View Full Version : 101 Atheist Quotes
http://atheistblogger.com/2008/02/15/101-atheist-quotes/
What do you make of these quotes?
Pick any of them for discussion and I'll hop in.
ericg
08-26-2008, 02:55 PM
god within?!
yeahwho
08-26-2008, 03:03 PM
They're pretty good and I think there will be alot of talk about this in the coming months due to Bill Maher's controversial film coming out this Fall. I'm a believer in a higher power, acceptance and tolerance is the key.
ToucanSpam
08-26-2008, 03:13 PM
Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination. - Edward Abbey
The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu’l‐Ala al Ma’arri
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. - Delos B. McKown
Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. - Anonymous
Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color. - Don Hirschberg
Couple of the ones I enjoyed because they were funny or ignorant. Personally, some of these are stupid because they assume too much. Science and religion don't particularly get along but I don't know that it's as black and white as some believe.
The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu’l‐Ala al Ma’arri
That one annoys me because it tries to sound really smart, but he's just saying "religious people are stupid" and dressing it up like it was something original to say.
Sorry ericg, you're still on ignore.
ericg
08-26-2008, 03:17 PM
haha oh goodness gracious. ok then. your bad. i don't even think this thread belongs in political discussion.
ps. check out scott hardkiss.
NoFenders
08-26-2008, 03:52 PM
http://ovnis-usa.com/DIVERS/AlienInterview.pdf (http://ovnis-usa.com/DIVERS/AlienInterview.pdf)
:cool:
ToucanSpam
08-26-2008, 03:55 PM
The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu’l‐Ala al Ma’arri
That one annoys me because it tries to sound really smart, but he's just saying "religious people are stupid" and dressing it up like it was something original to say.
Sorry ericg, you're still on ignore.
It's sort of ignorant. I'm quite certain that some of the smartest people around are likely religious or spiritual. That's sort of my contention with militant atheism.
NoFenders
08-26-2008, 04:47 PM
I told ya he was great.
:cool:
HAL 9000
08-27-2008, 02:29 AM
Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination. - Edward Abbey
The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu’l‐Ala al Ma’arri
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. - Delos B. McKown
Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. - Anonymous
Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color. - Don Hirschberg
Couple of the ones I enjoyed because they were funny or ignorant. Personally, some of these are stupid because they assume too much. Science and religion don't particularly get along but I don't know that it's as black and white as some believe.
Mixed bag here - I quite like the last one, it highlights the common error of reffering to atheism as a religion that is dependant on faith. A similar quote goes something like 'Atheism is a religion in the same way that not playing chess is a hobby'.
The one about religious people being dumb is not very good though because it is obviously not true. I think anyone of any intelligence level is capable of being made religious under the right circumstances. It is probably true that the better educated you are, the more oppurtunity you have to see through religious claims, particularly the more crazy '6000 year old earth' or 'Intelligent Design' type claim (but most sophisticated religious people don't believe this anyway).
funk63
08-27-2008, 03:06 AM
good stuff, I like # What’s “God”? Well, you know, when you want something really bad and you close your eyes and you wish for it? God’s the guy that ignores you. - Steve Buscemi (From the movie “The Island”)
and # I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. - Mark Twain
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 (OHHH SNAP!1111)
NoFenders
08-27-2008, 10:42 AM
We're all capable of evil. Every one of us is born with a little evil inside. Life lessons are what this is about. People use religion to guide them to and through these lessons.
:cool:
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 (OHHH SNAP!1111)
My problem with this one is that evil is the bi-product of free will. People act like God is malevolent in allowing us to choose evil, but if he didn't what choice would there be? Should he protect everyone else from anyone's evil decisions? That would mean there's no real consequence to evil, and worse, it would take away from the respect he gives men in their own decisions.
Able? Yes he's able, but it would make existence a pointless exercise. If he eliminated evil we would be automatons.
NoFenders
08-27-2008, 11:40 AM
My problem with this one is that evil is the bi-product of free will. People act like God is malevolent in allowing us to choose evil, but if he didn't what choice would there be? Should he protect everyone else from anyone's evil decisions? That would mean there's no real consequence to evil, and worse, it would take away from the respect he gives men in their own decisions.
Able? Yes he's able, but it would make existence a pointless exercise. If he eliminated evil we would be automatons.
