Positive Atheism Quotes - Page 9

• I believe in the Constitution. The Constitution says that government isn't supposed to be infusing religion into our society, and so I asked to have that upheld.

  Michael Newdow

  Believe, Government, Atheism

  "Litigant explains why he brought Pledge suit". "Talkback Live" with Arthel Neville, www.cnn.com. June 26, 2002.

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• Our Constitution... has not left the religion of its citizens under the power of its public functionaries, were it possible that any of these should consider a conquest over the conscience of men either attainable or applicable to any desirable purpose.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Atheism, Citizens

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private”, p.147

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• No man complains of his neighbor for ill management of his affairs, for an error in sowing his land, or marrying his daughter, for consuming his substance in taverns ... in all these he has liberty; but if he does not frequent the church, or then conform in ceremonies, there is an immediate uproar.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Daughter, Men, Land

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• The declaration that religious faith shall be unpunished does not give immunity to criminal acts dictated by religious error.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Errors, Giving

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• If a sect arises whose tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair play and reasons and laughs it out of doors without suffering the State to be troubled with it.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Doors, Play, Laughing

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• If anything pass in a religious meeting seditiously and contrary to the public peace, let it be punished in the same manner and no otherwise than as if it had happened in a fair or market.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Meetings, Contrary

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1771 - 1779, the Summary View, and the Declaration of Independence”, p.267, Cosimo, Inc.

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• The law for religious freedom... [has]put down the aristocracy of the clergy and restored to the citizen the freedom of the mind.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Law, Mind

  Thomas Jefferson (1977). “The Portable Thomas Jefferson”, p.426, Penguin

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• This doctrine ['that the condition of man cannot be ameliorated, that what has been must ever be, and that to secure ourselves where we are we must tread with awful reverence in the footsteps of our fathers']is the genuine fruit of the alliance between Church and State, the tenants of which finding themselves but too well in their present condition, oppose all advances which might unmask their usurpations and monopolies of honors, wealth and power, and fear every change as endangering the comforts they now hold.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Father, Men, Honor

  Thomas Jefferson (1984). “Jefferson: Writings”, p.570, Library of America

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• The Bible: a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalise mankind.

  Thomas Paine

  Atheist, Faith Religion, Atheism

  Thomas Paine (1861). “The Age of Reason, etc”, p.7

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• Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the U. S. forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion. The law appointing Chaplains establishes a religious worship for the national representatives, to be performed by Ministers of religion, elected by a majority of them, and these are to be paid out of the national taxes. Does this not involve the principle of a national establishment ... ?

  James Madison

  Religious, Law, Two

  "Concerned Catholic Paul Ryan Wants Priests to Shut Up About the Poor" by Charles P. Pierce, www.esquire.com. April 27, 2018.

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• The mighty and supreme Jesus, who was to transfigure all humanity by his divine wit and grace-this Jesus has flown.

  Goldwin Smith

  Jesus, Grace, Humanity

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• Consider for a moment any beauty in the name Ralph.

  Frank Zappa

  Names, Moments

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• We live between two worlds; we soar in the atmosphere; we creep upon the soil; we have the aspirations of creators and the propensities of quadrupeds. There can be but one explanation of this fact. We are passing from the animal into a higher form, and the drama of this planet is in its second act.

  William Winwood Reade

  Drama, Animal, Two

  William Winwood Reade (1892). “The Martyrdom of Man”

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• I can't believe in the God of my Fathers. If there is one Mind which understands all things, it will comprehend me in my unbelief. I don't know whose hand hung Hesperus in the sky, and fixed the Dog Star, and scattered the shining dust of Heaven, and fired the sun, and froze the darkness between the lonely worlds that spin in space.

  Gerald Kersh

  Lonely, Dog, Stars

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• There are only two things in which the false professors of all religions have agreed--to persecute all other sects and to plunder their own.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Two, Religion, Atheism

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.96

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• There is tonic in the things that men do not love to hear. Free speech is to a great people what the winds are to oceans ... and where free speech is stopped miasma is bred, and death comes fast.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Ocean, Men, Wind

  Henry Ward Beecher (1866). “Royal truths”, p.131

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• I know the greatness of Christianity; it is a past greatness.. I live in 1924, and the Christian venture is done.

  D. H. Lawrence

  Christian, Past, Greatness

  D. H. Lawrence, Michael Herbert (1988). “Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays”, p.200, Cambridge University Press

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• Sing then the core of dark and absolute oblivion where the soul at last is lost in utter peace.

  D. H. Lawrence

  Dark, Soul, Singing

  D. H. Lawrence (2008). “Complete Poems by Lawrence: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition”, p.525, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• God is, as it were, the sewer into which all contradictions flow.

  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

  God, Atheism, Flow

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• It is a heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in it.

  William Shakespeare

  Fire, Atheism, Heretic

  'The Winter's Tale' (1610-1) act 2, sc. 3, l. 114

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• Take man's most fantastic invention- God. Man invents God in the image of his longings, in the image of what he wants to be, then proceeds to imitate that image, vie with it, and strive to overcome it.

  Eric Hoffer

  Men, Overcoming, Want

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• The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an inner uncertainty than a deep conviction. The implacable stand is directed more against the doubt within than the assailant without.

  Eric Hoffer

  Attitude, Doubt, Conviction

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• The idea that He would take his attention away from the universe in order to give me a bicycle with three speeds is just so unlikely I can't go along with it.

  Quentin Crisp

  Order, Ideas, Giving

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• I had a student ask me, "Could the savior you believe in save Osama bin Laden?" Of course, we know the blood of Jesus Christ can save him, and then he must be executed.

  Jerry Falwell

  Religious, Jesus, Believe

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• If you want a war, nourish a doctrine. Doctrines are the most frightful tyrants to which men are ever subject, because doctrines get inside a man's reason and betray him against himself. Civilized men have done their fiercest fighting for doctrines.

  William Graham Sumner

  Betrayal, War, Fighting

  William Graham Sumner (1963). “Social Darwinism: selected essays”, Prentice Hall

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