Superstition In Power

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics. ~Lazarus Long

The Petulant God Of Flattery

The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history. ~ Lazarus Long

"Pardon Me, My Maker..."

God has infinite wisdom, goodness and power; he created the universe.... He created this speck of dirt and the human species for his glory; and with deliberate design of making nine-tenths of our species miserable forever for his glory. This is the doctrine of Christian theologians, in general, ten to one.... Wretch! What is his glory? Is he ambitious? Does he want promotion? Is he vain, tickled with adulation, exulting and triumphing in his power and the sweetness of his vengeance? Pardon me, my maker, for these awful questions.

~ John Adams (1735-1826), founding father and second U.S. president.

"The Illiterate Of The 21st Century..."

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

~Alvin Toffler

"...Eternal Hostility Against Every Form Of Tyranny Over The Mind Of Man."

"The clergy...believe that any portion of power confided in me will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly, for I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
~ Thomas Jefferson

"Coded Chemistry"

How can a universe of mindless matter produce beings with intrinsic ends, self replication capabilities, and coded chemistry?
~Antony Flew--an atheist who evolved into a deist

The Painful Job Of Thinking

The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.

~Galbraith