the belief that hope cannot fail nor reason deceive.~ "ranisla Malino ski SEARCHING 1e shall not seek from e,ploration #nd the end of all our e,ploring 1ill be to arrive here e started #nd kno the place for the first time. ~ &.$. -liot "ut to me the search for unity is much more substantial than the affirmation of unity8 the need and the search, and the idea that one is orking at it ... ~ 6ean :iaget SKEPTICISM 1e declare at the outset that e do not make any positive assertion that anything e shall say is holly as e affirm it to be. 1e merely report accurately on each thing as our impressions of it are at the moment. ~ $e,tus -mpiricus &rust a itness in all matters in hich neither his self-interest, his passions, his pre4udices, nor the love of the marvelous is strongly concerned. 1hen they are involved, re3uire corroborative evidence in e,act propoertion to the contravention of probability by the thing testified. ~ &homas Henry Hu,ley &hose ho have something to sell, those ho ish to influence public opinion, those in po er, a skeptic might suggest, have a vested interest in discouraging skepticism.~ %arl $agan I ould never die for my beliefs because I might be rong. ~ "ertrand Russell $keptics are the atchmen of reasoning errors, aiming to e,pose bad ideas.~ Michael $hermer If e can0t think for ourselves, if e0re un illing to 3uestion authority, then e0re 4ust putty in the hands of those in po er. "ut if the citi'ens are educated and form their o n opinions, hten those in po er ork for us. In every country e should be teaching our children the scientific method and the "ill of Rights. 1ith it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted orld that e inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands bet een us and hte enveloping darkness. ~ %arl $agan STATE OF NATURE ... continual fear and danger of violent death8 and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ~ &homas Hobbes STOICISM If you are distressed by anything e,ternal, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it8 and this you have the po er to revoke at any moment.~ Marcus #urelius SUCCESS
)nly those ho dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.~ Robert !. +ennedy TECHNOLOGY &echnology does not drive change at all. &echnology merely enables change. It0s our collective cultural response to the options and opportunities presented by technology that drives change. ~ :aul $affo If scientists don0t play *od, ho ill? ~ 6ames 1atson THINKING "eginning to think is beginning to be undermined. ~ #lbert %amus &here is no e,pedient to Reynolds hich a man ill not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.~ $ir 6oshua
2o problem can ithstand the assault of sustained thinking.~ 9oltaire and the advance of kno ledge sooner or later undermines the traditional order. %onfused thinking, on the other hand, lead no here in particular and can be indulged indefinitely ithout producing any impact upon the orld. ~ $tanislave #ndreski TIME 7ost thou love life, then do not s3uander time, for that0s the stuff life is made of.~ "en4amin !ranklin TOLERANCE Intolerance is the natural concomitant of strong faith8 tolerance gro s only certainty is murderous. ~ 1ill 7urant TRANSHUMANISM 5I believe in transhumanism5/ once there are enough people ho can truly say that, the human species ill be on the threshold of a ne kind of e,istence, as different from ours as ours is from that of :eking man. It ill at last be consciously fulfilling its real destiny. ~ 6ulian Hu,ley hen faith loses certainty8
TRUTH It is morally as bad not to care hether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care ho you got your money as long as you have got it.~ -dmund 1ay &eale &ruth is more of a stranger than fiction.~ Mark & ain ...in matters of the intellect, follo your reason as far as it can carry you ithout other considerations... do not pretend the conclusions are certain that are not demonstrated or demonstrable. It is rong for a man to say he is certain of the ob4ective truth of a proposition unless he can produce evidence hich logically 4ustifies that certainty.~ &homas Henry Hu,ley. &ruth is the greatest secret of elo3uence and of virtue, the basis of moral authority8 it is the highest summit of art and life.~ Henri !rederic #miel It you ould be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life, you doubt, as far as possible, all things. ~ Rene 7escartes # credulous mind ... finds most delight in believing strange things, and the stranger they are the easier they pass ith him8 but never regards those that are plain and feasible, for every man can believe such. ~ $amuel "utler It is a capital mistake to theori'e before one has data. Insensibly one begins to t ist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. ~ #rthur %onan 7oyle &he foundation of morality is to ... give up pretending to believe that for hich there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibilities of kno ledge. ~ &. H. Hu,ley Insight, untested and unsupported, is an insufficient guarantee of truth ~ "ertrand Russell 2othing is too onderful to be true. ~ Michael !araday )ne unerring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition proofs it is built upon ill arrant. ~ 6ohn Locke In ar, truth is the first casualty. ~ #eschylus &ruth emerges from the clash of adverse ideas.~ 6ohn $tuart Mill UNDERSTANDING I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to be ail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.~ "aruch $pino'a UNIVERSE )ut yonder there as this huge orld... hich stands before us like a great eternal riddle ~ #lbert -instein My o n suspicion is that the universe is not only stranger than suppose. ~ 6ohn ". Haldane VISION e suppose, but stranger than e can ith greater assurance than the
Bnless e can so enlarge our interests as to include the hole outer orld, e remain like a garrison in a beleaguered fortress, kno ing that the enemy prevents escape and that ultimate surrender is inevitable. In such a life there is no peace, but a constant strife bet een the insistence of desire and the po erlessness of ill. In one ay or another, if our life is to be great and free, e must escape this prison and this strife. ~ "ertrand Russell &he mass of men live lives of 3uiet desperation C=their> vision does not penetrate the surface of things. ~ Henry 7avid &horeau WAR & PEACE )f course the people don0t ant ar. "ut after all, it0s the leaders of the country ho determine the policy, and it0s al ays a simple matter to drag the people along hether it0s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. 9oice or no voice, the people can al ays be brought to the bidding of the leaders. &hat is easy. #ll you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and e,posing the country to greater danger. ~ Herman *oering at the 2uremberg trials WISDOM 7o not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. 7o not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. 7o not believe in anything simply because it is found ritten in your religious books. 7o not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. 7o not believe in traditions because they have been handed do n for many generations. "ut after observation and analysis, hen you find that anything agrees ith reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. ~ "uddha & enty years from no you ill be more disappointed by the things you didn0t do than by the ones you did do. $o thro off the bo lines. $ail a ay from the safe harbor. %atch the trade inds in your sails. -,plore. 7ream. 7iscover. ~ Mark & ain Imagination disposes of everything8 it creates beauty, 4ustice, happiness, ~ "laise :ascal hich is everything in the orld.