Robert Green Ingersoll Quotes About Atheism
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Fear paints pictures of ghosts and hangs them in the gallery of ignorance.
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It is contended by many that ours is a Christian government, founded upon the Bible, and that all who look upon the book as false or foolish are destroying the foundation of our country. The truth is, our government is not founded upon the rights of gods, but upon the rights of men. Our Constitution was framed, not to declare and uphold the deity of Christ, but the sacredness of humanity. Ours is the first government made by the people and for the people. It is the only nation with which the gods have had nothing to do.
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The intellectual advancement of man depends on how often he can exchange an old superstition for a new truth.
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The inspiration of the Bible depends upon the ignorance of the gentleman who reads it.
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Only a few years ago there was no person too ignorant to successfully answer Charles Darwin; and the more ignorant he was the more cheerfully he undertook the task.
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You cannot show real respect to your parents by perpetuating their errors.... Do you consider that the inventor of a steel plow cast a slur upon his father who scratched the ground with a wooden one? I do not consider that an invention by the son is a slander upon the father; I regard each invention simply as an improvement; and every father should be exceedingly proud of an ingenious son. If Mr. Talmage has a son, it will be impossible for him to honor his father except by differing with him.
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Burns had his faults, his frailties. He was intensely human. Still, I would rather appear at the "Judgment Seat" drunk, and be able to say that I was the author of "A man's a man for 'a that," than to be perfectly sober and admit that I had lived and died a Scotch Presbyterian.
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Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows.
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If all the historic books of the Bible were blotted from the memory of mankind, nothing of value would be lost.
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Blasphemy is what an old dogma screams at a new truth.
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In the presence of death I affirm and reaffirm the truth of all that I have said against the superstitions of the world. I would say that much on the subject with my last breath.
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I would not for my life destroy one star of human hope, but I want it so that when a poor woman rocks the cradle and sings a lullaby to the dimpled darling, she will not be compelled to believe that ninety-nine chances in a hundred she is raising kindling wood for hell.
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If there be an infinite Being, he does not need our help - we need not waste our energies in his defense.
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As long as every question is answered by the word "God," scientific inquiry is simply impossible.
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Do you not know that every religion in the world has declared every other religion a fraud? Yes, we all know it. That is the time all religions tell the truth - each of the other.
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Whenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from God, there is in that man no spirit of compromise. He has not the modesty born of the imperfections of human nature; he has the arrogance of theological certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance. Believing himself to be the slave of God, he imitates his master, and of all tyrants the worst is a slave in power.
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Only the very ignorant are perfectly satisfied that they know. To the common man the great problems are easy. He has no trouble in accounting for the universe. He can tell you the origin and destiny of man and the why and wherefore of things.
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Nothing could be more idiotic and absurd than the doctrine of the trinity.
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The old lady who said there must be a devil, else how could they make pictures that looked exactly like him, reasoned like a trained theologian - like a doctor of divinity.
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Every church that has a standard higher than human welfare is dangerous.
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This crime called blasphemy was invented by priests for the purpose of defending doctrines not able to take care of themselves.
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Nothing could add to the horror of hell, except the presence of its creator, God.
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Environment is a sculptor - a painter. If we had been born in Constantinople, then most of us would have said: 'There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.' If our parents had lived on the banks of the Ganges, we would have been worshipers of Siva, longing for the heaven of Nirvana. As a rule, children love their parents, believe what they teach, and take great pride in saying that the religion of mother is good enough for them.
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Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery.
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The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.
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They knew no better, but I do not propose to follow the example of a barbarian because he was honestly a barbarian.
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All religions are inconsistent with mental freedom. Shakespeare is my bible, Burns my hymn-book.
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Eternal punishment must be eternal cruelty, and I do not see how any man, unless he has the brain of an idiot, or the heart of a wild beast, can believe in eternal punishment.
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Ignorance worships mystery; reason explains it; the one grovels, the other soars.
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The mechanic, when a wheel refuses to turn, never thinks of dropping on his knees and asking the assistance of some divine power. He knows there is a reason. He knows that something is too large or too small; that there is something wrong with his machine; and he goes to work and he makes it larger or smaller, here or there, until the wheel will turn.
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