601 "Is it possible that an infinite God created this world simply to be the dwelling place of slaves and serfs? Simply for the purpose of raising Orthodox Christians? That he did a few miracles to astonish them? That all the evils of life are simply his punishments, and that He is finally going to turn Heaven into a kind of religious museum filled with Baptist barnacles, petrified Presbyterians and Methodist mummies?" -- R.G. Ingersoll

6 "Morality is doing right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right."

281 "I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's work -- Adolf Hitler, Speech, Reichstag, 1936

1915 "Thought is one of the manifestations of human energy, and among the earlier and simpler phases of thought, two stand conspicuous -- Fear and Greed. Fear, which, by stimulating the imagination, creates a belief in an invisible world, and ultimately develops a priesthood; and Greed, which dissipates energy in war and trade." [Brooks Adams (1848-1927), The Law of Civilization and Decay]

3754 "we have it (CoViD-19) under control. It's going to be just file." -- President Donald Trump, January 22, 2020

1582 "Physicists use 'God' as a metaphor more often than other scientists---especially in popular writing, but in the technical literature as well. Of course, this is just a metaphor for order at the heart of confusion. A rational or aesthetic pattern underlying reality is far from a theistic God." Taner Edis, Is Anybody Out There?

3711 "Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

3197 "She manifested an entire want of instruction as to the nature and effect of an oath, of all religious training, and utter ignorance of the existence of a Supreme Being, "the rewarder of truth and avenger of falsehoods." [Supreme Court of Alabama, 1882, disqualifying an 11-year old girls's testimony at her rape trial. The rapist went free.]

1138 "Those who believe in hell can never know truth, for they are blinded by fear." -- Emmet F. Fields

3226 "Man always deceives himself when he abandons experience to follow imaginary systems. He is the work of Nature. He exists in Nature. He is submitted to her laws. He cannot deliver himself from them. He cannot step beyond them even in thought. [Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, "The System of Nature"]

1796 ". . . once a person admits to not believing in God, this raises the question of whether or not that person believes in America . . ." - - [Chief spokesman for National office of the Boy Scouts]

39 "Man creates his gods in his own image; and then spends the rest of his life manipulating them to his heart's content."

375 "If we assume that man does resemble God, then we are forced into the impossible theory that God is a coward, an idiot and a bounder." -- H. L. Mencken "Ad Imaginem Dei Creavit Illum" (1922)

1394 "There are actually two ways to prove the non-existence of something. One way is to prove that it cannot exist because it leads to contradictions (e.g., square circles, married bachelors, etc.). The other way is, in the words of Keith Parsons, "by carefully looking and seeing." This is how we can know that such things as the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Abimonable Snowman, etc. do not exist." Jeffery Jay Lowder, "Is a Proof of the Non-Existence of a God Even Possible?"

1906 "If, as they say, God spanked this town For being much too frisky, Why did He burn His churches down And save Hotaling's Whiskey?" [Poem on 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, in which the city's largest whiskey distillery was left unscathed]

2898 "I DO want your money, because god wants your money!" [Reverend Larry, from _Repo_Man_]

1290 "Since Jefferson coined the phrase 'wall of separation between church and state' in 1802, a full 145 years before the Soviet provision was written, it is obviously incorrect to suggest that the Soviets pioneered the separation principle. If anything, the Soviets stole the concept from the United States. In any case, what the Soviet constitution said about religious freedom has no bearing on U.S. constitutional provisions. The Soviet document also guaranteed free speech (at least on paper), but no one has labeled freedom of expression a Communist idea." Robert Boston, Why The Religious Right is Wrong About Separation of Church & State (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1993), pp. 222-23.

916 "Religion easily has the greatest bull shit story ever told. Think about it, religion has actually convinced people...that there's an INVISIBLE MAN...LIVING IN THE SKY...who watches every thing you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten special things that he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever 'til the end of time...but he loves you." -- George Carlin

1826 Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.

1166 "The church has contributed nothing to civilization. It has progressed somewhat, and it has become a little more decent, in reflection of the movements of civilization that have taken place outside of the church and usually in the face of the strong opposition of the church." -- E. Haldeman-Julius The Church Is a Burden, Not a Benefit, In Social Life