Atheism Quotes - Page 29

• "Oh to be old again," said a young corpse.

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Said, Young, Corpses

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• The skeptic has no illusions about life, nor a vain belief in the promise of immortality. Since this life here and now is all we can know, our most reasonable option is to live it fully.

  Paul Kurtz

  Promise, Belief, Illusion

  Paul Kurtz (1986). “The Transcendental Temptation: A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal”

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• I light candles. I meditate. And I don't believe in anything. By default I move simultaneously towards mysticism and atheism. It's not something that's ever going to get fixed.

  Vanessa Veselka

  Believe, Moving, Candle

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• Homo religiosus invents religious symbols, which he venerates and worships to save him from facing the finality of his death and dissolution. He devises paradise fictions to provide succor and support... In acts of supreme self-deception, at various times and in various places he has been willing to profess belief in the most incredible myths because of what they have promised him.

  Paul Kurtz

  Religious, Self, Support

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• An ideology can be defined as a group of beliefs that individuals borrow; most people borrow an ideology by identifying with a social group ... with a body of sacred documents and heroes.

  Robert E Lane

  Hero, People, Body

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• Do not make gods in your own images.

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Positive Atheism

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• Humanists hold that ethical values are relative to human experience and need not be derived from theological or metaphysical foundations.

  Paul Kurtz

  Foundation, Needs, Ethical

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• The overriding need is "to develop a new Planetary Humanism" that will seek to preserve human rights and enhance human freedom and dignity and will emphasize our commitment "to humanity as a whole." The underlying ethical principle "is the need to respect the dignity and worth of all persons in the world community." Thinkers as diverse as Peter Singer and Hans Küng also emphasize the need for a new global ethic beyond nationalistic, racial, religious, and ethnic chauvinism.

  Paul Kurtz

  Religious, Commitment, Ethical Principles

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• Human life has no meaning independent of itself. There is no cosmic force or deity to give it meaning or significance. There is no ultimate destiny for man. Such a belief is an illusion of humankind's infancy. The meaning of life is what we choose to give it. Meaning grows out of human purposes alone. Nature provides us with an infinite range of opportunities, but it is only our vision and our action that select and realize those that we desire.

  Paul Kurtz

  Independent, Opportunity, Destiny

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• Secular humanism proposes ... the complete implementation of the agenda of modernism ... what is necessary for it to occur is a ... New Enlightenment.

  Paul Kurtz

  Enlightenment, Agendas, Secular Humanism

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• Supernatural entities simply do not exist. This nonreality of the supernatural means, on the human level, that men do not possess supernatural and immortal souls; and, on the level of the universe as a whole, that our cosmos does not possess a supernatural and eternal God.

  Corliss Lamont

  Mean, Men, Soul

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• God, once imagined to be an omnipresent force throughout the whole world of nature and man. has been increasingly tending to seem omniabsent. Everywhere, intelligent and educated people rely more and more on purely secular and scientific techniques for the solution of their problems. As science advances, belief in divine miracles and the efficacy of prayer becomes fainter and fainter.

  Corliss Lamont

  Prayer, Intelligent, Men

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• The spirit of the times can haunt even the atheists.

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Atheist, Spirit, Positive Atheism

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• Changing ideas is a strain not to be lightly incurred, particularly when these ideas are intimately related to one's self-esteem ... men have elaborated an explanation for their situation in life... Their rationales are endowed with moral qualities.

  Robert E Lane

  Self Esteem, Men, Ideas

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• "Humanism" is to be human, to think, to analyze, and to probe. To respond and to be stimulated by all living things - beasts, fowl, and fishes. To respond through touch, sight, smell, and sound to all things in nature - both organic and inorganic-to colors, shapes, and textures - to not only look at a blade of grass but to really see a blade of grass. These things, to me, are what life and living are all about. I would call it "Humanism."

  Jacob Lawrence

  Thinking, Color, Smell

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• I have been raised to believe in freedom of thought and speech. If a minority wishes to accept that position it's their right. What I fear is that this minority may seem to be larger than it truly is. What is strange is that there are still people who believe the world is not a globe.

  Richard Leakey

  Believe, People, Wish

  Interview, content.time.com. April 11, 1999.

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• Do I believe? God only knows.

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Believe, Knows, I Believe

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• Do I have no soul as punishment for not believing in the soul?

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Believe, Punishment, Soul

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• When it began, Christianity was regarded as a system entirely beyond the range and scope of human reason; it was impious to question; it was impious to examine; it was impious to discriminate. On the other hand, it was visibly instinct with the supernatural. Miracles of every order and degree of magnitude were flashing forth incessantly from all its parts.

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky

  Hands, Order, Miracle

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky (1865). “History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe”, p.198

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• What do I believe? I believe in God, if he exists.

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Believe, Ifs, I Believe

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• Witches admitted their relations with the devil. Our blood boils - how could they be forced to admit this when there is no devil. But reason tells us this is not true. The devil does exist and was in fact the inquisitor.

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Blood, Devil, Doe

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• The mob shouts with one big mouth and eats with a thousand little ones.

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Mouths, Littles, Bigs

  "Unkempt Thoughts". Book by Stanisław Jerzy Lec, translated by Jacek Galazka, 1962.

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• The doctrine of a material hell in its effect was to chill and deaden the sympathies, predispose men to inflict suffering, and to retard the march of civilization.

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky

  Men, Civilization, Suffering

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• There is a dispute about the existence of God. Both sides try to hide that they killed Him - even before He came into being.

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Trying, Sides, Disputes

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• Whenever the clergy were at the elbow of the civil arm, no matter whether they were Catholic or Protestant, persecution was the result.

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky

  Catholic, Elbows, Arms

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