Favorite Quotes about Atheism, Agnosticism, And Religion

[Full Circle]

From an opinion piece in the NYT today. Love that last line.

“Even if belief in invisible watchers has its social uses, if such beings don’t exist it’s a pretty odd thing that societies the world over have converged on the belief that we share the cosmos with them. To say nothing of the specific doctrines and miraculous claims associated with that belief: For instance, if Christianity disappeared from everyone’s memory tomorrow, it would be odd indeed for a modern Western thinker seeking meaning amid disillusionment to declare, “what we need here is the doctrine of the Trinity and a resurrected messiah with some angels at the tomb.”

[Dave Armstrong]

"The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason."

--- G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (1908), ch. 2 

"And those who have been there will know what I mean when I say that, while there are stupid people everywhere, there is a particular minute and microcephalous idiocy which is only found in an intelligentsia."

--- G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, “The Defense of the Unconventional,” 17 October 1925

[Dānu]

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”
― Friedrich W. Nietzsche

[Dave Armstrong]

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”
― Friedrich W. Nietzsche

I guess that happened to him, seeing that he spent his final days as a card-carrying atheist in the grip of madness.

[mordant]

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”
― Friedrich W. Nietzsche

I guess that happened to him, seeing that he spent his final days as a card-carrying atheist in the grip of madness.

They didn't start issuing cards to us until the Secret Conclave of 1893.

Contrary to his rather, er, "muscular" philosophical system, the man was an empath. He cared too much and tried too hard. One of his final actions we know of was to interpose himself between a horse and the owner that was beating it. I never thought his heirs and assigns did him justice, and do not think he would have approved of the Nazi misappropriation of his ideas.

Ironically, Schopenhauer was an early inspiration for Nietzsche, and had a much better end, making it to the ripe old age of 72, and active to the end. One could conclude that perhaps Nietzsche should not have reversed his views about Schopenhauer after all.

[Full Circle]

Uncertainty is painful to accept. It’s far more comfortable to form a complete narrative about how things work. In a quest to leave no question unanswered, emotion gladly fills the holes left by a lack of information. - Morgan Housel

The quote has broad application, including religion.

[Dānu]

“Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.”

― Sri Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Ramakrishna

[pattylt]

Quote: and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.”

A perfect example of Dunning Krueger where the less you know, the smarter you think you are.

[Gwaithmir]

“Should schools teach atheism? No. There’s no need to teach atheism. It’s the natural result of education without indoctrination.” (Ricky Gervais) 

[Silly Deity]

"One of my favourite things is to get Christians talking about Scientology, cos the Christian will go, 'Scientologists are nutters, they believe in aliens'

Then you say to the Christian, 'What do you believe in again?....it's a benevolent zombie that's coming back to save you isn't it?'

Good luck with that, that'll probably happen"

Jimmy Carr

[Stuartunlabeled]

This is the silliest thing I’ve been told by someone trying to convince me of the existence of god.
“If god didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him”
Well as a species we’ve invented many gods and reinvented them again and again and again ……….

[Gwaithmir]

“I’m an atheist, but I’m very relaxed about it. I don’t preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do. Anything he does on television, I will watch.” (Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter)

[Phaedrus]

The so-called evidence for god's existence doesn't hold up anywhere except the fallible religious mind.

[brewerb]

MMR contains aborted fetal tissue, that's why all those Mennonites in Texas fell ill.

[Cavebear]

Aircrash survivor: "I was saved by the grace of God".

No, you weren't. It was blind dumb luck. Or maybe that fat guy next to you cushioned the impact. Which would also be luck...

[1Sam15]

Aircrash survivor:  "I was saved by the grace of God".  

No, you weren't.  It was blind dumb luck.  Or maybe that fat guy next to you cushioned the impact.  Which would also be luck...

I always thought a documentary about survivors and their “god has more plans for me” and see how or what they did with that gift from god of keeping them from heaven.

[SYZ]

Seriously?   



Do Americans still believe in a supernatural entity
in a scientifically-enlightened 21st century?   This
belief is imposed on millions of banknotes and coins
and hundreds of buildings in the United Sates.

In some ways I can understand this.  On 1 May, Trump
said, "We're bringing back religion in our country and
we're bringing it back quickly and strongly...  We’re not
going to forget about God".  He also thanked God for
putting him in the White House.  Apparently US electors
had nothing to do with it?

"In God we trust" has to be one of the most
monumentally dumbest things people can say.

[Paleophyte]

Aircrash survivor:  "I was saved by the grace of God".  

No, you weren't.  It was blind dumb luck.  Or maybe that fat guy next to you cushioned the impact.  Which would also be luck...

I always thought a documentary about survivors and their “god has more plans for me” and see how or what they did with that gift from god of keeping them from heaven.

Praise the Lawrd for flying that plane into the mountainside, killing everybody on board, and breaking bones in places that I didn't know I had! 

[Fireball]

Seriously?   



Do Americans still believe in a supernatural entity
in a scientifically-enlightened 21st century?   This
belief is imposed on millions of banknotes and coins
and hundreds of buildings in the United Sates.

In some ways I can understand this.  On 1 May, Trump
said, "We're bringing back religion in our country and
we're bringing it back quickly and strongly...  We’re not
going to forget about God".  He also thanked God for
putting him in the White House.  Apparently US electors
had nothing to do with it?

"In God we trust" has to be one of the most
monumentally dumbest things people can say.

McCarthyism and the Red Scare. It is truly pathetic, but I do seem to remember, "God Save the Queen", from somewhere.

[brewerb]

McCarthyism and the Red Scare. It is truly pathetic, but I do seem to remember, "God Save the Queen", from somewhere.

[pattylt]

I have a dollar bill from before “In god we trust” was placed on our money.

My favorite clip is…In god we trust…all others pay cash.”

[Gwaithmir]

“When people ask me if God created the universe, I tell them the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the Big Bang, so there is no time for God to make the universe in. It’s like asking for directions to the edge of the earth; The Earth is a sphere; it doesn’t have an edge; so looking for it is a futile exercise. We are free to believe what we want, and it’s my view that the simplest explanation is; there is no god. No one created our universe, and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization; there is probably no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that I am extremely grateful.” (Stephen Hawking) 

[Dānu]

“This is the sum of duty. Do not unto others that which would cause you pain if done to you” (Mahabharata 5, 1517 – 15th century BC)

[SYZ]

...McCarthyism and the Red Scare. It is truly pathetic, but I do seem to remember, "God Save the Queen", from somewhere.

Oh yes.  The nonsensical British national anthem still cites
a mythological entity, nearly 300 years after its composition.
And the King it refers to is still the supreme governor of the
Anglican church.  How still steeped in a fantastical past can a
country be?

God save our gracious King!

Long live our noble King!

God save the King!

 Send him victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the King.

 Thy choicest gifts in store

On him be pleased to pour,

Long may he reign.

May he defend our laws,

And ever give us cause,

 To sing with heart and voice,

God save the King.

Australia got rid of this absurd dirge 40 years ago,
and we how have our own national anthem.