Best 2951 quotes in «atheism quotes» category

The impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for 
the existence of God.

The impression forces itself upon one that men measure by false standards, that everyone seeks power, success, riches for himself, and admires others who attain them, while undervaluing the truly precious thing in life.

The infantile cowardice of our time which demands an external pattern, a nonhuman authority.

The influence of the leaders is due in very small measure to the arguments they employ, but in a large degree to their prestige. The best proof of this is that, should they by any circumstance lose their prestige, their influence disappears.

The inner defenses are unconscious. They consist of a kind of magic aura which the mind builds around cherished belief. Arguments which penetrate into the magic aura are not dealt with rationally but by a specific type of pseudo-reasoning. Absurdities and contradictions are made acceptable by specious rationalizations.

The insistence on truthfulness does not disturb the freedom of the individual. The social obligation implied in Satyagraha turns the freedom of the individual into moral freedom. An atheist is free to say or to do what he likes, provided he does what he says and says what he does. So, in the context of social relations, the freedom of the individual is moral freedom.

The intellectual who no longer feels attached to anything is not satisfied with opinion merely; he wants certainty, he wants a system. The revolution provides him with his opium.

Theism is so confused and the sentences in which "God" appears so incoherent and so incapable of verifiability or falsifiability that to speak of belief or unbelief, faith or unfaith, is logically impossible.

Their moral influence will then do infinitely more to advance the true interests of religion, than any measures which they may call on Congress to enact.

Theism, as a way of conceiving God, has become demonstrably inadequate, and the God of theism not only is dying but is probably not revivable. If the religion of the future depends on keeping alive the definitions of theism, then the human phenomenon that we call religion will have come to an end. If Christianity depends on a theistic definition of God, then we must face the fact that we are watching this noble religious system enter the rigor mortis of its own death throes.

Theism tells men that they are the slaves of a God. Atheism assures men that they are the investigators and users of nature.

The kind of sermon which is preached in most colored churches is not today attractive to even fairly intelligent men.

The kind of propaganda that some of the religious groups, aided and abetted by the opposition, put forth in that campaign utterly disgusted me. If I needed anything to show me what prejudice can do to the intelligence of human beings that campaign was the best lesson I could have had.

The language of theism which was familiar to the people, gave Gandhi the advantage of easy communication with the people, but it is atheistic in principle. It could have been the starting point for the atheistic movement in the modern age.

The largest party in America, by the way, is neither the Democrats nor the Republicans. It's the party of non-voters.

The last election just laid the foundation of the next 500 years of Dark Ages.

The laws that keep us safe, these same laws condemn us to boredom.

The less reasonable a cult is, the more men seek to establish it by force.

The lesson taught us by these kindly commentators on my present experience is that dogmatic faith compels the best minds and hearts to narrowness and insolence.

The liberties of none are safe unless the liberties of all are protected.

The lights went out in his eyes for absolutely the very last time ever.

The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced that which you thought would deliver the ultimate, and it has just let you down.

The love of individual freedom has stood in the way of the appreciation of social obligations.

The majority, being satisfied with the ways of mankind as they now are (for it is they who make them what they are), cannot comprehend why those ways should not be good enough for everybody; and what is more, spontaneity forms no part of the ideal of the majority of moral and social reformers, but is rather looked on with jealousy, as a troublesome and perhaps rebellious obstruction to the general acceptance of what these reformers, in their own judgment, think would be best for mankind.

The majority has no right to impose its religion on the rest. That's a tradition as sacred as the Constitution itself to this country.

The man who has no mind of his own lends it to the priests.

The mechanic, when a wheel refuses to turn, never thinks of dropping on his knees and asking the assistance of some divine power. He knows there is a reason. He knows that something is too large or too small; that there is something wrong with his machine; and he goes to work and he makes it larger or smaller, here or there, until the wheel will turn.

The ministers, who preached at these revivals, were in earnest. They were zealous and sincere. They were not philosophers. To them science was the name of a vague dread - a dangerous enemy. They did not know much, but they believed a great deal.

The mixing of government and religion can be a threat to free government, even if no one is forced to participate.... When the government puts its imprimatur on a particular religion, it conveys a message of exclusion to all those who do not adhere to the favored beliefs. A government cannot be premised on the belief that all persons are created equal when it asserts that God prefers some.

The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity.

The minister today preached about death and judgment, and what would become of those who behaved improperly - and somehow it scared me. He preached such an awful sermon I didn't think I should ever see you again until the Judgment Day. The subject of perdition seemed to please him somehow.

The moment you introduce a despotism in the world of thought, you succeed in making hypocrites - and you get in such a position that you never know what your neighbor thinks.

The moral decisions of others should be treated with respect, as long as such decisions do not conflict with the principle of tolerance.

The morality of an act is a function of the state of the system at the time it is performed.

The mob shouts with one big mouth and eats with a thousand little ones.

The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion.

The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator. Science brings men nearer to God.

The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.

The more thoroughly I conduct scientific research, the more I believe that science excludes atheism.

The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.

The most genuine and efficacious charity is that which greases the paws of the priests; such charity covers a multitude of sins.

The more I study science, the more I believe in God.

The more specific idea of Evolution now reached is - a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.

The most malicious kind of hatred is that which is built upon a theological foundation.

The most popular argument in all these papers was the assertion ... that Christianity had grown and prospered in spite of the opposition of the State.

The most pernicious of absurdities is that weak, blind, stupid faith is better than the constant practice of every human virtue.

The mystic sees the ineffable, and the psychopathologist the unspeakable.

The movement of comets is part of the ordinary works of nature which, without regard to the happiness or misery of mankind, are transported from one part of the heavens to another by virtue of the general laws of motion.

The mysteries of the faith are not to [be] explained rashly to anyone. Usually in fact, they cannot be understood by everyone but only by those who are qualified to understand them with informed intelligence. The depth of the divine Scriptures is such that not only the illiterate and uninitiated have difficulty understanding them, but also the educated and the gifted.

The National Socialist Movement has wrought this miracle. If Almighty God granted success to this work, then the Party was His instrument.