Following are a few thought-provoking quotes on religion by someone little known today, but one of the most fascinating men in the history of the United States: TGO
“If the Bible and my brain are both the work of the same infinite God, whose fault is it that the book and my brain do not agree?”
“Who can overestimate the progress of the world if all the money wasted in superstition could be used to enlighten, elevate and civilize mankind” ?
“It may be that ministers really think that their prayers do good and it may be that frogs imagine that their croaking brings spring.”
“Strange but true; those who have loved God most have loved man least.”
“They knew no better, but I do not propose to follow the example of a barbarian because he was honestly a barbarian.”
“Why should I allow that same God to tell me how to raise my kids who had to drown his own” ?
“If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.”
“Take from the Church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the absurd and nothing but a vacuum remains.”
“I have little confidence in any enterprise or business or investment that promises dividends only after the death of the stockholders.”
“Ministers say that they teach charity. That is natural. They live on hand-outs. All beggars teach that others should give.”
“Science built the Academy, superstition the Inquisition.”
“If Christ, in fact, said: I came not to bring peace but a sword, it is the only prophecy in the New Testament that has been literally fulfilled.”
“I cannot see why we should expect an infinite God to do better in another world than he does in this.”
“Hands that help are far better than lips that pray.”
“I have always noticed that the people who have the smallest souls make the most fuss about getting them saved.”
“All the professors in all the religious colleges in this country rolled into one, would not equal Charles Darwin.”
“…If all the bones of all the victims of the Catholic Church could be gathered together, a monument higher than all the pyramids would rise…”
“A miracle is the badge and brand of fraud… No intelligent, honest man ever pretended to perform a miracle, and never will.”
“Do away with the miracles, and the superhuman character of Christ is destroyed. He becomes what he truly was, a man.”
“Either God should have written a book to fit my brain, or he should have made my brain to fit his book.”
“To succeed the theologian invades the cradle. In the minds of the innocent they plant the seeds of superstition. Save children from the pollution of this horror.”
“With soap, baptism is a good thing.”
“If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.”
“Give the Church a place in the Constitution, let her touch once more the sword of power, and the priceless fruit of all ages will turn to ashes on the lips of men.”
“Should I not give the real transcript of my mind? Or should I turn hypocrite and pretend what I do not feel, and hate myself forever after for being a cringing coward.”
“We do not want creeds; we do not want idols; we want knowledge; we want happiness.”
“Reason, observation, and experience; the Holy Trinity of science.”
“Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery.”
“If Christ was good enough to die for me, he certainly will not be bad enough to damn me for honestly failing to believe in his divinity.”
