NationStates Jolt Archive

I know we are all very sick of hearing what each other thinks about religion, so why not share our favorite words from outside sources? What quote about religion, God, spirituality, or superstition do you enjoy the most?

I really don't know. I saw a site with a list of good quotes from famous nontheists but I can't remember where it was.

Geez, just about everything Buddhists say sounds cool, especially quotes from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. (sp?)

Found it! (http://www.visi.com/~markg/atheists.html)

Dkew's quotes are pretty nice. a few of his gems:

If you're following the news, you know that the major religions differ in their interpretation of the holy books. For example, one way to interpret God's will is that you should love your neighbor. An alternate reading of the holy books might lead you to rig a donkey cart with small mortar rockets and aim it at a hotel full of infidels. In summary, po-tay-to, poh-tah-to. Religions are very flexible. — from Scott Adams' Holiday Thoughts, 2003

An atheist doesn't have to be someone who thinks he has a proof that there can't be a god. He only has to be someone who believes that the evidence on the God question is at a similar level to the evidence on the werewolf question. — John McCarthy

Everyone should believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer. - W.C. Fields

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone ever discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. - Douglas Adams

If you pray hard enough, you can make water run uphill. How hard? Why, hard enough to make water run uphill, of course! - Robert A. Heinlein

If you follow my link, you'll see why I have trouble choosing.

If you follow my link, you'll see why I have trouble choosing.

Indeed. There are so many good ones.

My favorite quote on the subject:

"If God existed, it would be necessary to abolish him"–Mikhail Bakunin

This one from the page is good, it basically summarizes my views on the subject:

"For myself, I do not believe in any revelation. As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities."–Darwin

i'd have to say one of my all-time favorites is:

Justice is the only worship.
Love is the only priest.
Ignorance is the only slavery.
Happiness is the only good.
The time to be happy is now,
The place to be happy is here,
The way to be happy is to make others so.
Wisdom is the science of happiness.
- Robert G. Ingersol

i also found this quote in an article by somebody who was comparing organized religion to an abusive family:

"Perhaps this is why they crucified Jesus. God had been killing their innocent children for centuries, and now they saw their chance to get even."

i don't know quite what i think about that quote, but it does give one pause for thought.

The Secular Web (http://www.infidels.org/index.shtml) shows a random quote every time you load the page.

i also found this quote in an article by somebody who was comparing organized religion to an abusive family:

"Perhaps this is why they crucified Jesus. God had been killing their innocent children for centuries, and now they saw their chance to get even."

i don't know quite what i think about that quote, but it does give one pause for thought.
God killed the Jewish children???

They killed Jesus because he challenged their beliefs.

But anyway, here's a quote on religion from the NS player behind Unistrut:
"It's a subject where everyone thinks they're right and nobody probably is"

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
--Brennan Manning (quoted by dc Talk, "What If I Stumble?", Jesus Freak)

They killed Jesus because he challenged their beliefs.

But anyway, here's a quote on religion from the NS player behind Unistrut:
"It's a subject where everyone thinks they're right and nobody probably is"
that's the beauty of being agnostic; i know that i hold the only "religious" belief that is 100% accurate :).

Maybe I'm missing the spirit of the thread by posting this, but oh well. . .:

And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but I have no love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but I do not have love, I gain nothing.
--1 Corinthians 13:2-3

God killed the Jewish children???
Yep. 42 of them at once even. All they did was tease a guy for being bald and YHVH sent 2 bears to rip them to shreds.

Maybe I'm missing the spirit of the thread by posting this, but oh well. . .:

the spirit of this thread is simply to share what you believe are great words on faith, religion, spirituality, etc. so far, it seems to have a more secular flavor, but i didn't intend for this to be an inherently anti-faith thread. the words on religion that speak to me best are ones that coincide with my own (agnostic) beliefs, so that is the quotes i posted, but if words of faith or words from religious texts speak best to you then please feel free to post them.

For all have sinned, all fall short of the glorious standard of god.
- Romans 3:23

Judge not lest you be judged

But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also

"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

From that nontheist website. I agree completely :)

This is paraphrased:

"In worlds above or worlds below, there is no one in the world like me." -Buddha

"Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?"
-Jesus

Indeed. There are so many good ones.

My favorite quote on the subject:

"If God existed, it would be necessary to abolish him"–Mikhail Bakunin

This one from the page is good, it basically summarizes my views on the subject:

"For myself, I do not believe in any revelation. As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities."–Darwin

Someone once said
"God is an absentee landlord"

It comes from a sermon I once heard, so it won't be exact "What are you going to tell them? If you become a Christian, you'll behave in exactly the same way but now you're going to feel guilty about it?" Trey Sheppard (not sure how to spell his name)
On Revelation 4:10 and its continual repetition "You know what that tells me? That those old guys are fit." Mike Pilavachi
Also "I will sing to the Lord all my life. As long as I live, I will sing praises to my God.//May he be pleased with my song, for my gladness comes from him." Psalm 104:33-4

"I'm an atheist, godammit!"

"Faith without works is dead."

Luke 22:36
"He who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one"

Inspiring

Walk with those who seek the truth. Run from those who think they've found it.

We must, however, acknowledge as it seems to me, that a man with all his noble qualities...still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. --Charles Darwin

Fate has punished me for my contempt for authority by making me an authority myself--Albert Einstein (Well, he was Jewish, but I am, too, culturally, and so I can use this as a combo Sfaardi/Humanist quote)

"Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?"
-Jesus
Yes. Yes, he was. A nice communist leading an insurgence against an oligarchy, whose views were twisted to murder innocents.

"Stoned off his ass" (I forget the name of the guy).
And
"Jesus walked by water" (Direct translation, it's not really on water).

Of course, we can never forget the
"If one kills an infidel, he is sent to heaven with 42 virgins!" (Direct translation: 42 white grapes)

Your wprds are meaningful, but have no practical value.
Hui Tzu to Zhuang Tzu, Warring States Period
Everything useful perishes through use... Should I not rejoice at being useless?
Zhuang Tzu to Hui Tzu, Warring States Period

One night I was a butterfly, fluttering happily around. Then I awoke, and found that I was a man. But what am I in truth? A man who dreams he is a butterfly, or a butterfly that believes he is a man?
Zhuang Tzu, Warring States Period

He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.
Lao Tzu, Spring and Autumn Period

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfisness, have few desires.
Lao Tzu, Spring and Autumn Period

Grab, and something will slip through your fingers.
Lao Tzu, Spring and Autumn Period

The creature born is the creature dying.
Zhuang Tzu, Warring States Period

Ezikiel 25:17

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you".

Yes it was in Pulp Fiction, yes it's also in the Christian Bible!

Job 5:11, which in the New International Version is worded:

The lowly he sets on high and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
Talk about uplifting!

"Judge not, lest ye be judged"