Post a religious quote (for or against)

"Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination."
Edward Abbey


"It's hard to be religious when so many people are not struck down by lightning."
Calvin,"Calvin and Hobbes".


"If religion cannot restrain evil, it cannot claim effective power for good."
Morris Cohen


"Faith is often the boast of the man who is too lazy to investigate."
F.M. Knowles


"Faith is a euphemism for prejudice and religion is a euphemism for superstition."
Paul Keller


"Beliefs are what divide people. Doubt unites them."
Peter Ustinov


"A cult is a religion with no political power."
Tom Wolfe


"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick


God favors no group. Only religions do that.
Bumper Sticker


"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike."
Delo McKown


I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, petty -- I call it the one mortal blemish of mankind.
Friedrich Nietzsche


I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true, for if so, the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.
Charles Darwin


"Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism"
Isaac Asimov


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Longer version of the original quote I posted:


"This most beautiful System of the Sun, Planets and Comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being ... He is Eternal and Infinite, Omnipotent and Omniscient; that is, his duration reaches from Eternity to Eternity; his presence from Infinity to Infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done." ~ Sir Issac Newton, General Scholium/Principia*(1729) Vol. 2, pp. 388-90

*Perhaps the greatest scientific text of all time


If you will, along those same anthropic lines -

"if we double the mass of the electron, life as we know it will disappear. If we change the strength of the interaction between protons and electrons, life will disappear. Why are there three space dimensions and one time dimension? If we had four space dimensions and one time dimension, then planetary systems would be unstable and our version of life would be impossible. If we had two space dimensions and one time dimension, we would not exist" Andrei Linde (Professor of Physics)

Not necessarily religious, but for a lot of people, it's [one of the many] 'reasons' for seeking such. Others may think them 'anthropic coincidences' but, I digress.

Since belief is involuntary, religion is culture.
--Knowledgeforall

reply to post by Rren


Thanks for posting!
Some of these quotes allude to your comments:

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?' Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.'
Carl Sagan

“The supreme arrogance of religious thinking: that a carbon-based bag of mostly water on a speck of iron-silicate dust around a boring dwarf star in a minor galaxy … would look up at the sky and declare, ‘It was all made just so that I could exist!’”
Physicist Peter Walker

"Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people."
Carl Sagan

"That innocent Bible tells about the Creation. Of what -- the universe? Yes, the universe. In six days!
God did it. He did not call it the universe -- that name is modern. His whole attention was upon this world. He constructed it in five days -- and then? It took him only one day to make twenty million suns and eighty million planets!
What were they for -- according to this idea? To furnish light for this little toy-world. That was his whole purpose; he had no other. One of the twenty million suns (the smallest one) was to light it in the daytime, the rest were to help one of the universe's countless moons modify the darkness of its nights."
Mark Twain

"If we go back to the beginnings of things, we shall always find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that imagination, rapture and deception embellished them; that weakness worships them; that custom spares them; and that tyranny favors them in order to profit from the blindness of men."
— Paul-Henri, baron d'Holbach; The System of Nature

"Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination."
Edward Abbey

Originally posted by Knowledgeforall
Since belief is involuntary, religion is culture.
--Knowledgeforall

or

"Mankind cannot be saved by religion because religion is slavery".
Anon

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. -Daniel 12:4

Isaac Newton, regarding the Biblical prophecy:

Personally, I cannot but believe these words concerning the end of the times. One sign of the end will be a remarkable increase in methods of getting about. Men will travel from country to country in an unprecedented manner. There may be some inventions which will enable people to travel much more quickly than they do now.

Voltaire, an ardent critic of Christianity, writes in reply to Newton:

See what a fool Christianity makes of an otherwise brilliant man. Here a scientist like Newton actually writes that men may travel at the rate of fifteen or twenty miles an hour. Has he forgotten that if a man would travel at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, he would be suffocated? His heart would stand still.

----------

Oops. Voltaire got punked by technology.

Here's another one from good old Voltaire:

What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason."

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by AshleyD


Ah yes Mr Newton -its a great shame that the genius completely wasted his remaining years in a futile attempt to try and prove biblical mythology and Usher's ludicrous assumptions that the creation of the universe began in 3760 B.C.

Just think what else he could have acheived instead.

reply to post by Bigwhammy

Heres a good one from Victor Hugo:

To crush out fanaticism and revere the infinite, such is the law. Let us not confine ourselves to falling prostrate beneath the tree of creation and contemplating its vast ramifications full of stars. We have a duty to perform, to cultivate the human soul, to defend mystery against miracle, to adore the incomprehensible and to reject the absurd; to admit nothing that is inexplicable excepting what is necessary, to purify faith and obliterate superstition from the face of religion, to remove the vermin from the garden of God.
Victor Hugo

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Originally posted by karl 12
reply to post by AshleyD

 

Ah yes Mr Newton -its a great shame that the genius completely wasted his remaining years in a futile attempt to try and prove biblical mythology and Usher's ludicrous assumptions that the creation of the universe began in 3760 B.C.

Just think what else he could have acheived instead.

Wow you missed the whole point -perhaps you should reread the 2 quotes she posted - - Voltaire looks like an idiot and Newton is completely vindicated for his ideas concerning the Biblical prophecy by Daniel. Unless youn also believe that man would suffocate if he traveled at 15 mph?

reply to post by Bigwhammy


I wasn't even referring to Daniel and his (painfully obvious) quote.

I was refering to Newton completely wasting the remaining years of his life attempting to prove biblical "mythology" and trying to vindicate Bishop Usher's (non objective,non scientific,agenda driven)
opinion that the universe began in 3760 B.C.

