Faith and Reason Quotes

William K Clifford
“It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”

Richard Dawkins
“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.”

Benjamin Franklin
“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”

William James
“Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible.”

Søren Kierkegaard
“Certainty... lurks at the door of faith and threatens to devour it.”

Martin Luther
“Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.”

Blaise Pascal
“Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.”

Bertrand Russell
“We may define ‘faith’ as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of "faith." We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence.”

Mark Twain
“Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”

Voltaire
“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.”

"It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."
-William Kingdon Clifford


"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear."
-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

When I became convinced that the universe is natural--that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world--not even in infinite space. I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live to my own ideal--free to live for myself and those I loved--free to use all my faculties, all my senses--free to spread imagination's wings--free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope--free to judge and determine for myself--free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past--free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies--free from the fear of eternal pain-- free from the winged creatures of the night--free from devils, ghosts, and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought--no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings--no chains for my limbs--no lashes for my back--no fires for my flesh--no master's frown or threat--no following in another's steps--no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously faced all words. And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain--for the freedom of labor and thought--to those who fell on the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound in chains--to those by fire consumed--to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.

Robert Green Ingersoll

My First occurrence of Disregarding God

My views and opinions on religion were both developed out of my own experiences as a child attending Sunday school and as an adult who has developed somewhat of a "Free thought" attitude. Free thought is the need to justify an opinion with evidence rather than to have faith in an opinion in spite of evidence. (see http://freethought.freeservers.com/)

As a child of approximately seven or eight years old I was attending Sunday school classes (an event I dutifully tried to avoid every week). It occurred to me at some point prior to going to class that the story of creation in the Bible as I understood it conflicted with my understanding of dinosaurs and their presence on Earth 65 million years ago. I asked my mom about this at the time and I suppose as she was unable to answer the question (being a "believer"); she suggested that I ask the Sunday school teacher. As best I can recall I set out to do just that in my next class. The Sunday school teacher being an older woman, very conservative I would say in retopect, struck me as someone who would not be able to answer the question. My concern fore putting her in a awkward situation in which she have no answer in frount of the entire class forced me to abandon my question. She may have very well had an answer but to this day my doubt remains.

Even at this age I was aware that stories I was being told every week were not backed up by any degree of evidence, while evidence was abundant for opposing views. I cannot remember as I look back, a time when I ever really believed in God.

I can't beleive I have never added this Saganism

Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy. -Carl Sagan

Intelligent design being taught in US schools

As a Canadian this does not directly affect me as I have not heard of any jurisdictions adding "Intelligent Design" to the curriculum. However, south of the border in the US it is being added by more and more school boards as part of their high school biology or science classes.

In the US, Intelligent Design is not taught in any credible Universities, the only exceptions are a couple of evangelist run institutions. I have read several articles in the last couple of days in which Intelligent Design is referred to as a theory (ie Intelligent Design Theory), as if it should be considered along side the likes of Evolutionary Theory.

Their are 2 definitions of theory that apply here:
1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
and
2. An assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture.

The first definition is the accepted scientific definition of what constitutes a theory, the second is a contrived definition whos usefulness is designed to add credibility to a statement which would not be considered probable.
The first definition applies to Evolutionary Theory. The second definition describes what the religious right has done to adapt to a more and more accepted truth that threatens to discredit their beliefs.

Intelligent Design is pseudo-science. Adding this to the curriculum only serves to put those students at an intellectual disadvantage when compared to students around the world.

Teaching Intelligent Design serves and agenda. The very fact that their are groups who lobby to have this added should be cause for alarm, it should make us ask why. Evolutionary Theory on the other hand has earned its place within the schools. It has been tested, it has adapted and it is accepted. Proof of this is the emergence of Intelligent Design as a last ditch effort to make some connection to a God, but in accepting intelligent design one has to completely disregard Genesis. I wonder if the religious right considered that.

Why I am an Atheist

The following is an excellent article.

Why I am an Atheist

from: "The Value of Free Thought"

What makes a Free Thinker is not his beliefs, but the way in which he holds them. If he holds them because his elders told him they were true when he was young, or if he holds them because if he did not he would be unhappy, his thought is not free; but if he holds them because, after careful thought, he finds a balance of evidence in their favor, then his thought is free, however odd his conclusions may seem.'

- Bertrand Russell

Once again a quote from the best.

To discover that the Universe is some 8 to 15 billion years and not 6 to 12 thousand years old improves our appreciation of its sweep and grandeur; to entertain the notion that we are a particularly complex arrangement of atoms, and not some breath of divinity, at the very least enhances our respect for atoms; to discover, as now seems probable, that our planet is one of billions of other worlds in the Milky Way Galaxy and that our galaxy is one of billions more, majestically expands the arena of what is possible; to find that our ancestors were also the ancestors of apes ties us to the rest of life and makes possible important - if occaisionally rueful - reflections on human nature.
--Carl Sagan (Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Men dare not avow, even to their own hearts, the doubts which they entertain on such subjects. They make a merit of implicit faith; and disguise to themselves their real infidelity, by the strongest asseverations and the most positive bigotry.
--David Hume

from: The Age of Reason

Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. --Tom Paine