Introduction
Religion has attracted the attention of some of the greatest minds in history – and it’s not all flattering.
If you are religious then you’ve most likely been brought up to never question your religion. For that reason it can be a shock to find out that there are people who question, not just your religion, but religion in general.
And it can be an eye-opener to find out that many great people have a dismissive view toward religion. The following list will hopefully help you to understand that there are dissenting views about religion, and that many of those who offer the dissent are not nutcases. On the contrary, they can be people with great achievements and intellect. Do you really believe that they are great and notable (for various reasons), yet they are hopelessly wrong when it comes to what they believe and state about religion?
Note not only the people who made the following quotes, but also the truism contained in the quotes. Religion wants you to turn a blind eye to the problems that religion creates. The following people want you to refocus your sight on the problems that religion creates.
Some of the following are attributed to “Unknown” because they either cannot be attributed to a known source or they cannot be confirmed to have been said by the person to whom they are popularly attributed. They are included here for the truism they contain.
There are many sites that contain incorrect or misattributed quotes. All of the following have been verified, although sometimes a translation has been used. Links in the following sections are to relevant Wikipedia pages.
Quotes by authors
“If he [god] has spoken, why is the universe not convinced?”
“The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.”
– Edward Gibbon (usually misattributed to Seneca).
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
– Christopher Hitchens (the quote is also known as Hitchens’ Razor).
“Religion poisons everything.”
“Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do every minute of every day.”
“Properly read, the bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
“The purpose of a democratic government is to protect the poor from the rich. The purpose of religion is to protect the rich from the poor.”
– Oliver Markus Malloy
“Isn’t it enough to say that the garden is beautiful, without having to imagine there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
“Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”
Denounced organised religion as “but a castle in the air” and theology as “but ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system”.
– French Catholic priest Jean Meslier
Quotes by scientists
“The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.”
“For good people to do evil things, it takes religion.”
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same god who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.”
“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.”
“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.”
“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.”
Quotes by philosophers
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
– Popular translation of Voltaire
“Under Christianity neither morality nor religion has any point of contact with actuality.”
“To know a person’s religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.”
“Religion is the opium of the people.”
Quotes by activists
“I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do to their fellows, because it always coincides with their own desires.”
Quotes by statesmen and politicians
“Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”
Quotes by comedians
“I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence.”
– Doug McLeod
Quotes by others
“Anti-theism is what happens when you read the bible. Christianity is what happens when somebody else reads it for you.”
– Unknown
“Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool.”
– Unknown (commonly attributed to either Mark Twain or Voltaire).
(More – coming soon …)