Dan Barker Quotes

Quotes about:

• I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being.

  Dan Barker

  Love, God, Christian

  Dan Barker (2009). “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists”, p.89, Ulysses Press

  79 Copy quote

• Asking, ‘If there is no God, what is the purpose of life?’ is like asking, ‘If there is no master, whose slave will I be?’ If your purpose of life is to submit as a slave, then your meaning comes from flattering the ego of a person whom you should detest.

  Dan Barker

  Ego, Life Is Like, Purpose

  Dan Barker (2011). “The Good Atheist: Living a Purpose-filled Life Without God”, p.29, Ulysses Press

  37 Copy quote

• There is no evidence for a god, no coherent definition of a god, no good argument for a god, good positive arguments against a god, no agreement among believers about the nature or moral principles of a god, and no need for a god. We can live happy, moral, productive lives without such belief, and we can do it better.

  Dan Barker

  Agreement, Productive Life, Religion

  30 Copy quote

• Scientists do not join hands every Sunday and sing "Yes gravity is real! I know gravity is real! I will have faith! I believe in my heart that what goes up, up, up must come down, down, down. Amen!" If they did, we would think they were pretty insecure about the concept.

  Dan Barker

  Faith, Atheist, Real

  59 Copy quote

• The very concept of sin comes from the Bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?

  Dan Barker

  Bible, Fear, Cutting

  Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

  28 Copy quote

• I have something to say to the religionist who feels atheists never say anything positive: You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil—you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself.

  Dan Barker

  Atheist, Intelligent, Class

  Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

  44 Copy quote

• Insanity is believing your hallucinations are real. Religion is believing that other peoples' hallucinations are real.

  Dan Barker

  Real, Believe, Insanity

  24 Copy quote

• Truth does not demand belief.

  Dan Barker

  Doe, Demand, Belief

  7 Copy quote

• All you have to do is walk into any children's hospital and you know there is no God. Prayer doesn't make any difference. Those people pray for their beloved children to live and they die.

  Dan Barker

  Prayer, Children, Differences

  21 Copy quote

• People are always asking, "What's the purpose of life?" That's easy. Relieve suffering. Create beauty. Make gardens.

  Dan Barker

  Beauty, Garden, People

  21 Copy quote

• To think that the ruler of the universe will run to my assistance and bend the laws of nature for me is the height of arrogance.

  Dan Barker

  Running, Prayer, Thinking

  Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

  8 Copy quote

• You can cite a hundred references to show that the biblical God is a bloodthirsty tyrant, but if they can dig up two or three verses that say "God is love" they will claim that you are taking things out of context!

  Dan Barker

  Bible, Biblical, Tyrants

  Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

  11 Copy quote

• There is not a single contemporary historical mention of Jesus, not by Romans or by Jews, not by believers or by unbelievers, during his entire lifetime. This does not disprove his existence, but it certainly casts great doubt on the historicity of a man who was supposedly widely known to have made a great impact on the world. Someone should have noticed.

  Dan Barker

  Jesus, Men, Should Have

  Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

  20 Copy quote

• Faith is not the result of fuzy thinking. It is the cause of it.

  Dan Barker

  Faith, Thinking, Causes

  7 Copy quote

• Not thinking critically, I assumed that the successful prayers were proof that God answers prayer while the failures were proof that there was something wrong with me.

  Dan Barker

  Prayer, Successful, Thinking

  Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

  7 Copy quote

• There are many gods which Christians reject. I just believe in one less god then they do. The reasons that you might give for your atheism toward the Roman gods are likely the same reasons I would give for not believing in Jesus.

  Dan Barker

  God, Christian, Jesus

  8 Copy quote

• Theology is a subject without an object

  Dan Barker

  Theology, Subjects, Objects

  6 Copy quote

• Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being.

  Dan Barker

  Love, Dream, Kindness

  Dan Barker (2009). “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists”, p.88, Ulysses Press

  18 Copy quote

• If the answers to prayer are merely what God wills all along, then why pray?

  Dan Barker

  Prayer, Fear, Atheism

  Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

  20 Copy quote

• If faith is a valid tool of knowledge, then anything can be true 'by faith,' and therefore nothing is true. If the only reason you can accept a claim is by faith, then you are admitting that the claim does not stand on its own merits.

  Dan Barker

  Religion, Atheism, Admitting

  8 Copy quote

• Isn't atheism just another religion?' No, it isn't. Atheism has no creeds, rituals, holy book, absolute moral code, origin myth, sacred spaces or shrines. It has no sin, divine judgment, forbidden words, prayer, worship, prophecy, group privileges, or anointed 'holy' leaders. Atheists don't believe in a transcendent world or supernatural afterlife. Most important, there is no orthodoxy in atheism.

  Dan Barker

  Atheist, Prayer, Book

  10 Copy quote

• If the Prodigal Son's a parable, and if Adam and Eve are metaphors, then maybe God is just figure of speech.

  Dan Barker

  Son, Atheism, Speech

  60 Copy quote

• I'm proud to be an atheist - it helps me stand for so much more and fall for so much less.

  Dan Barker

  Atheist, Fall, Religion

  19 Copy quote

• I am an atheist because there is no evidence for the existence of God. That should be all that needs to be said about it: no evidence, no belief.

  Dan Barker

  Atheist, Doubt, Religion

  Dan Barker (1992). “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist”, Freedom from Religion Fndtn

  23 Copy quote

• You believe in a book that has sticks turning into snakes, and you say we are the ones that need help?

  Dan Barker

  Spiritual, Atheist, Believe

  14 Copy quote

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