Dan Barker Quotes

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Atheism Atheist Authority Belief Bible Christianity Compassion

I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being.

Dan Barker

Love, God, Christian

Dan Barker (2009). “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists”, p.89, Ulysses Press

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I have something to say to the religionist who feels atheists never say anything positive: You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil—you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself.

Dan Barker

Atheist, Intelligent, Class

Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

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There is no evidence for a god, no coherent definition of a god, no good argument for a god, good positive arguments against a god, no agreement among believers about the nature or moral principles of a god, and no need for a god. We can live happy, moral, productive lives without such belief, and we can do it better.

Dan Barker

Agreement, Productive Life, Religion

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Asking, ‘If there is no God, what is the purpose of life?’ is like asking, ‘If there is no master, whose slave will I be?’ If your purpose of life is to submit as a slave, then your meaning comes from flattering the ego of a person whom you should detest.

Dan Barker

Ego, Life Is Like, Purpose

Dan Barker (2011). “The Good Atheist: Living a Purpose-filled Life Without God”, p.29, Ulysses Press

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Scientists do not join hands every Sunday and sing "Yes gravity is real! I know gravity is real! I will have faith! I believe in my heart that what goes up, up, up must come down, down, down. Amen!" If they did, we would think they were pretty insecure about the concept.

Dan Barker

Faith, Atheist, Real

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The very concept of sin comes from the Bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?

Dan Barker

Bible, Fear, Cutting

Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

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Insanity is believing your hallucinations are real. Religion is believing that other peoples' hallucinations are real.

Dan Barker

Real, Believe, Insanity

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Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits. It is intellectual bankruptcy.

Dan Barker

Atheist, Taken, Religion

Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

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People are always asking, "What's the purpose of life?" That's easy. Relieve suffering. Create beauty. Make gardens.

Dan Barker

Beauty, Garden, People

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Some theists, observing that all 'effects' need a cause, assert that God is a cause but not an effect. But no one has ever observed an uncaused cause and simply inventing one merely assumes what the argument wishes to prove.

Dan Barker

Religion, Wish, Atheism

Dan Barker (2009). “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists”, p.108, Ulysses Press

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All you have to do is walk into any children's hospital and you know there is no God. Prayer doesn't make any difference. Those people pray for their beloved children to live and they die.

Dan Barker

Prayer, Children, Differences

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I am an atheist because there is no evidence for the existence of God. That should be all that needs to be said about it: no evidence, no belief.

Dan Barker

Atheist, Doubt, Religion

Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

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Theology is a subject without an object

Dan Barker

Theology, Subjects, Objects

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It's not easy to change world views. Faith has its own momentum and belief is comfortable. To restructure reality is traumatic and scary. That is why many intelligent people continue to believe: unbelief is an unknown.

Dan Barker

Faith, Believe, Intelligent

Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

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There is not a single contemporary historical mention of Jesus, not by Romans or by Jews, not by believers or by unbelievers, during his entire lifetime. This does not disprove his existence, but it certainly casts great doubt on the historicity of a man who was supposedly widely known to have made a great impact on the world. Someone should have noticed.

Dan Barker

Jesus, Men, Should Have

Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

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Truth does not demand belief.

Dan Barker

Doe, Demand, Belief

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Freethinkers reject faith as a valid tool of knowledge. Faith is the opposite of reason because reason imposes very strict limits on what can be true, and faith has no limits at all. A Great Escape into faith is no retreat to safety. It is nothing less than surrender.

Dan Barker

Fear, Opposites, Safety

Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

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Look at the posture of prayer. It is the posture of slavery, of bowing before your master. We are a proudly rebellious country. We kicked out the master. Now here comes the government telling us to humbly bow again.

Dan Barker

Country, Prayer, Government

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If the answers to prayer are merely what God wills all along, then why pray?

Dan Barker

Prayer, Fear, Atheism

Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

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Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being.

Dan Barker

Love, Dream, Kindness

Dan Barker (2009). “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists”, p.88, Ulysses Press

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In any open question, we should argue from what we do know to what we do not know. We do know that fervent legends and stubborn myths arise easily and naturally. We do not know that dead people rise from the grave.

Dan Barker

People, Religion, Stubborn

Dan Barker, Richard Dawkins (2008). “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists”, p.299, Ulysses Press

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Prayer never changes the laws of nature.

Dan Barker

Prayer, Law, Atheism

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I'm proud to be an atheist - it helps me stand for so much more and fall for so much less.

Dan Barker

Atheist, Fall, Religion

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It is a fact of history and of current events that human beings exaggerate, misinterpret, or wrongly remember events. They have also fabricated pious fraud. Most believers in a religion understand this when examining the claims of other religions.

Dan Barker

Religion, Atheism, Current Events

Dan Barker (2009). “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists”, p.248, Ulysses Press

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You believe in a book that has sticks turning into snakes, and you say we are the ones that need help?

Dan Barker

Spiritual, Atheist, Believe

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Born: June 25, 1949
Occupation: Musician
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