George Carlin
1. Religion easily has the best bullshit story of all time. Think about it. Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man…living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money.
2. Atheism: A non-prophet organization.
3. I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
Friedrich Nietzsche4. Which is it, is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s?
5. Faith means not wanting to know what is true.
6. Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.
Albert Einstein7. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of “humility.” This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.
8. 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, “Religion and Science”, New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930
9. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
Gandhi Quotes
10. The most henious and the must cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives.Mohandas K Gandhi, Young India, July 7, 1950, quoted from Laird Wilcox, ed., “The Degeneration of Belief”
10. The most henious and the must cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives.Mohandas K Gandhi, Young India, July 7, 1950, quoted from Laird Wilcox, ed., “The Degeneration of Belief”
11. I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mark Twain
12. It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.
12. It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.
13. A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.
14. What God lacks is convictions — stability of character. He ought to be a Presbyterian or a Catholic or something — not try to be everything.
15. Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.Mark Twain, quoted from Curmudgeon-Online
16. “In God We Trust.” I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.
Thomas Jefferson
17. Shake off all fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
17. Shake off all fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
18. We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theological concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society.
Benjamin Franklin
19. The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason: The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle. Benjamin Franklin, the incompatibility of faith and reason, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1758)
19. The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason: The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle. Benjamin Franklin, the incompatibility of faith and reason, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1758)
20. Lighthouses are more helpful then churches.
22. Those who believe absurdities will commit atrocities.
Stephen Hawking
23. Black holes would seem to suggest that God not only plays dice, but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.Stephen Hawking, NATURE, 1975
23. Black holes would seem to suggest that God not only plays dice, but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.Stephen Hawking, NATURE, 1975
24. We could call order by the name of God, but it would be an impersonal God. There’s not much personal about the laws of physics.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
25. Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay. Jiddu
25. Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay. Jiddu
Krishnamurti
26. The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear. Jiddu Krishnamurti
28. Christopher Hitchens On Jerry Falwell: If you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox.
32. Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.
26. The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear. Jiddu Krishnamurti
Christopher Hitchens
27. What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. Christopher Hitchens
27. What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. Christopher Hitchens
28. Christopher Hitchens On Jerry Falwell: If you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox.
Sigmund Freud
29. Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. Sigmund Freud
29. Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. Sigmund Freud
Karl Marx
30. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
30. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
George Bernard Shaw
31. 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. George Bernard Shaw
31. 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. George Bernard Shaw
32. Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.
Blaise Pascal
32. You’re basically killing each other to see who’s got the better imaginary friend.
40. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish. Unknown
43. The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not. Eric Hoffer
44. I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder. Bill Maher
45. There’s a phrase we live by in America: “In God We Trust”. It’s right there where Jesus would want it: on our money.
46. If we go back to the beginning, we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests. If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them. Baron D’Holbach, cited in Jonathan Miller. (2004). A Brief History of Disbelief [TV-Series].
47. If I thought the Jews killed God, I’d worship the Jews. Bill Hicks
48. Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. Isaac Asimov
49. A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition. José BergamÃn
50. One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. Arthur C. Clarke
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32. You’re basically killing each other to see who’s got the better imaginary friend.
Richard Jeni
34. 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.
34. 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.
Delos B. McKown
35. The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.
Edward Gibbon
36. Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
36. Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
Robert Ingersoll
37. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.
37. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.
Huang Po
38. The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see.
38. The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see.
Benjamin Disraeli
39. Where knowledge ends, religion begins.
39. Where knowledge ends, religion begins.
40. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish. Unknown
Dave Barry
41. If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its glories, and He decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will not use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.
41. If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its glories, and He decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will not use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.
42. 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
43. The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not. Eric Hoffer
44. I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder. Bill Maher
45. There’s a phrase we live by in America: “In God We Trust”. It’s right there where Jesus would want it: on our money.
46. If we go back to the beginning, we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests. If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them. Baron D’Holbach, cited in Jonathan Miller. (2004). A Brief History of Disbelief [TV-Series].
47. If I thought the Jews killed God, I’d worship the Jews. Bill Hicks
48. Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. Isaac Asimov
49. A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition. José BergamÃn
50. One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. Arthur C. Clarke
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20 comments:
its funny because religious people would use bible quotes that they wouldn't even follow eg:
Matthew chapter 6:25
nuff said.
I'd like to point out that some of these are NOT atheism quotes. They're simply anti-religious (which does not imply atheism!) The Ghandi quote, for example, is a quote that definitely falls in this category...
If you're a drudge fan: drudgetracker.com
#34 is not by Richard Jeni, it's by Steven Weinberg.
Otherwise, a well-compiled, if poorly edited, list.
"I've always been an atheist," says Asia. "Science explains everything. There is no meaning in life except to be the best at something."
-Pornstar Asia Carrera
@jimmy - Not to mention that a number of these quotes are from ardent believers in the Christian God (Pascal, for heaven's sake?). Whatever category these fall in, it is not a list of quotes which are supportive of atheism.
