Here guys, this is a list of quotes (or rather, attacks from God) that God created in order to test your faith.

* "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, accept it and live up to it." -- Buddha

* "Religion is an attempt to get control over the sensory world, in which we are placed, by means of the wish-world which we have developed inside us as a result of biological and psychological necessities." -- Sigmund Freud

* "Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires." -- Sigmund Freud

* "The Church says the Earth is flat. But I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the Moon. And I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church." -- Magellan

* "I have seldom met an intelligent person whose views were not narrowed and distorted by religion." -- James Buchanan

* "I don't believe in God because I don't believe in Mother Goose." -- Clarence Darrow

* "I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God." -- Thomas Edison

* "I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms." -- Albert Einstein

* "The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell

* "It is easier to suppose that the universe has existed for all eternity than to conceive a being beyond its limits capable of creating it." -- Percy Bysshe Shelley

* "Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence." -- Richard Dawkins

* "The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see." -- Huang Po

* “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” -- Stephen F. Roberts

* "The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- GB Shaw

* "Faith is believing what you know ain't so." -- Mark Twain

* "Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate." -- Penn Jillette

* "The first step towards philosophy is incredulity." -- Denis Diderot

* "Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it." -- Thomas Paine

* "I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." -- Frank Lloyd Wright

* "To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition." -- Woody Allen

* "God is, to me, pretty much a myth created over time to deny the idea that we're all responsible for our own actions." -- Seth Green

* "Religion easily has the greatest bull# story ever told." -- George Carlin

* "How on earth can religious people believe in so much arbitrary, clearly invented balderdash? The acceptance of a creed, any creed, entitles the acceptor to membership in the sort of artificial extended family we call a congregation. It is a way to fight loneliness. Any time I see a person fleeing from reason and into religion, I think to myself, There goes a person who simply cannot stand being so goddamned lonely anymore." -- KVJr.

* "I know why I will become bitter. I will finally realize that I have had it right all along: that I will not see God, that there is no heaven or Judgement Day." -- KVJr.

* "If I were asked for a one-sentence soundbite on religion, I would say I was against it." -- Salman Rushdie

* "Once people get hung up on theology, they've lost sanity forever." -- Gore Vidal

* "Being an atheist makes someone a clearer thinking, fairer person. They [atheists] are not doing things to be rewarded in heaven; they're doing things because they're right, because they live by a moral code." -- Ricky Gervais

* "Religion has caused more harm than any other idea since the beginning of time. There's nothing good I can say about it. People use it as a crutch." -- Larry Flynt

* "If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult than religion." -- Edmond de Goncourt

* "How can one argue vigorously against an absurdly childish notion without betraying that one actually takes the issue seriously? Had Galileo not recanted, he might then have proved himself a sort of religious fanatic after all." -- Matt Berry

* "The position of the atheist is a clear and reasonable one. I know nothing about God and therefore I do not believe in Him or it. What you tell me about your God is self-contradictory and is therefore incredible. I do not deny "God," which is an unknown tongue to me. I do deny your God, who is an impossibility. I am without God." -- Annie Wood Besant

* "Do not all theists insist that there can be no morality, no justice, honesty or fidelity without the belief in a Divine Power? Based upon fear and hope, such morality has always been a vile product, imbued partiy with self-righteousness, partly with hypocrisy." -- Emma Goldman

* "No man who ever lived knows any more about the hereafter ... than you and I; and all religion ... is simply evolved out of chicanery, fear, greed, imagination and poetry." -- Edgar Allan Poe

* "No religious organizations shall receive any privileges from the state nor exercise any political authority. No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious act, celebration, rite or practice. The state and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity." -- Japan

* "I'm not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful. Reviewing the false claims of religion I do not wish, as some sentimental agnostics affect to wish, that they were true. I do not envy believers their faith. I am relieved to think that the whole story is a sinister fairy tale; life would be miserable if what the faithful affirmed was actually the case." -- Christopher Hitchens

Originally posted by crazyjames65
we only Have one God, one Jesus, and that is what I was taught.
That's what you were told, and you swallowed it hook line and sinker, like the good little christian your told to be.

ok, let me explain: it is my personal choice to beleive this.

38% of the world populous is christian. The rest isn't. That's 62% (the majority) of the world does not believe in a christian god, the bible, or even Jesus, for that matter.

so are you saying 62% are atheists? thats a lot of people.

on that thought maybe 2012 really does an impact.