(y)
Or an "IS-BE"! Reffering to the link I posted up there ^^^^^^^
:cool:
funk63
08-27-2008, 06:09 PM
My problem with this one is that evil is the bi-product of free will. People act like God is malevolent in allowing us to choose evil, but if he didn't what choice would there be? Should he protect everyone else from anyone's evil decisions? That would mean there's no real consequence to evil, and worse, it would take away from the respect he gives men in their own decisions.
Able? Yes he's able, but it would make existence a pointless exercise. If he eliminated evil we would be automatons.
Uh theres no such fucking thing as evil. "good" and "evil" are a matter of perspective. People doing evil in ones eyes could be seen as good in anothers.
funk63
08-27-2008, 06:16 PM
I wonder who got the shit job of scouring the planet for the 15000 species of butterfly or the 8800 species of ant they eventually took on board Noah's Ark. But at least we got that magical rainbow for all their trouble. - Azura Skye
lol
could god make a joke so bad that even he couldn't laugh at it?
funk63
08-27-2008, 07:13 PM
humor is relative
Documad
08-27-2008, 08:41 PM
I'd bet that better-educated persons are less likely to believe in God. If say 10% of all americans don't believe in God, then I'd bet that at least 30-40% of persons with advanced degrees don't believe. At least that's been my observation. It might be a regional thing too. :rolleyes:
I've always wondered how many people would come out of the closet and admit that they don't believe in God if it were socially acceptable to do so. It is still political suicide for a politician to admit that he/she doesn't believe.
I'd bet that better-educated persons are less likely to believe in God.
it's because of all those smug atheist college professors that you read about in email forwards from relatives you don't like. good thing we have brave christian students (some of them ex-marines) to come out of nowhere and occasionally make fools of them (or punch them in the face)
Uh theres no such fucking thing as evil. "good" and "evil" are a matter of perspective. People doing evil in ones eyes could be seen as good in anothers.
I was using the atheist quote you referenced that said 'good' and 'evil.'
I agree that sometimes things can be subjective, but I also believe that whether or not I know exactly what it is, objective truth exists. Objective right and wrong.
ToucanSpam
08-27-2008, 11:44 PM
Uh theres no such fucking thing as evil. "good" and "evil" are a matter of perspective. People doing evil in ones eyes could be seen as good in anothers.
Horseshit.
Certain things are irrefutably bad in every culture on earth. I won't invoke Godwin's Law here but things like genocide, torture, rape, and mutilation are universally accepted as 'evil'. Moral relativists are retards.
Horseshit.
Certain things are irrefutably bad in every culture on earth. I won't invoke Godwin's Law here but things like genocide, torture, rape, and mutilation are universally accepted as 'evil'. Moral relativists are retards.
there's a tribe in the amazon that regularly practices infanticide by burying babies alive, respond
ToucanSpam
08-28-2008, 08:31 AM
there's a tribe in the amazon that regularly practices infanticide by burying babies alive, respond
I conceed very very very very small groups will practice things that are universally accepted as bad. Are you white knighting infanticide?
mate_spawn_die
08-28-2008, 08:59 AM
Atheism is a non-prophet organization. - George Carlin
haha
I conceed very very very very small groups will practice things that are universally accepted as bad. Are you white knighting infanticide?
yes that's exactly what i'm doing
NoFenders
08-28-2008, 11:33 AM
I'd bet that better-educated persons are less likely to believe in God.
Do you??
:cool:
ToucanSpam
08-28-2008, 12:20 PM
yes that's exactly what i'm doing
Hahaha obviously.
Okay not everyone on earth thinks murdering/mutilation/infanticide/rape/torture is a bad thing, but clearly there exists a dualistic right/wrong in those cultures. For your Amazonian brethren who kill babies, they see that as 'good' while we see it as 'evil' or 'bad'. That's the point I was trying to get across. Western culture has propagated a dualistic way of looking at things i.e. good/bad, black/white, etc.
