Dan Barker Quotes About Atheism

Quotes about: Atheism

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Prayer never changes the laws of nature.

  Dan Barker

  Prayer, Law, Atheism

• Without "The Law of Moses" would we all be wandering around like little gods, stealing, raping, and spilling blood whenever our vanity was offended?

  Dan Barker

  Fear, Vanity, Blood

• The trouble is that neutrality is confused with hostility. We're not disrupting churches, or interrupting people's prayers. We're not fighting religion.

  Dan Barker

  Prayer, Confused, Fighting

• Atheists are suffering from bad PR. What if Sesame Street had an atheist character?

  Dan Barker

  Atheist, Character, Suffering

• I took about a year to fully adjust. Like there's a death at the family or a divorce, you don't just snap your fingers and it's over.

  Dan Barker

  Divorce, Years, Atheism

• It turns out that the word atheism means much less than I had thought. It is merely the lack of theism.

  Dan Barker

  Mean, Atheism, Turns

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

• I have an Easter challenge for Christians. My challenge is simply this: tell me what happened on Easter. I am not asking for proof. My straightforward request is merely that Christians tell me exactly what happened on the day that their most important doctrine was born.

  Dan Barker

  Christian, Easter, Challenges

  "Easter Challenge". www.patheos.com. March 27, 2013.

• Basic atheism is not a belief. It is the lack of belief. There is a difference between believing there is no god and not believing there is a god - both are atheistic, though popular usage has ignored the latter.

  Dan Barker

  Believe, Differences, Atheism

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

• It is wrong for a secular government to promote prayer. We think the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. What if the president declared a National Day of Cursing God because He failed us on September 11? Americans would say, "You've overstepped your authority." That's how we feel when he promotes prayer.

  Dan Barker

  Prayer, Thinking, Government

• Look at the posture of prayer. It is the posture of slavery, of bowing before your master. We are a proudly rebellious country. We kicked out the master. Now here comes the government telling us to humbly bow again.

  Dan Barker

  Country, Prayer, Government

• 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

• You keep accusing me of blasphemy all of the time, but I cannot be convicted of a victimless crime.

  Dan Barker

  Accusing Me, Doubt, Atheism

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

• There is joy in rationality, happiness in clarity of mind. Freethought is thrilling and fulfilling - absolutely essential to mental health and happiness.

  Dan Barker

  Joy, Doubt, Mind

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

• It is a fact of history and of current events that human beings exaggerate, misinterpret, or wrongly remember events. They have also fabricated pious fraud. Most believers in a religion understand this when examining the claims of other religions.

  Dan Barker

  Religion, Atheism, Current Events

  Dan Barker (2009). “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists”, p.248, Ulysses Press

• 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

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