All religious people are starting to be critisized for our beleifs. Yes I see
it happening and it is not funny.

do you see the word critisized? and then

whats left, to rule Christians can't speak or express them selfs? "The monent after" then satan himself can rule "left behind" , is it me or does anyone else see this?

For me, it is perfectly accceptable to have a persons beliefs tested.

Let's be honest about this - christianity like most religions is only popular because it is indoctrinated to children when they do not understand anything else. Okay - some people find religion later - but most because it is the indoctrination from early years. Dawkins calls it child abuse - I think this is alittle strong.

Religion is inclusive and therefore devisive and opiniated. I am an agnostic and I treat everyone the same. Can you ssay te same? or do you get priveledges in your christian club?

Open your eyes and look at the people who believd in the greek gods or the viking gods. They are no different to yourself. Christianity is just another mythology.

Open your eyes and criticise the bible - in old testament there is a nasty, spiteful god who doesn't think twice about sending a flood to killing everyone for a few bad eggs. But I suspect you have already cherry picked the part of the bible that you believe. So why have you chosen these?

Another key questions, do humans need a mythology anf the answer is probably yes.

For me, it is perfectly accceptable to have a persons beliefs tested.

Let's be honest about this - christianity like most religions is only popular because it is indoctrinated to children when they do not understand anything else. Okay - some people find religion later - but most because it is the indoctrination from early years. Dawkins calls it child abuse - I think this is alittle strong.

Religion is inclusive and therefore devisive and opiniated. I am an agnostic and I treat everyone the same. Can you ssay te same? or do you get priveledges in your christian club?

Open your eyes and look at the people who believd in the greek gods or the viking gods. They are no different to yourself. Christianity is just another mythology.

Open your eyes and criticise the bible - in old testament there is a nasty, spiteful god who doesn't think twice about sending a flood to killing everyone for a few bad eggs. But I suspect you have already cherry picked the part of the bible that you believe. So why have you chosen these?

Another key questions, do humans need a mythology anf the answer is probably yes.

Originally posted by warrenb
As per the topic title, rightly so. Religion is a deadly cancer. More people have been killed in the name of religion than any disease or pestilence on earth.
Believe in fantasy all you want but don't expect people to feel sorry for you or to sympathize with you when those beliefs are questioned or criticized.

and for what "religion" did over 20 million Russians die during the reign of Stalin?...or the millions who died during the cultural revolution in China under Mao or the millions upon millions who died in world war II (which was not a religious war) - or the millions who died of plague in Europe, not to mention malaria in the tropical regions, as well as the many outbreaks of other deadly diseases that have occurred over the centuries - in point of fact your statement that more people have died because of religion is patently false...but its the usual cliche that folk use without thinking....

the "deadly cancer" is that of passing on a false idea simply because one has mentally assented to it without the least bit of objective thought or research - something which is practiced daily by both secular and non-secular folk - and which your post is an example of .....I can prove your statement to be false by also pointing out that religious people are a made up of a variety of complex individuals - coming from different points of view and have had as people and organizations both a positive and negative effect on their social environments - so your statement and is an attack without merit on an entire group of people with varying degrees of committment, interest and again without merit ....

I don't "expect anyone to feel sorry" - but I wonder why you bring that up? - the OP wasn't asking for symptathy - simply some understanding....why is that such a threatening request?....Criticism is one thing but your post is not criticism - its a propaganda meme....

Yes, Christianity is increasingly being attacked.
People in general are sensing a change.

Christianity is the religion of the astrological sign of Pices.
We are coming to the end of that and are entering Acquarious.
It is simply time to put away the old and welcome the new.

There will always be hold-outs, so if you do not wish to be attacked for your beliefs - keep them to yourself and be prepared to become a member of a very small group.

Know the truth and the truth will set you free;
but first it will make you very angry.

I’ve used this analogy before so forgive me if it sounds repetitive to you. Imagine you graduate high school and go to college and the majority of the students at your school still believe in Santa, despite their being no tangible evidence that Santa has ever existed. You’ve given up this belief of Santa in elementary, so it is very frustrating for you to deal with adults who insist Santa is real and that you must be nice and not naughty all year or Santa will punish you. You must live by the will of this Santa, not because living by Santa’s will is in anyway logical, but because this is what Santa and your faith in him tells you, so you must believe everyone in the world who does not abide by this notion is wrong.

