"Christian creeds and doctrines, the clergy's own fatal inventions, through all the ages has made of Christendom a slaughterhouse, and divided it into sects of inextinguishable hatred for one another." -- THOMAS JEFFERSON: Letter to Thomas Whittemore, June 5, 1822

"Why be born again, when you can just grow up?"

"My software never has bugs. It just develops random features."

"He that cannot reason is a fool; he that will not is a bigot; He that dare not is a slave." -- Sir William Drummond c.1770-1828

"Treasures well used on earth will help the world more than treasures laid up in heaven." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays_, 1911]

"We are Borg sheep, resistance is futile, you will be... Ooh look, fresh grass."

"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." Thomas Jefferson

"Bug? That's not a bug, that's a random feature!"

"What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak." [George Santayana, Reason in Religion]

"There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages." Ruth Hermence Green, "" (1980, Women Without Superstition ed. Annie Laurie Gaylor, Madison, WI: FFRF, 1997), p.

"What doesn't kill you, makes you sore." -- Jerry Oltion

"No man ever yet tore down his altar and found a God behind it." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays_]

"I don't care anything about the separation of church and state" [Rev. Ron Griffin, pres. of Detroit Urban League, on Gov. Engler's plan to use churches to deliver state services. Oct 18, 1995, Detroit Free Press, article by Dawson Bell]

"Perhaps there was an organization in Phineas' day known as the N.A.A.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Canaanite People) who took exception with this teaching of segregation. Perhaps there were pulpits proclaiming a more tolerant and socially accepted view and government agency crusading for 'affirmative action.' We really do not know; but we do know from the Bible story in Numbers chapter 25 that the Israel people began to disobey God's law, accept integration, cultural exchange and a type of interracial marriage, and thus were struck collectively by a plague. Phineas was the man who courageously fought against the racial treason even to the point of bloodshed, and he too was honored by God." [Pastor Pete Peters, _THE BIBLE: Handbook For Survivalists, Racists, Tax Protestors, Militants And Right-Wing Extremists_, ND, Scriptures For America, La Porte, Colorado, pp. 4-5]

"When the philosopher's argument becomes tedious, complicated, and opaque, it is usually a sign that he is attempting to prove as true to the intellect what is plainly false to common sense." [Edward Abbey (from Voice Crying in the Wilderness)]

"Recently I was reading somewhere or other [about] an Italian curio-dealer who attempted to sell a 17th century crucifix to J.P. Morgan. [I]nside it was concealed a stiletto. What a perfect symbol of the Christian religion." [George Orwell]

"Without cultural sanction, most or all our religious beliefs and rituals would fall into the domain of mental disturbance" [John F. Schumaker, "Corruption of Reality, Unified Theory of Religion, Hypnosis and Psychotherapy"]

ROONEY: "Did you really seriously worry about going to prison?" KEVORKIAN: "No! Never! Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal! What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma. You're basing your laws, and your whole outlook on natural life, on mythology! It won't work! That's why you have all these problems in the world. Name them -- India, Pakistan, Ireland. Name them! All these problems -- they're all religious problems!" [Dr. Jack Kevorkian, with Andy Rooney on "60 Minutes"]

"The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my religion." -- President Abraham Lincoln

"More than half the college students polled in three states, including California, said they are creationists who believe that God created Adam and Eve, while about one-third believe in aliens, Big Foot and the lost city of Atlantis. ...The poll results, released yesterday by Texas researchers, also indicated that students who believe in creationism are less likely to read books, tend to be more politically conservative and have a lower grade-point average than students who dispute that God created Earth in six days. ...Last fall, about 1000 students attending colleges in Texas, Connecticut and California filled out detailed questionnaire on their beliefs. ...In Texas, 71 percent of students said they believe in the story of Adam and Eve, while 51 percent in Connecticut and 47 percent in California said they believed in the biblical first couple. An average of 44 percent of the students in the three states said the story of Noah's Ark is true. About one-third of all the students surveyed believed that Big Foot, a hairy man- like creature reputed to live in the mountains of northwest America, actually exists. An equal number believed in the lost city of Atlantis, a legendary island of advanced civilization that supposedly sank into the ocean. Thirty percent of the students responding to the survey said aliens from outer space visited Earth in ancient times. Overall, 37 percent said they believed in ghosts, and 39 percent said it is possible to communicate with the dead." [San Francisco Chronicle, 3 November 1986 (UPI)]