The trouble is, it's easy to say these quotes as it's easy to find people who believe in something that would do a crime just like someone else would, say an athiest.
I'm not religious myself but a lot of people seem to miss the bigger picture in that no matter who you are or what your beliefs are, everyones capable of doing bad things.
The said quotes could easily be manipulated to point at anyone, athiests, doctors, teachers and still hold a relatable amount of truth to them.
You missed out my favourite one from Richard Dawkins:
"We are all atheists about most of the Gods that man have ever believed in. Some of us just go one God further."
These aren't even atheist quotes. Most of these men were very believing.
Einstein physically assaulted a man in Berlin for suggesting he didn't believe.
Arguing that Benjamin Franklin was an atheist should carry the death penalty - it's that stupid. Read up on the guy.
It would also make a worthwile addition to this list how many people these people sent to their deaths. Gandhi let over 10 million people die, and thought all Jews should have marched straight into hitler's gas chambers.
Jefferson is another guy that was a very religious man in reality. Not in atheist fantasies obviously.
Karl Marx - his theories caused the death of over 100 million people (and that's a low estimate). Only muhammad bests him in the amount of death caused.
And these are just the ones I remember directly.
Ah, I see Jimmy already said what I was going to say...
Most of these quotes simply attack (justly) religion, and do not necessarily present, or prove, the idea that there isn't a god.
Organized religion is indeed one of the huge banes of humanity, along with humanity's own selfishness and lack of compassion for his fellow humans.
It's difficult to disagree with these.
@Jimmy L
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
A more realistic criticism is that some of these individuals were in fact religious e.g; Einstein: "God does not play dice with the universe" and "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Not that I agree with these assessments
Umm...Pascal was not an atheist, quite the opposite in fact, if you read what he wrote....
Einstein: "God does not play dice with the universe" often is quoted as a religious quote but Einstein was referring to the underlining randomness of quantum physics, which he hated even though he contributed to it, Einstein often used the word god the same way people use the words Mother Nature, talking about mother nature does not mean you believe in some pagan goddess of nature. Einstein views on god where a little trick to pin down, at most he was some kind of Deist.
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were Deist also, Thomas Jefferson seems to have been a Christian Deist and even wrote a Deist version of the bible, removing all of the super natural elements, whereas Benjamin Franklin seems to have been rather anti christian.
Karl Marxs theories said nothing about killing millions of people, not that I agree with them, just because one branch of marxism led to communist regimes which killed millions of people doesn't make him responsible, the name communism was invented by communist to express there divergence from Marxism, think of all the people who have killed in the name of christianity.
They had a good episode of Penn and Tellars Bullhs*t where they dug up any dirt on Gandhi as well as some other people, the guy came of flawed but still basically good, his worst flaws were his racist view against blacks he expressed early on, but nothing beyond what where pretty normal views at the time, he was born only four years after slaver in america ended.
As for muhammad kill millions of people, when christian critique Islam it is usually very hypocritical, in Luke 19:27 of the bible Jesus Christ says anybody who refuses to worship me should be killed, which should be of no surprise when the same book says non christians deserve to be tortured (for eternity no less).
nathanD,
You need to re-read Luke 19:27 and learn the context that it's in. Jesus is not calling for anybody that doesn't worship him to be killed. He is teaching by telling a parable of a king and his servants. Jesus very often spoke in parables and the quote you are referring to is said by the king is Jesus' story -- not Jesus himself. For a bigger picture of what's going on, you need to rely on much more than one quote that you've taken severely out of context.
I have heard that argument about Luke 19:27 before and it may be correct (there is an argument against this which I don't completely understand, something about parables are supposed to have only one point), another argument for Luke 19:27 is that he is talking about when he returns, but why does anybody care, if you believe people deserve to be tortured for eternity why would you have a problem with them being killed. Its like thinking adolf hiltler was a monster for murdering jews and homosexuals yet these same people deserve to go to hell where they are tortured for eternity.
It all makes me think that most christians deep down don't really believe what they claim and that is why they can distinguish between the real world and what happens to you in the after life. Anybody who genuinely believes people who do not share their world view deserves to be tortured for eternity is a monster and my experience with most christians is that they are not.
I used to be an atheist, then I realized I was God
Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that
certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything --
anything -- be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in. -Sam Harris, author (1967- )
I'd call these secular humanist quotes rather than atheist, but good post nontheless. cheers!
The first George Carlin quote is not written entirely accurately. Better to watch the source in the video, if someone hasn't already said this.
@tomcpp
Gandhi did not want Jews to march to Hitler's killing devices; he hated hitler and said there was never a man so evil in human history. Mahatma Gandhi said that the Jews should not impose themselves on the Arabs, because do aren't Jews from France French, just like Christians from England English?
This goes to Tomccp...Do you think Jefferson was religious honestly or was he a man that realized that if anything would have gotten him into office it would be god?
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