I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us-then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls.
The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir. [Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark]

reply to post by Knowledgeforall


Knowledgeforall-thats a truly great (and very relevant) quote.
Thanks for posting!

Theres a very real danger that 'religious end times fanaticism' through action (or inaction) could well encourage superstitious opinion to become self fulfilling prophesy.

Very eloquently put -Carl Sagan was an extremely wise man.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Disclaimer: I'm a theist but not of the Abrahamic faiths. I have minor biblical scholar and scriptural skills. Also I am not a scientific/legal or medical expert in any field. Beware of my Contagious Memes! & watch out that you don't get cut on my Occams razor.All of this is my personal conjecture and should not be considered the absolute or most definitive state of things as they really are. Use this information at your own risk! I accept no liability if your ideology comes crashing down around you with accompanying consequences!

Explanation: Starred and Flagged:

From the First SubGenius World Convention 1981. What brand did Jesus smoke?

[organ plays softly in background]

Reverend Bob: Now I ask you!...I ask you sir or lady!...

[cheers from audience]

Reverend Bob: Thank you!...What brand?...What brand did Jesus smoke?

[shouts of confusion from audience]

Reverend Bob: You didn't know that one did ya!...Did your preacher know that Jesus smoked Chesterfields!

[garbled shouts from audience]

Reverend Bob: Did you know that smoking is a SIN!..Unless its Chesterfields!

[garbled shouts from audience]

Reverend Bob: Now Jesus...Jesus, Jesus... he's a smoker and yet they did not exist 2000 years ago...WE MUST ACCEPT THIS ON FAITH!

[shouts of approval from audience]

Reverend Bob: There is...there is no logical explanation for it...there's no
logical explanation for it....YOU DON'T USE YOUR MIND TO THINK ABOUT YOUR RELIGION!

[more shouts of approval from audience].

Transcribed by me from the audio file found Here! [Church of the SubGenius]

Personal Disclosure: With the smorgasboard of religions out there, you are sure to find one that fits your mindset.

Originally posted by karl 12
reply to post by Knowledgeforall

 

Knowledgeforall-thats a truly great (and very relevant) quote.
Thanks for posting!

Theres a very real danger that 'religious end times fanaticism' through action (or inaction) could well encourage superstitious opinion to become self fulfilling prophesy.

Very eloquently put -Carl Sagan was an extremely wise man.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Thanks and you're welcome, karl 12.

Carl Sagan is one of the best sociologically analytic men I have known. He linked the religious tendency of humans to natural selection before any one else that I am aware of in The Gardens of Eden. He was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.

I fear the collapse of society into an age of superstition and religious dogma, as well.

I recently concluded that belief is an involuntary function of the brain's learning process. Then religion is cultural conduct code passed down through generations.

"The world is a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell God with the wrong blocks."
-Edwin Robinson


"Nothing wrong with Christianity that getting rid of the Christians wouldn't fix!"
-Paula Wall

"Baptists are like fleas!" Charlotte flared. "Impossible to get rid of and irritationg as hell!"
"On Judgment Day," Lettie said smugly, "I have no doubt the burn will take your mind off the itch."
-Paula Wall

"If Satan himself dropped by unexpected, a Southern lady would whip up a devil's food cake and invite him to stay for supper."
-Paula Wall


"If there were no God, there would be no atheists!
-G.K. Chesterton


"They say...A sinner is someone who knows God - A priest is someone in search of him!"
-The Proposition (Movie)


"A man said to the Universe: "Sir I exist."
"however," replied the Universe, "The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
-Stephen Crane from "War is Kind" 1899


"Religion is for those scared of hell.
Spirituality is for those who have been there!"
-Anonymous


"Men reject their prophets and slay them,
But they love their martyrs and honour those whom they have slain."
-Dostoyevsky

I'll just add my own quote. It's not perfect or as enlightened as the great quotes I've read so far, but here goes:

Faith is hoping you know everything you need to know.

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
Epicurus 340 - 270 BCE

"The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine.

In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills."

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814


[edit on 2/6/09 by BlackOps719]

Originally posted by Knowledgeforall
He [Carl Sagan] linked the religious tendency of humans to natural selection before any one else that I am aware of in The Gardens of Eden. He was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.

Julian Huxley, in 1959:
“In the evolutionary pattern of thought there is no longer either need or room for the supernatural. The earth was not created: it evolved. So did all the animals and plants that inhabit it, including our human selves, mind and soul as well as brain and body. So did religion.”


He most likely isn't the first to link the two either. I guess you could say that Hume beat 'em all (even Darwin) with his, The Natural History of Religion in 1757.

Speaking of Huxleys and quotes, Julian's granpa, the 'bulldog' himself:

"May your shadow never be less, and may all your enemies, unbelieving dogs who resist the Prophet of Evolution, be defiled by the sitting of jackasses upon their grandmother’s graves!” ~ T.H. Huxley

Originally posted by Knowledgeforall


I fear the collapse of society into an age of superstition and religious dogma, as well.

Both have been with us for as long as there has been an us to be religious and/or superstitious; you worry too much. "The sun will come out tomorrow. Bet yer bottom dollar..." ~Lil' Orphan Annie


... back on topic:



"Give a boy a hammer and he discovers the whole world needs hammering. Give an intellectual enthusiast a really big idea and he discovers it explains just about everything." ~Richard John Neuhaus



"with the view that each species has been independently created. To my mind it accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the Creator, that the production and extinction of the past and present inhabitants of the world should have been due to secondary causes, like those determining the birth and death of the individual." Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859)




“I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws…What I’m really interested in is knowing whether God could have created the world in a different way?” ~Albert Einstein


[edit on Sat Feb 7 2009 by Rren]