Positive Atheism Quotes - Page 5

• Sometimes the devil tempts me to believe in God.

  Bill Vaughan

  Believe, Temptation, Atheism

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• Whatever you have to do to have a good time, let's get on with it, so long as it doesn't cause a murder.

  Frank Zappa

  Long, Atheism, Causes

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• The whole Universe is a large joke. Everything in the Universe are just subdivisions of this joke. So why take anything too serious.

  Frank Zappa

  Atheism, Serious, Whole

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• Atheism is a very positive affirmation of man's ability to think for himself, to do for himself, to find answers to his own problems.

  Madalyn Murray O'Hair

  Men, Thinking, Atheism

  "Playboy Interview: Madalyn Murray". "Playboy" Magazine, October 1965.

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• The cruelty of a Fijian god, who, represented as devouring the souls of the dead, may be supposed to inflict torture during the process, is small compared with the cruelty of a God who condemns men to tortures which are eternal.

  Herbert Spencer

  Men, Soul, Atheism

  Herbert Spencer (1920). “The Principles of Sociology”

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• Deep within the heart of every evangelist lies the wreck of a car salesman.

  H. L. Mencken

  Lying, Heart, Car

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• All things considered, I can see no reason to adopt the afterlife hypothesis. I am sure I shall remain in a minority for a long time to come, especially among experiencers, but for me the evidence and the arguments are overwhelming ... We are biological organisms, evolved in fascinating ways for no purpose at all and with no end in mind. We are simply here and this is how it is. I have no self and "I" own nothing. There is no one to die. There is just this moment, and now this, and now this.

  Susan Blackmore

  Self, Afterlife, Long

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• All your Western theologies, the whole mythology of them, are based on the concept of God as a senile delinquent.

  Tennessee Williams

  God, Atheism, Mythology

  Tennessee Williams (2009). “The Night of the Iguana”, p.58, New Directions Publishing

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• Man stands alone in the universe, a unique product of a long, unconscious, impersonal, material process with unique understanding and potentialities. These he owes to no one but himself, and it is to himself that he is responsible. He is not the creature of uncontrollable and undeterminable forces, but is his own master. He can and must decide and manage his own destiny.

  George Gaylord Simpson

  Unique, Destiny, Men

  George Gaylord Simpson (1953). “Life of the past: an introduction to paleontology”, Books on Demand

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• A belief is not true simply because it is useful.

  Henri Frederic Amiel

  Atheism, Belief

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• I have not sought during my life to amass wealth and to adorn my body, but I have sought to adorn my soul with the jewels of wisdom, patience, and above all with a love of liberty.

  Socrates

  Money, Jewels, Soul

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• Religion cannot sink lower than when somehow it is raised to a state religion ... It becomes then an avowed mistress.

  Heinrich Heine

  Mistress, Atheism, States

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• It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

  Albert Einstein

  Death, Religious, Atheist

  "Religion and Science", New York Times Magazine, November 9, 1930.

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• If god wanted people to believe in him, why'd he invent logic then?

  David Feherty

  Believe, People, Atheism

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• The mind like a sick body can be healed and changed by medicine.

  Lucretius

  Medicine, Sick, Mind

  On the Nature of Things III. 510

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• A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.

  Francis Bacon

  Atheist, Philosophy, Men

  Essays "Of Atheism" (1625)

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• My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.

  George Santayana

  Atheist, Men, Insightful

  Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies "On My Friendly Critics" (1922)

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• Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history.

  Dinesh D'Souza

  Real, Atheism, Murder

  "Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history" by Dinesh D'Souza, www.csmonitor.com. November 21, 2006.

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• I would fain ask one of these bigotted Infidels, supposing all the great Points of Atheism... were laid together and formed into a kind of Creed, according to the Opinions of the most celebrated Atheists; I say, supposing such a Creed as this were formed, and imposed upon any one People in the World, whether it would not require an infinitely greater Measure of Faith, than any Set of Articles which they so violently oppose.

  Joseph Addison

  Faith, Atheist, Religion

  The Spectator, No. 185, October 2, 1711.

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• I do not fight with the world but the world fights with me.

  Gautama Buddha

  Fighting, Atheism, World

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• Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic uninterestingness as an intellectual position.

  John Updike

  Atheist, Intellectual, Atheism

  John Updike (2012). “Self-Consciousness: Memoirs”, p.138, Random House

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• As for Christianity's alleged concern with truth, Christian faith is to free inquiry what the Mafia is to free enterprise. Christianity may be represented as a competitor in the realm of ideas to be considered on the basis of its merits, but this is mere disguise. Like the Mafia, if Christianity fails to defeat its competition by legitimate means (which is a forgone conclusion), it resorts to strong-arm tactics. Have faith or be damned - this biblical doctrine alone is enough to exclude Christianity from the domain of reason.

  George H. Smith

  Christian, Strong, Mean

  George H. Smith (1974). “Atheism: The Case Against God”

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• Through inculcating the notion that sacrifice is a virtue, Christianity has succeeded in convincing many people that misery incurred through sacrifice is a mark of virtue. Pain becomes the inignia of morality - and conversely, pleasure becomes the insignia of immorality. Christianity, therefore, does not say, "Go forth and be miserable." Rather, it says, "Go forth and practice the virtue of self-sacrifice." In practical terms, these commands are identical.

  George H. Smith

  Pain, Sacrifice, Practice

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• To imagine that "God moves in mysterious ways" is to put up a smokescreen of mystery behind which fantasy may survive in spite of all the facts.

  Barbara Smoker

  Moving, Atheism, Way

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• Agnostics are people who, like myself, confess themselves to be hopelessly ignorant concerning a variety of matters, about which metaphysicians and theologians, both orthodox and heterodox, dogmatize with the utmost confidence.

  Herbert Spencer

  People, Ignorant, Atheism

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