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A few quotations on the subject of religion. Most are from famous persons.
Others are from less famous people. And some are from ordinary people like you and me.
Other quotations are available under the name of the author.
"It was Nietzsche who told us God was dead, but he would be laughing in his grave if he knew how many are still heaving over the corpse, frantically trying to revive it."
— Andy
"Morality is doing what is right, regardless what we are told.
Religious dogma is doing what we are told, no matter what is right."— Elka Ruth Enola
"It is easier to be born again than to grow up."
— Unknown
CBC Newsworld, 2004-01-02, 17:45
"Faith is the very antithesis of reason, injudiciousness a critical component of spiritual devotion. And when religious fanaticism supplants ratiocination, all bets are suddenly off. Anything can happen. Absolutely anything. Common sense is no match for the voice of God..."
— Jon Krakauer
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
as quoted by James Randi in Why I Deny Religion...
"...the canard that godliness and goodliness are linked in any way but typographically must be taken on faith, for no evidence supports it."
— Natalie Angier
Confessions of a Lonely Atheist — New York Times Magazine, 2001-01-14
See also: Confessions of a Lonely Atheist — News Archive, 2001-01
"As a devout Thorian, I do not work on Thursdays."
— Thurston Day, leader, Canadian Hammer & Lightning Party
(Note to the irony challenged: This fictional quotation is a joke.)
"Believing in a personal God makes life very comfortable and cozy. The believer has no problems, no questions, no troubling doubts and tormenting confusions. And so he is the spiritual equivalent of a cow contentedly chewing her cud in her grassy field, content with the divinely destined nature of all things clearly meant for her benefit, the gift of a beneficent Being, unaware that a short distance away, out of sight from the meadow, the butcher is carefully grinding his axe."
— Ralph Estling
Templeton and the AAAS
in Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 24, #4, 2000
"What is the difference between a 'true' religion and a 'cult'?
'True' religions are the ones whose spurious origins have been obscured by time."— Dean Austin
"If god created me in his image, I have more than returned the compliment."
— Betty Bowers
www.bettybowers.com
"...sentimentality, nostalgia, and respect for past greatness are insufficient reasons for our continuing to hold to the old beliefs. They can now be seen for what they are, manmade fairy tales that survived because they helped solidify group cohesion. Society is becoming organized on a global scale, and the old culture-based organizing principles are becoming subsumed in a new and more inclusive global ethic....As the old gods recede, a new sense of the unity of all humanity is taking hold. "
— Carl Coon
The Suspension of Disbelief and the Origin of Culture
in Free Inquiry, Vol. 23, # 2, Spring 2003.
"...it is not true that religion is the only, or even a viable, quest for ethics. In fact, it is not a quest at all, since it is based on arbitrary sets of rules and on the enforcement of dogmas."
— Massimo Pigliucci
in a review of S. J. Gould's "Rock of Ages"
in Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 23, #6, 1999
"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?"
— David Hume
"To be moral and a good citizen does not require the belief in a supreme being."
— Alexander Bisset
"There is no better tool for beating plowshares into swords than the Bible."
— John A. Stanley
"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."
— Thomas Jefferson, February 10, 1814
See the discussion of secular American government
at the Archiving Early America web site
"While many mysteries of human existence remain, they are puzzles to be solved, not impenetrable justifications for continuing ignorance."
"Peace on Earth? Not as long as there are religions."
— Judith Hayes
from her September 1998 column 'Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition'
The Happy Heretic
"Gods and their examples are not needed by those who respect themselves and, consequently, respect others. Gods are for children, for little fearful people, for those who would have no responsibility to themselves or their fellows."
— Michael Moorcock, English fantasy and science fiction writer
"Life in Lubbock, Texas taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth. And you should save it for someone you love."
— Butch Hancock
"A society without religion is like a crazed psychopath without a loaded .45."
— Mike Beebe
"Every sperm is sacred
Every sperm is great
If a sperm is wasted
God gets quite irate."from the Monty Python movie The Meaning of Life
"Religion is the original pseudo-science."
— David Rand
"Theology is to philosophy as Cheez Whiz is to food.
Religion is to science as astrology is to astronomy."— [unknown]
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