So 'funk63' saying there is no good/evil is horseshit.
that's just the thing though, there really isn't a good or evil, there are only things that we agree are good and evil. there are things that are more or less universally agreed to be evil (rape murder etc), but that doesn't mean they are evil, we've only decided that they are. we agree that infanticide is evil, but tribes in the amazon don't. it's evil here, it isn't evil there. some people agree that abortion is evil, some people don't. some people agree that homosexuality is evil, some people don't. there isn't good and there isn't evil, there's only things that we've decided to be good or evil, perhaps based on various unpleasant effects that they have on our existence as a society, and i'm fine with that, personally, i don't need to pretend that there are things that are absolutely good or evil and that we just have to pretend like we know what they are. we're making this shit up as we go along, let's just admit it already
ToucanSpam
08-28-2008, 12:54 PM
that's just the thing though, there really isn't a good or evil, there are only things that we agree are good and evil. there are things that are more or less universally agreed to be evil (rape murder etc), but that doesn't mean they are evil, we've only decided that they are. we agree that infanticide is evil, but tribes in the amazon don't. it's evil here, it isn't evil there. some people agree that abortion is evil, some people don't. some people agree that homosexuality is evil, some people don't. there isn't good and there isn't evil, there's only things that we've decided to be good or evil, perhaps based on various unpleasant effects that they have on our existence as a society, and i'm fine with that, personally, i don't need to pretend that there are things that are absolutely good or evil and that we just have to pretend like we know what they are. we're making this shit up as we go along, let's just admit it already
I get what you're saying, I'm just not sure I can accept it.
Personally, I can't come to terms with fence-sitting or moral relativism (not that your argument involves either). Maybe it's because I'm too self centered to be willing to admit that there is anything but my definitions of good and evil things. I just can't wrap my head around murder or whatever being considered 'good'.
'Evil' is a word that annoys me too because it seems to imply some sort of larger force, like God, which I wholly reject.
...god I need to get back to school.
NoFenders
08-28-2008, 01:08 PM
So if there's no such thing as good and evil, does that mean there's no such thing as right and wrong??
Do you think Hitler was anything but evil??
:cool:
ToucanSpam
08-28-2008, 01:15 PM
God fucking dammit I knew someone would say that. Godwin's Law.
I will pretend you didn't just make that connection.
Quit making that 'cool' face too.
Bob I see what you're saying, I just don't think that what we agree is 'evil' or 'good' is arbitrary. Maybe it is pretending to keep thinking that there's an absolute truth, right and wrong. I believe it exists, but like I already said, I don't pretend I know what it is.
I don't think every little thing is as black and white as some people do though. There's a certain amount of subjective truth to everything.
NoFenders
08-28-2008, 01:58 PM
God fucking dammit I knew someone would say that. Godwin's Law.
I will pretend you didn't just make that connection.
What's that mean??
:cool:
ToucanSpam
08-28-2008, 01:59 PM
It means retards love to bring Hitler and the Nazis into arguments trying to prove a point. Thanks for ruining something halfway decent.
NoFenders
08-28-2008, 02:04 PM
Go fuck yourself. It's an expample. Welcome to reality.
How about if we change it to get away from your touchy subject. Jeesh! (what a twat)
Instead if Hitler, let's say Saddam. Was he evil??
You really shouldn't use the word "retard" as much as you do either btw. It always comes back to you.
:cool:
Godwin's Law: http://xkcd.com/261/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
I'm a fan of it's implementation.
So if there's no such thing as good and evil, does that mean there's no such thing as right and wrong??
Do you think Hitler was anything but evil??
:cool:
i'm not sure you understand what i'm saying at all. yes i think he was. it's a subjective moral judgment, an uncontroversial one that most people agree with. in my opinion, consistent with my own moral and ethical code, i say hitler was evil, sure. fortunately, this is an ethical and moral judgment that most people are comfortable with. that's all it is though. it's not like there's an eternal and objective book of good and evil that preceded human existence that says he's evil. it's just a judgment.
i'm not saying that "there's no such thing as good and evil" i'm just saying that they're concepts that we as humans make up according to our own desires. we don't like genocide, so we say hitler was evil. i'm not belittling that. it's a very important thing for humanity to do.
Quit making that 'cool' face too.
Bob I see what you're saying, I just don't think that what we agree is 'evil' or 'good' is arbitrary. Maybe it is pretending to keep thinking that there's an absolute truth, right and wrong. I believe it exists, but like I already said, I don't pretend I know what it is.
