Comment

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on May 18, 2012 at 1:12am

Sceptics are philanthropic and wish to cure by argument, as far as they can, the conceit and rashness of the Dogmatists.

– Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on May 13, 2012 at 9:31pm

The kernel, the soul – let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances – is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily use by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing. When a great orator makes a great speech you are listening to ten centuries and ten thousand men – but we call it his speech, and really some exceedingly small portion of it is his. But not enough to signify. It is merely a Waterloo. It is Wellington's battle, in some degree, and we call it his; but there are others that contributed. It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a telephone or any other important thing – and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite – that is all he did. These object lessons should teach us that ninety-nine parts of all things that proceed from the intellect are plagiarisms, pure and simple; and the lesson ought to make us modest. But nothing can do that.  -- Mark Twain

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on May 8, 2012 at 10:19pm

The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.  -- Denis Diderot

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on April 21, 2012 at 11:40pm

The division between faith and reason is a half-measure, till it is frankly admitted that faith has to do with fiction, and reason with fact.

Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant? Is it not a spectacle to make the angels laugh?

If atheism is to be used to express the state of mind in which God is identified with the unknowable, and theology is pronounced to be a collection of meaningless words about unintelligible chimeras, then I have no doubt, and I think few people doubt, that atheists are as plentiful as blackberries.

-- Sir Leslie Stephen

English writer on philosophy and literary history. He was also one of the leading British mountaineers of his generation, the first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, Thackeray's son-in-law and Virginia Woolf's father.

Comment by William C. Walker on April 4, 2012 at 8:51pm

  " The Christian god is cruel,vindictive, capricious  & unjust. "   ..  Thomas Jefferson

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on April 4, 2012 at 8:22pm

Be as decent as you can. Don’t believe without evidence. Treat things Divine with marked respect, and don’t have anything to do with them. Do not trust humanity without collateral security; it will play you some scurvy trick. Remember that it hurts no one to be treated as an enemy entitled to respect until he shall prove himself a friend worthy of affection. Cultivate a taste for distasteful truths. And finally, most importantly of all, endeavor to see things as they are, not as they ought to be.

                --- Ambrose Bierce

Comment by William C. Walker on March 28, 2012 at 11:19am

'Evolution doesn't strive for perfection, only for that 'which will work'.

Comment by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on March 27, 2012 at 8:04pm

You are the result of 4 billion years of Evolutionary success.

Fucking act like it.

Anon

Comment by Chelsea on March 7, 2012 at 3:40am

Always remember that you're unique, just like everybody else!  Wouldn't that be amazing if everybody remembered that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?!

Comment by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on February 25, 2012 at 5:14pm

I am sure you could think of many more. What is the point of being on a site like this, if we don't grow in numbers, and get our voice heard. But, not only do we not have a leader, with no headquarters or country, these blokes all had small testiculus, with ideas of grandeur and power, and didn't care who they killed to get it. We Atheists are scattered all over the world, and don't want to start a war or commit genocide. Atheists include women. Big difference. It is only because of the internet that people like me can hook up with other Atheists, and shine a light on the evil done by religious people of all persuasions. We are becoming more knowledgeable about charlatans and hypocrites, and Atheists are getting stronger in numbers. Don't underestimate the power of the Internet,YouTube and iPhone. On the news every night, we see what is happening in muslim countries, the murder and mayhem in Syria. More and more are getting the courage to 'come out' even with the threat of losing family, education and a roof over their head, and making our voices heard, and joining groups like this. Even Obama includes 'people of no faith' in speeches.  It is only secular people who do change things - it is only secular countries that have a decent standard of living, and don't live in fear of religion or the genocidal loony tune head honcho of the day. The number of Atheists is still minute compared to religious numbers.  In Australia we have a female Atheist Prime Minister, and she talks about her Atheism. How many countries could this happen even twenty years ago. if we don't speak out, who does.  It certainly isn't religions. It's certainly a bloody slow process, but it is happening.

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