Theism Quotes

• Pantheism is sexed-up atheism. Deism is watered-down theism.

  Richard Dawkins

  Atheism, Pantheism, Deism

  Richard Dawkins (2008). “The God Delusion”, p.40, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.

  Seneca the Younger

  Wise, Religious, Atheist

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• Question with boldness even the existence of a god.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Atheist, Faith Religion

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.90, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.

  Charles Darwin

  Intelligent, Men, Feelings

  Charles Darwin (1887). “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin”, p.70, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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• It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in.

  Robert Jastrow

  Science, Men, Views

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• What terrible questions we are learning to ask! The former men believed in magic, by which temples, cities, and men were swallowed up, and all trace of them gone. We are coming on the secret of a magic which sweeps out of men's minds all vestige of theism and beliefs which they and their fathers held and were framed upon.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Father, Science, Men

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.277, Penguin

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• I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Religious, Atheist, If There Is A God

  "Jesus : Myth Or Reality?". Book by Ian Curtis, 2006.

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• The Church says the Earth is flat. But I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the Moon. And I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Motivational, Death, Faith

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• If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them.

  Baron d'Holbach

  Atheist, Ignorance, Knowledge

  "The System of Nature". Book by Baron d'Holbach, 1770.

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• A commonsense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.

  Fred Hoyle

  Science, If There Is A God, Numbers

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• Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Confidence, Atheist

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.6343, Delphi Classics

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• So far as the religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake ... Religion is all bunk.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Atheist, If There Is A God, Fake

  "What on Earth is an Atheist!". Book by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, 1972.

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• I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.

  Wernher von Braun

  Science, Origin Of Life, Design

  Wernher Von Braun (2007). “The Voice of Dr. Wernher Von Braun: An Anthology”, Collectors Guide Pub

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• Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.

  Charles Darwin

  Positive, Confidence, Ignorance

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.33, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Atheist, Insightful

  Charles Darwin (2010). “The Works of Charles Darwin, Volume 29: “Erasmus Darwin” by Ernest Krause, with a Preliminary Notice by Charles Darwin; “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin” Edited by Nora Barlow; and Consolidated Index”, p.124, NYU Press

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• Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Humble, Men

  Albert Einstein (2013). “Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives”, p.33, Princeton University Press

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• The question of whether there exists a Creator and Ruler of the Universe has been answered in the affirmative by some of the highest intellects that have ever existed.

  Charles Darwin

  Atheism, Intellect, Affirmative

  Charles Darwin (2016). “The Descent of Man (Diversion Classics)”, p.131, Diversion Books

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• It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.

  Albert Einstein

  God, Religious, Atheist

  Albert Einstein (2013). “Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives”, p.43, Princeton University Press

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• Religions are all alike- founded upon fables and mythologies.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Atheist, Secular Society

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• My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.

  George Santayana

  Atheist, Men, Insightful

  Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies "On My Friendly Critics" (1922)

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• We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.

  H. L. Mencken

  Beautiful, Respect, Religious

  Minority Report: H. L. Mencken's Notebooks (1956)

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• According to theism, if a universe is to have any probability of existing, this probability is dependent upon God's beliefs, desires and creative acts. But the Hartle-Hawking probability is not dependent on any supernatural considerations; Hartle and Hawking do not sum over anything supernatural in their path integral derivation of the probability amplitude.

  Quentin Smith

  Creative, Religion, Desire

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• Atheism ... in its philosophic aspect refuses allegiance not merely to a definite concept of God, but it refuses all servitude to the God idea, and opposes the theistic principle as such. Gods in their individual function are not half as pernicious as the principle of theism which represents the belief in a supernatural, or even omnipotent, power to rule the earth and man upon it. It is the absolutism of theism, its pernicious influence upon humanity, its paralyzing effect upon thought and action, which Atheism is fighting with all its power.

  Emma Goldman

  Fighting, Men, Ideas

  Emma Goldman (1915). “Mother Earth Bulletin”

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• Anti-theism presupposes Theism

  Cornelius Van Til

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• Theism, as a way of conceiving God, has become demonstrably inadequate, and the God of theism not only is dying but is probably not revivable. If the religion of the future depends on keeping alive the definitions of theism, then the human phenomenon that we call religion will have come to an end. If Christianity depends on a theistic definition of God, then we must face the fact that we are watching this noble religious system enter the rigor mortis of its own death throes.

  John Shelby Spong

  Religious, Rigor Mortis, Dying

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