187 " DISCLAIMER If you find a posting or message from me offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will demonstrate."

19 "I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God." -- Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931), in Columbian Magazine

1601 "I do not think it is possible to prove that belief in God is irrational. Zealous atheists may be disappointed in this, but there is no reason they should be. It is not the belief in God per se that is so offensive to the secular spirit. After all, Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, and Tom Paine retained belief in a supreme Creator/Lawgiver. What rightly offends secular humanists is the bigotry, obscurantism, prudery, and persecuting zeal that all too often accompany theistic belief, especially in its particular institutional manifestations." Keith M. Parsons, God and the Burden of Proof, p. 145.

1845 They found Noah's ark, but there was a sign on it: 'Made in Hong Kong' "

1278 "Possession of books denounced as heretical was made a criminal offense. Copies of such books were burned and destroyed. But in Upper Egypt, someone, possibly a monk from a nearby monastery of St Pachomius, took the banned books and hid them from destruction -- in the jar where they remained buried for almost 1,600 years." Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, (New York: Vintage, 1989), pp. xviii-xix.

1006 We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart." -- H.L. Mencken

147 "Religion is so full of inconsistencies that I could see no point in arguing each inconsistency out. It was background noise that you ignore." -- Gene Roddenberry

85 "The world would be astonished, if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments, of those most distinguished even in popular estimation of wisdom and virtue, are complete skeptics in religion." -- John Stuart Mill

2589 "Immortality is not a gift, Immortality is an achievement; And only those who strive mightily Shall possess it." [Edgar Lee Masters 1869-1950]

3028 "Colfax. The day before the shining apparition that some believe represents the Virgin Mary began appearing at St. Dominic's church, the hanging light fixtures in the sanctuary were stabilized with wire -- perhaps setting the stage for a reflection that could create the image. ... 'It might explain it,' said parishioner Edmund 'Mick' Molloy, whose father Ed Molloy is the parish coordinator. ... Molloy said the work was done Wednesday afternoon just before Thanksgiving. ... 'So on Thanksgiving morning we have this reflection,' Molloy said." [Press Democrat, 7 December 1990 (McClatchy News Service)]

1375 "The fundamental defect of Christian ethics consists in the fact that it labels certain classes of acts 'sins' and others 'virtue' on grounds that have nothing to do with their social consequences." Bertrand Russell, The Quotable Bertrand Russell (ed. Lee Eisler, Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1993), p. 118.

2975 "The conquering of fear is the beginning of wisdom" [Bertrand Russell]

2415 "No one has the right to destroy another person's belief by demanding empirical evidence." [Ann Landers, advice columnist]

3237 "Here and there in the midst of American society you meet with men full of a fanatical and almost wild spirtualism, which hardly exists in Europe. From time to time strange sects arise which endeavor to strike out extraordinary paths to eternal happiness. Religious insanity is very common in the United States." [Alexis de Tocqueville, mid 19th century]

580 "It's a vacuous answer . . . To say that 'God made the world' is simply a more or less sophisticated way of saying that we don't understand how the universe originated. A god, in so far as it is anything, is an admission of ignorance." -- Peter Atkins, British Association for the Advancement of Science

774 "If I see a professing vegetarian eating meat, it is no hypocrisy for me to point out his inconsistency even though I personally do not subscribe to the principles of vegetarianism."

474 "There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't"

1494 "... why have those countries with a strong Church-State alliance displayed such an eagerness to enforce religious dogmas and eliminate dissent through the power of the state. Why has Christianity refused, whenever possible, to allow its beliefs to compete in a free marketplace of ideas? The answer is obvious -- and revealing. Christianity is peddling an inferior product, one that cannot withstand critical investigation. Unable to compete favorably with other theories, it has sought to gain a monopoly through a state franchise, which means: through the use of force." George Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1989), p. 114. George Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1989), p. 120.

926 I believe in life before breakfast.

84 "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite." -- Bertrand Russell