Monday, August 23, 2010

Great Quotes from Great men and or women...

I stumbled upon these quotes in my travels across the internet (invented by Al Gore) while wearing my pants (invented by GW Bush). I thought I would share them with you all.

Enjoy!

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.
4. 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.
7. 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.
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.
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.”
Mark Twain

13. A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.
Mark Twain

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.
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.
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.
21. If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor.
Voltaire

22. Those who believe absurdities will commit atrocities.
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.
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

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.
29. Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.
Sigmund Freud

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.
Karl Marx

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 Quote

32. You’re basically killing each other to see who’s got the better imaginary friend.
Richard Jeni Quote

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.
Steven Weinberg Quote

35. The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.
Delos B. McKown Quote

36. Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
Edward Gibbon

37. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.
Robert Ingersoll

38. The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see.
Huang Po

39. Where knowledge ends, religion begins.
Benjamin Disraeli Quote

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.
Quote from Unknown

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.
Dave Barry

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 Quotes

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 Quotes

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 Bergamín

50. One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion.
Arthur C. Clarke Quotes

Monday, August 9, 2010

It's a MIRACLE!!

I was driving to work this morning, and I was running a little late. It's not unusual, I hate waking up so getting out of bed on time is a challenge for me every day (I have to get up at 5am to get to work on time).

This morning I hit the snooze bar one too many times and didn't get out of bed till 5:20am. When I realized that I was late, after the obligatory cursing that comes from realizing you are running late for work, I got up and got in the shower, dressed and hurried my way out the door to work.

Now here is where the MIRACLE from God happened!!

My drive started out like it did every other day, but this day God was on my side! The reason I say that is this: I hit EVERY light green from my house to the freeway! Yes, that's correct, it had NOTHING to do with traffic patterns or timing or driving the speed limit. It had EVERYTHING to do with God taking the time to change all the lights to green BEFORE I got to the intersection. It was a MIRACLE, I didn't even have to pray for it, God just gave me green lights! I am sure it was because I was THE ONLY PERSON that needed to be on time for work so God took the time to make sure I got there on time.

It's funny how people will thank God for getting them to work on time or the food that farmers grew, grocery stores sold and THEY bought. But, if something goes bad for these same people, it's NOT Gods fault, it's theirs as they must be getting 'tested' by God for some reason. Wow, so God gets the kudos but YOU have to take the rap if something bad happens?

I WANT GOD'S JOB!

I would love to take credit for good stuff, and NEVER be responsible for the bad stuff!

Where do I sign up?

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

If you aren't christian, GO TO HELL!

It seems to me that, that appears to be the motto of every bible thumping 'missionary' for Christianity on the planet.
This message isn't new however, in 1939 there was a certain world leader that touted that very message along with 'If you aren't German, DIE!' This fellow took the time to burn books, imprison the handicapped and gypsies as well as homosexuals. Eventually that same 'leader' put over SIX MILLION people to death.
Today, while at work, one of my employees was talking to another employee about terrorists and what should be done. Their solution was to imprison or deport all people of Islamic faith. REALLY?? This is the Christian solution?
I only ask this because there are more than a few evangelicals preaching drivel of this sort all over the 'Christian' network channels. Nearly every show spends at least a third of it's time preaching this very philosophy of 'If you aint Christian, you are evil and should be stopped!'
Last I checked there are plenty of decent, hard working and very caring NON CHRISTIANS in the world. Just because one doesn't view 'God' the same doesn't make them evil, JUST DIFFERENT.
And of course there's me....

Being an Atheist makes it worse, after all people (and this has been empirically proven) trust murderers and convicted criminals before they trust an 'open' Atheist. That is just SAD. If you want someone trustworthy, look for someone that doesn't wallow in self deception and you will find an ATHEIST. If you feel that is untrustworthy, I think maybe you need to look inside and find out why you feel so very threatened by a logical, overtly honest person. After all, to be an Atheist, one must be honest with oneself first and see the world and the universe as it truly is. Beautiful, amazing and NATURAL. NOT Supernatural!

Love ya all.