Religion Quotes

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  Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

  Voltaire

  Life, Peace, Atheist

  "Questions sur les miracles (Questions/Letters on miracles)". Book by Voltaire (1765), as translated by Norman Lewis Torrey in his book "Les Philosophes. The Philosophers of the Enlightenment and Modern Democracy" (pp. 277-278), 1961.

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• I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.

  Frank Lloyd Wright

  God, Atheist, Nature

  Quote magazine, August 14, 1966.

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• After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Religious, Atheist, Philosophical

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• And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, God, Spiritual

  Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.554, Psychology Press

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• When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.

  Desmond Tutu

  Bible, Prayer, Eye

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• The hands that help are better far than lips that pray.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Atheist, Hands, Atheism

  Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.886, Library of Alexandria

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• Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.

  H. L. Mencken

  Motivational, Atheism, Matter

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• 

  I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.

  Gerry Spence

  Life, Faith, Religious

  "How to Argue and Win Every Time". Book by Gerry Spence, 1995.

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• 

  The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.

  C. S. Lewis

  God, Christian, Thinking

  C. S. Lewis (2012). “The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics”, p.64, HarperCollins UK

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• 

  Religion. It's given people hope in a world torn apart by religion.

  Jon Stewart

  Death, Hope, Atheist

  "The Daily Show". www.imdb.com. 1996 - ....

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• 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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• With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

  Steven Weinberg

  God, Religious, Atheist

  "Behaving Badly? Stop Using Religion as an Excuse!" by Roy Speckhardt, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 2, 2014.

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• Biblical backing for Mormon behavior is easy to find, although Mark Twain is reported to have denied its legitimacy to a Mormon. The Mormon claimed polygamy was perfectly moral and he defied Twain to cite any passage of Scripture which forbade it. 'Well,' said Twain, 'how about that passage that tells us no man can serve two masters at the same time?'

  Dennis McKinsey

  Biblical, Men, Two

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• But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?

  Mark Twain

  Funny, Sympathy, Spiritual

  Mark Twain (2012). “Autobiographical Writings”, p.338, Penguin

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• I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind.

  H. L. Mencken

  Religious, Believe, Mankind

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• An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.

  John Buchan

  Funny, Atheist, Humorous

  Quoted in Harry E. Fosdick, On Being a Real Person (1943)

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• I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.

  Galileo Galilei

  Spiritual, Atheist, Believe

  "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina". Essay by Galileo Galilei, 1615.

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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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• The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence.

  Aldous Huxley

  Believe, Mind, Atheism

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• In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Inspirational, Life, Birthday

  "Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness".

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• We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.

  H. L. Mencken

  Beautiful, Respect, Religious

  Minority Report: H. L. Mencken's Notebooks (1956)

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• We would be 1,500 years ahead if it hadn't been for the church dragging science back by its coattails and burning our best minds at the stake.

  Catherine Fahringer

  Atheist, Science, Years

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• In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken..."

  Carl Sagan

  Change, Science, Theoretical Physics

  Keynote address at CSICOP conference, 1987.

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• Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

  Epicurus

  God, Spiritual, Religious

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• This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

  Dalai Lama

  Inspirational, Uplifting, Spiritual

  "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology by and about the Dalai Lama" edited by Sidney Piburn, (p.52), 1990.

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