I don't think every little thing is as black and white as some people do though. There's a certain amount of subjective truth to everything.
i don't think it's arbitrary either, i think there's always a reason for why we think things are good and bad. the amazonians think burying babies is good because it controls overpopulation, or maybe their god says it's ok, i don't really know, it was just something a professor in an anthropology class mentioned offhand, or maybe i read it on the internet, it doesn't really matter.
but yeah i don't think it's arbitrary at all, i mean it's certainly not a coincidence that basically every culture thinks murder and rape are bad. i think it all basically boils down to what we like and don't like. nobody likes murder, nobody likes rape (well, rapists do but fuck them). but after that it gets foggier. some people like sharia, some people like female genital mutilation, some people like socialized medicine, some people like abortion, some people like sodomy, and so these things are and have been good or bad or acceptable or not acceptable in various places at various times.
i think there's an objective truth too (that may or may not every be attainable), but i don't think "right and wrong" are part of that. it's just something we decide on our own.
i think there's an objective truth too (that may or may not every be attainable), but i don't think "right and wrong" are part of that. it's just something we decide on our own.
Doesn't that kind of invalidate the definition of "objective truth" if we decide it?
I think "right or wrong" is a little bit beyond our grasp to truly understand, but I think we can get a good idea of it. The problem is that the scope of our own experience and knowledge is so lacking that "right or wrong" can easily change every 30 years - we're not really good judges.
I guess my use of 'arbitrary' there is meant to say that even though we may all agree that genocide is bad, and that's established - that's not what makes it bad. There's something intrinsically "wrong" about it, and we just recognize that truth. The hard thing is, moral relativity and moral absolution rarely distinguish between each other for things on the scale of genocide.
Doesn't that kind of invalidate the definition of "objective truth" if we decide it?
I think "right or wrong" is a little bit beyond our grasp to truly understand, but I think we can get a good idea of it. The problem is that the scope of our own experience and knowledge is so lacking that "right or wrong" can easily change every 30 years - we're not really good judges.
i meant "objective truth" in a more descriptive sense, like, this is how life came to be, or the earth is X years old, or there are X amount of stars in the universe, or this is how gravity works, or this is how the human eyeball was formed, that kind of thing. scientific questions, not moral ones.
I guess my use of 'arbitrary' there is meant to say that even though we may all agree that genocide is bad, and that's established - that's not what makes it bad. There's something intrinsically "wrong" about it, and we just recognize that truth. The hard thing is, moral relativity and moral absolution rarely distinguish between each other for things on the scale of genocide.
yeah, that's where i disagree, i don't think there is anything intrinsically "wrong" about it. it's just that genocide is an incredibly unpleasant thing that we as humans don't want to happen, it makes it very difficult to live. so we've decided it's bad and that it should be stopped and punished when it occurs.
again, i'm not promoting genocide, i'm not saying genocide isn't a bad thing, i'm just trying to get at what i think "bad" means. which when you think about it is a fairly pointless thing to do but hey
Good talk Bob. This makes me want to get back into heavier reading material again.
Steve Martin's "Born Standing Up" was pretty good, btw.
Documad
08-28-2008, 07:03 PM
Murder was okay in the OT so long as God sanctioned it. Didn't God tell his followers to wipe out opposing tribes?
Didn't God tell his followers to wipe out opposing tribes?
Actually isn't that the definition of genocide?
Hmmm...all my books are in boxes in the garage until I move out next month.
I was reading this online though: http://www.rationalchristianity.net/genocide.html
ToucanSpam
08-28-2008, 09:34 PM
Bob I think you would really enjoy philology. Or not, I'm only guessing based on this thread.
afronaut
08-29-2008, 12:20 PM
Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. - Anonymous
The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality. - George Bernard Shaw
I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. - Frank Lloyd Wright
Since the Bible and the church are obviously mistaken in telling us where we came from, how can we trust them to tell us where we are going? - Anonymous
these are good
Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. - Anonymous
I like that one. Makes me think.
I think praying instead of doing is not practical. Praying in addition to doing is important.
Maybe two hands working is an answer to prayer?
if i were dyslexic i'd even hate dog too (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaGgpGLxLQw)
funk63
08-29-2008, 08:30 PM
So if there's no such thing as good and evil, does that mean there's no such thing as right and wrong??
Do you think Hitler was anything but evil??
:cool:
Hitler was a homosexual. His actions stemmed from his sexual frustration.
funk63
08-29-2008, 08:43 PM
Ok if someones a murderer or a rapist or whatever theres some kind of physical, environmental, psychological, reason. Or a combination. Its not because their evil. Theres a reason. If you had certain life experiences you could be a murderer. We are all humans and we ALL have the capacity to do atrocious acts. You werent fucking created in an invisible ninjas image.
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