"After the survivor of the Spanish conquest has told his life's story he is convicted by the Inquisition:

"He posted no brief in defense or mitigation of his offenses, and when he was most solemnly advised by the Court President of the dire consequences he faced if found guilty, Juan Damasceno volunteered only one comment:

'It will mean I do not go to the Christian heaven?'

He was told that that would indeed be the worst of his punishments: that he would most assuredly not go to Heaven. At which, his smile sent a thrill of horror through every soul of the Court." ["Aztec", by Gary Jennings]

God is real, unless declared integer.

"After the survivor of the Spanish conquest has told his life's story he is convicted by the Inquisition:

"He posted no brief in defense or mitigation of his offenses, and when he was most solemnly advised by the Court President of the dire consequences he faced if found guilty, Juan Damasceno volunteered only one comment:

'It will mean I do not go to the Christian heaven?'

He was told that that would indeed be the worst of his punishments: that he would most assuredly not go to Heaven. At which, his smile sent a thrill of horror through every soul of the Court." ["Aztec", by Gary Jennings]

"The Theologian is an owl, sitting on an old dead branch in the tree of human knowledge, and hooting the same old hoots that have been hooted for hundreds and thousands of years, but he has never given a hoot for progress." -- Emmet F. Fields

"... 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.

"Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric." -- Bertrand Russel

"After the survivor of the Spanish conquest has told his life's story he is convicted by the Inquisition:

"He posted no brief in defense or mitigation of his offenses, and when he was most solemnly advised by the Court President of the dire consequences he faced if found guilty, Juan Damasceno volunteered only one comment:

'It will mean I do not go to the Christian heaven?'

He was told that that would indeed be the worst of his punishments: that he would most assuredly not go to Heaven. At which, his smile sent a thrill of horror through every soul of the Court." ["Aztec", by Gary Jennings]

"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods." -- H.L. Mencken

"Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson, a former TV evangelist, once said he believed only devout Christians and Jews were qualified to lead the government, the New York Times reported yesterday. Robertson also maintained that government is subservient to the will of God and that democracy is 'next best' to 'government controlled by God,' the newspaper said.... The Times story cited several articles written by Robertson in which he said God had spoken to him, directed his actions or heeded his prayer to steer away a hurricane. The article also said Robertson had a conversation with Satan in 1960 at the time of his religious conversion. 'I heard Satan say, "Jesus is playing you for a sucker, Robertson."'" [San Francisco Chronicle, 28 December 1987 (UPI)]

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries." -- JAMES MADISON

"Christianity has done it's utmost to close the circle and declare even doubt to be a sin. One is supposed to be cast into belief without reason, by a miracle, and from then on to swim in it as in the brightest and least ambiguous of elements: even a glance towards land, even the thought that one perhaps exists for something else as well as swimming, even the slightest impulse of our amphibious nature - is sin! And notice that all this means that the foundation of belief and all reflection on it's origin is likewise excluded as sinful. What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned." [Nietsche, "Daybreak"]

"This crime called blasphemy was invented by priests for the purpose of defending doctrines not able to take care of themselves." [Robert G. Ingersoll]

"religion is a socio-political institution for the control of people's thoughts, lives, and actions; based on ancient myths and superstitions perpetrated through generations of subtle yet pervasive brainwashing."

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith . . . we need believing people." [Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933, from a speech made during negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordant of 1933]

"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"]

"So telling a lie becomes a sin if you tell it to take advantage of a person, but if you tell a lie to do a good thing for him that is not a sin. Even God tells lies very often; you can see this throughout history." [Rev. Sun Myong Moon, in MASTER SPEAKS, 3/16/72--England, revealing the extent of his respect for truth, i.e. none]

"The question of the truth of a religion is one thing, but the question of its usefullness is another. I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue." [Bertrand Russell, _Why I Am Not A Christian_, 1957]

"To no form of religion is woman indebted for one impulse of freedom..." [Susan B. Anthony]

"Skeptics don't no it all -- but they no what they should."

"Access denied. Thought you could get in?"