I don’t think there is wide spread criticism of religious people. You are the majority for the moment, Christians, Catholics, Muslims, etc. This majority is often critical of everyone who does not believe in their God and usually is critical of other worshipped deities. To people on the outside you are all squabbling over an invisible man, when we point this out you have the nerve to think we are being critical. Well I guess we are, but we are being logically critical, considering reason, while you are being critical because a very old, contradictive book has told you to be so- or so you seem to assume.

Note. I’m not expressing that all religious people are this way, however many are and it creates a huge backlash, which stems from those religious people’s own actions and imposing convictions.

Criticized? or Challenged? Two very very different things. I think you most certainly should be challenged on your beliefs, if you're going to follow something so...seemingly outrageous you should be able to fully defend it. You should know it inside and out, especially those who claim to be devout.

Claiming an immaterial being created the Universe in 6 days is QUITE a lofty story; and that's just the Christians.

If you aren't being challenged on your beliefs, if you aren't questioning them, how will you ever know what you truly believe?

Its amazing how a minority that has been discriminated against and persecuted for thousands of years angers the religious majority by questioning the validity of faith.

Isn't the real issue the fact that if numbers are correct, in a generation or two, the church will not have many followers left?

Christianity is dying...

You realize that if you never mentioned your faith, people could never be critical of your views?

I know you think that sounds like crap, but try keeping your beliefs secret out of fear of persecution for thousands of years... then you'll understand why the minority is getting more outspoken.

After all, Atheists didn't get famous by burning Christians at the stake you know...

Thank you Grandma and all the other good people here, I was starting to think that no one had an idea was I was trying to say.

I think that religion Is an easy target, whether deserved or not. In my humble oppinion people have become to wise for the fear induced penalty system of old. There is need for something a little more responsible. Those unexperienced heaven lust missionaries really have a knack for condescention. Their glossy eyed approach makes my spidey sense go wild. I will always oppose the spoiled orthodox masses with there utopean lust of purity. What is the light without dark? I worship grey and educate about a world of enlightened truth seekers who would rather die than inflict there wanton destiny on the innocent.

I believe the Lord got me ready when I was young ..
I was very ugly,pudgy,had pimples all over my face and warts on my hand.
I was a tomboy too ....my first time in real school (I was homeschooled until around 9 or 10 .Everyone made fun of me .......three boys on the first day of school got me cornered in the playground and lifted my dress up so everyone could see my undies in front of all the kids playing ..(I hated dresses and this was the first time I had ever worn one) .......then in 6th or 7th grade ...there was 4 girls who ganged up on me and step on the back of my shoes,pull my earrings out of my ears .....trip me ...all day everyday all year long .....
Then I grew up got married and he beat me several times a week sometimes twice on a weekend ....then the next hubby ...did even worse to me ..(And of course there was alot more in my childhood that I dont have enough room to write even it is so long ) ...


So I am ready ......I have been prepared (or so it seems) .....I grew some pretty thick skin through all of that .....I am sure that God knows what we can take and what we cannot ...he is with us ..so what do we have to fear ?
PRAYING FOR YOU ALL ...for strength to endure unto the end ..like the bible says we need to do ...

Originally posted by crazyjames65
so are you saying 62% are atheists? thats a lot of people.

First, please make use of the quote button for anything you want to quote that someone else posts. Makes it much easier to figure out what is coming from you and what is coming from someone else. By just doing a copy and paste, which appears to be what you have been doing, it makes it difficult to follow what you are saying and what it is in response to. Just a friendly heads up as you appear to be new here at ATS.

I don't think the other poster meant to imply that 62% of the world's population is atheist, but rather that 62% do not believe the same things Christians do. Which is a true statement assuming the percentage is correct. With as many religions as there are out there, it simply doesn't make sense to think that 62% are atheists.

Back to the original topic, I don't see Christians or Christianity being criticized any more than any other religion. The difference is that there appears to be a larger Christian population here at ATS than any other religion, therefore there are many more threads devoted to Christianity in general.

{The difference is that there appears to be a larger Christian population here at ATS than any other religion, therefore there are many more threads devoted to Christianity in general.}


I think we need to do a poll on that .....I really dont think there are that many believers here as there are New Age and Athiest and Agnostics ....
Most of the posts are Atheists posting Christian posts (rants,cut downs,questions etc) which makes it seem like there are lots of Christians because there are so many threads about them ....

I beleive in Jesus and not peter-pan flying around.