GodAnon

Four Huge Fakes Demons- if Christianity is true, then demons must exist.  Angels- if Christianity is true, then angels must exist.  Miracles- if Christianity is true, then miracles should be a major part of our lives.  Prayer- If Christianity is true, then prayer must be effective.  http://new.exchristian.net/2018/10/the-four-count-take-down-of-christianity.html? Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“Christianity persecuted, tortured, and burned. Like a hound it tracked the very scent of heresy. It kindled wars, and nursed furious hatreds and ambitions. It sanctified, quite like Mohammedanism, extermination and tyranny . . . ” —-George Santayana, philosopher (1863-1952), Little Essays, No. 107, "Christian Morality" Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

The “Lemon Test” endures. “If any of the three prongs of the Lemon Test are violated by an act of government, it is unconstitutional:  1) It must have a secular legislative purpose;  2) Its principal or primary effect must neither advance nor inhibit religion;  3) It must not foster excessive entanglement between government and religion.” —The Lemon Test, promulgated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 US 602 (1971) Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

Mercier:   But what about morality? Payne:   First you adduce morality as a proof of God, and then cite God in support of morality. You reason in a beautiful circle, like a dog biting his own tail. —-Buchner's "Payne" in "Danton's Death" playwright and poet  Karl Georg Buchner 🔛 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“I am an atheist (or at best a Unitarian who winds up in churches quite a lot).” —Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage of the 1980s (1991) Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“Whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this: Great God, grant that twice two be not four.” —Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons, 1861 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“Pierre belonged to no religion and I did not practice any.” —Marie Curie, What Do I Read Next (1924), a memoir of Pierre Curie. Two-time Nobel Prize winner Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

"And the flames of hell, they seemed so high When I could barely see over the pew I was just a boy when they told me that lie But lord, it felt so true And that's a hell of a thing to do to a kid Just to teach him right from wrong You can burn in hell the rest of your days Or you can choose to sing along" -“Sing Along,” from Robert Ellis’s 2014 album, “Lights From the Chemical Plant” Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“Religion is a means of exploitation employed by the strong against the weak; religion is a cloak of ambition, injustice and vice . . . . Truth breaks free, science is popularized, and religion totters; soon it will fall, in the course of centuries - that is, tomorrow. . . . In good time we shall only have to deal with reason.” Georges Bizet, from Bizet, by William Dean. Colier Books, 1962 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

"I'm not into organized religion . . . For me, I believe in a God of whatever my own thing is." Sunday Times (UK) in April 1999 “I don't believe in god. I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in soul. I don't believe in anything. I think it's totally right for people to have their own beliefs if it makes them happy, but to me it's a pretty preposterous idea.” Joaquin Phoenix, Nylon Guys magazine, Winter 2008 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“I do not believe in God. I'm an atheist. I consider myself a critical thinker, and it fascinates me that in the 21st century most people still believe in, as George Carlin puts it, 'the invisible man living in the sky.' ”Seth MacFarlane, Steppin’ Out magazine, Oct. 18, 2007 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

Wilde was reputed to have said on his deathbed: "Either that wallpaper goes or I do."  “Science is the record of dead religions.” Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young, 1894 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“When I'm dying, don't let a priest or Protestant minister or Salvation Army captain near me. Let me die in dignity. Keep it as simple and brief as possible. No fuss, no man of God there. If there is a God, I'll see him and we'll talk things over.” Eugene O'Neill, instructions to his wife quoted by biographer Louis Shaeffer, cited by Warren Allen Smith in Who's Who in Hell. Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936, and four Pulitzer Prizes for  Beyond the Horizon   (1920),   Anna Christie   (1922),   Strange Interlude   (1928)   Long Day's Journey into Night,   written in 1939, but awarded posthumously in 1957. Some of his other works include:   Mourning Becomes Electra   (1931),   More Stately Mansions   (1935-41),   The Iceman Cometh   (1936), and   A Moon for the Misbegotten   (1943).  Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“Because of his loudly avowed atheism, he was labeled ‘the heretic’ by devout classmates.” Peter Byrne, writing about Hugh Everett III’s atheism in The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III (2010). Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“‘God's plan' is often a front for men's plans and a cover for inadequacy, ignorance, and evil.” Mary Daly, Beyond God The Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation, 1973. Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“If some good evidence for life after death were announced, I'd be eager to examine it; but it would have to be real scientific data, not mere anecdote. As with the face on Mars and alien abductions, better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy. And in the final tolling it often turns out that the facts are more comforting than the fantasy.” Carl Sagan, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection," from The Demon-Haunted World: Science As A Candle In The Dark, 1996 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“The question is, will the rest of America get fed up with fundamentalists before the fundamentalists and the Republican party get fed up with each other? And how much damage will they do before that happy day arrives?” —-Katha Pollitt, acceptance speech, "Freethought Heroine 1995," Freedom From Religion Foundation, Sept. 29, 1995 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“ . . . if anyone in this audience believes that God made his body, and your body is dirty, the fault lies with the manufacturer.” —-Comedian Lenny Bruce, born on Oct. 13, 1925. D. 1966. San Francisco Jazz Workshop, Oct. 4, 1961 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“It would be an exaggeration to say I’m not afraid of death, but I’m not afraid of what comes after, because I’m not a believer.” de Duve explaining his choice to end his life using euthanasia, in a New York Times article by Denise Gellene, May 6, 2013. Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

" . . . if ever I'm asked if I'm religious I always reply, 'Yes, I'm a devout musician.' Music puts me in touch with something beyond the intellect, something otherworldly, something sacred." —-Sting delivering a Berklee College of Music commencement address in Boston, May 15, 1994 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“How do you convince someone they're not thinking clearly, when they're not thinking clearly? What we're actually saying is no magic, no afterlife, no higher moral authoritative father-figure, no security, and no happy ever after. This is a tough sell.” Phil Plait in a talk called, “Don't be a dick” at The Amazing Meeting 8, also known as TAM8, a conference put on by the James Randi Educational Foundation, held in Las Vegas in July, 2012. Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

Wherever one looks there is conflict: Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland; Jews, Christians and Muslims in Palestine; Muslims and Hindus in the Indian subcontinent; Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Is not the case for atheism made? Sir Ludovic Henry Coverly Kennedy  in a column titled "Put away childish things," The Guardian [UK], April 17, 2003 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

“I am an atheist. (I have recently realized this.) I don't believe the arc of the universe bends towards justice. I don't even believe in an arc. I believe in chaos. I believe powerful people who think they can make Utopia out of chaos should be watched closely. I don't know that it all ends badly. But I think it probably does." “The Myth of Western Civilization,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, Dec. 12, 2013 Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

"I belong to no churches and am not a ’Believer‘ in any formal sense. . . . As for me, I just go my way by myself.” Truman Capote, letter to death row inmate Perry Smith, whose crime Capote documented “In Cold Blood” ( January 25, 1965) Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering