We are a worldwide social network of freethinkers, atheists, agnostics and secular humanists.
I have been a quote collector and quote monger for at least as long as I have been an atheist, and likely much longer. There is a fascination in me of those who are sufficiently skilled in language that they structure words into concepts and ideas and proposed actions which grab my attention and interest, whether it is John F. Kennedy's unabashed statement: "We choose to go to the moon and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," Robert A. Heinlein's blunt expression: "If you've got the truth, you can demonstrate it. Talking doesn't prove it. SHOW people," or Captain Kirk's subtle yet important tactical observation, having encountered and been challenged by the dauntingly huge First Federation vessel: "Not chess, Mr. Spock ... Poker!"
Certainly, atheism has had its share of skilled spokespeople, whose words have inspired and driven us, whether it was Madalyn Murray O'Hair, saying: "An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church," or Sam Harris, who noted that: "The only problem with Islamic fundamentalism are the fundamentals of Islam," or Aron Ra's far more succinct: "If you can't SHOW it, you don't KNOW it."
Consciously or unconsciously, I suspect all of us have learned and grown from such words and many others, becoming stronger and more mature, not just in our atheism but in ourselves, having heard such words as these, and that is the point of this group: not to just deal in quotes which praise and promote atheism but which advance the cause of knowledge, self-understanding and self-ownership. Each of us have likely heard someone say something and think, "Wow!" and resonated to the significance of what they heard.
That's what I want to do here: share, learn, and grow, not just from THEIR words, but our own.
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One suggestion for the main comment area of the group: Please keep your quotes to under 20 lines or 200 words. That way, one entry won't dominate a given page of the comment area. If you have a longer quote or speech which you think is significant, create a separate post in the group.
Please enjoy!
Started by Loren Miller. Last reply by Mrs.B Jun 11. 2 Replies 1 Like
Since there has been such interest in the comments Liz Cheney made during the first public hearing held by the House Select January 6th Committee, I thought I would post it here for those of you who…Continue
Tags: Trump, hearing, insurrection, "Donalld, committee
Started by Loren Miller. Last reply by Andy Stout May 4. 5 Replies 3 Likes
Lately I have noted an increase in rants, diatribes, and otherwise potent and declamatory statements by Democrats, in the defense of the LGBTQ+ community, responding to overblown claims about…Continue
Tags: LGBTQ+, Critical Race Theory, sexualizing, grooming, Mallory McMorrow
Started by Loren Miller. Last reply by Mrs.B Apr 22. 5 Replies 3 Likes
Besides being a brilliant comedian and practiced public ranter, George Carlin was a adept student of humans and humanity – likely among the reasons why he was so accomplished at those first two…Continue
Tags: humanity, human, well-being, George Carlin
Started by Loren Miller. Last reply by Andy Stout Mar 28. 8 Replies 4 Likes
To be honest, I have NO idea who Brandi Carlile is (though I suppose I could Google her), but the following brief story of her illness, coma, and recovery are pretty striking. As my friends from…Continue
Tags: Jesus, coma, Baptist, Catholic, meningitis
Nice Comment
Very true, Andy, but the fact remains that, so long as religion persists in our culture (and my suspicion is that it will never be totally extinguished), the word, "atheist" is a necessary part of our vocabulary. I will insist on distinguishing myself and my non-believing fellow travelers from those who insist on indulging in magical and irrational thinking.
“All true believers have good reasons for disbelieving in every god except their own,” said Birbal, “and so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none.”
-- Salman Rushdie, The Enchantress of Florence
Especially considering that their “good reasons,” upon further examination, are neither good nor reasoned!
Oh good grief!
...only the idea of a universal matter that moves in different directions and they by different configurations of its parts can always be modified in thousands upon thousands of different ways, clearly shows us that everything that exists in Nature can be made by the natural laws of movement and by the configuration and combination alone or modification of the parts of matter.
The Testament of Jean Messlier
that there was an advocate for ignorance
The word “holiday” comes from “holy day” and holy means “exalted and worthy of complete devotion.” By that definition, all days are holy. Life is holy. Atheists have joy every day of the year, every holy day. We have the wonder and glory of life. We have joy in the world before the lord is come. We’re not going for the promise of life after death; we’re celebrating life before death. The smiles of children. The screaming, the bitching, the horrific whining of one’s own children. The glory of giving or receiving a blow job. Sunsets, rock and roll, bebop, Jell-O, stinky cheese, and offensive jokes. For atheists, everything in the world is enough and every day is holy. Every day is an atheist holiday. It’s a day that we’re alive."
-- Penn Jillette, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday
Wonderfully well stated, Penn!
Shameful history.
The Supreme Court of the United States like its recent decision on Roe V Wade hasn't always covered its self in glory.
"At his presidential inaugural on March 4, 1857, President James Buchanan, a Northern Democrat aligned with the South’s slavers, took to the steps of the Capitol and preemptively announced the result of an as-yet-unreleased Supreme Court decision that would give a “settlement of the question of domestic slavery in the Territories.”
Two days later, Chief Justice Roger Taney read his majority opinion in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. Black people, Taney wrote, are to be “regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”
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