854 "Atheism is not a belief in the same sense that astigmatism, rheumatism, and botulism are not beliefs."

1152 "As the poet said, 'Only God can make a tree' -- probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on." -- Woody Allen

1686 "freethinker n. A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief."

577 "The really incredible part of Christian theology is God's demanding after perpetrating his brutal crimes and injustices on humankind and ordering his own son murdered--demanding that humankind honor him, worship him, kneel down to him, and sing his praises day and night forever." -- C. W. Dalton, "The Right Brain and Religion"

390 "I don't believe in God because I don't believe in Mother Goose." -- Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), from a speech given in Toronto, 1930

800 "FREELOVER? Freethinking Realist Exploring Expressive Liberty, Openness, Verity, Enlightenment, and Rationality (also, pro-love, free from state and church authorities)"

2213 "The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one." [David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748]

2032 "When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown." [Stephen Jay Gould]

290 "The atheist does not say "there is no God," he says "I know not what you mean by God; I am without idea of God; the word 'God' is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation. ... The Bible God I deny; the Christian God I disbelieve in; but I am not rash enough to say there is no God as long as you tell me you are unprepared to define God to me."" -- Charles Bradlaugh, "Plea for Atheism"

1424 "The major argument going on among paleontologists dealing with the reptile/mammal transition is, where the hell do you draw the line? These things grade in sensibly into each other." Eugenie Scott in "Resolved: That evolutionists should acknowledge creation" _Firing Line_, 4 December 1997, p. 20.

2600 "The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein. It rejects it." [P.B. Medawar]

1126 "Jesus - Myth or Legend?"

1786 "The good, say the mystics of spirit, is God, a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man's power to conceive- a definition that invalidates man's consciousness and nullifies his concepts of existence...Man's mind, say the mystics of spirit, must be subordinated to the will of God... Man's standard of value, say the mystics of spirit, is the pleasure of God, whose standards are beyond man's power of comprehension and must be accepted on faith....The purpose of man's life...is to become an abject zombie who serves a purpose he does not know, for reasons he is not to question." [Ayn Rand, "For the New Intellectual"]

3389 "What a queer thing is Christian salvation! Believing in firemen will not save a burning house; believing in doctors will not make one well, but believing in a savior saves men. Fudge!" [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays_]

2264 "If Christ, in fact, said "I came not to bring peace but a sword," it is the only prophecy in the New Testament that has been literally fulfilled." [Robert G. Ingersoll]

3720 "A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere." - Groucho Marx

3713 "Mary had a little lamb, it walked into a pylon. 10,000 volts went up its arse, and turned its wool into nylon."

2339 "Use against heretics the spiritual sword of excommunication, and if this does not prove effective, use the material sword." [Pope Innocent III (1161-1216)]

1728 "If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed." [Albert Einstein]

3680 "Faith is intellectual laziness."