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Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. ~ Marcus Aurelius

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.
~Samuel Adams

An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated
Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion...several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and then cuts his throat, if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven. -Mark Twain

The fundamentalists, by 'knowing' the answers before they start (examining evolution), and then forcing nature into the straitjacket of their discredited preconceptions, lie outside the domain of science-or of any honest intellectual inquiry.
~ Stephen Jay Gould

There is in every village a torch: The schoolteacher. And an extinguisher: The priest
Victor Hugo

The height of stupidity is most clearly demonstrated by the individual who ridicules something they know nothing about.
Albert Einstein

If people are good only because they fear punishment and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
Albert Einstein

A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business... In running away from ourselves we either fall on our neighbor's shoulder or fly at his throat
The True Believer by Hoffer

- Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.

- In the same way that one child in school does more thinking than a 1000 children sitting in church.

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10 Tenets Of Skepticism

1 - I do not need the opiate they call religion, for I shall hold nothing on faith alone. I will require evidence, reason and critical thought to arrive at conclusions.

2 - Because I may know your holy book better than you does not mean I am repressing a hidden inner 'true' belief in your deity, it means that I care if what I believe is true. I will spend time and energy looking into claims to verify there is substantial reason to believe and when there is not I will abandon those beliefs.

3 - I will not only research and investigate one side of an issue, I will try to inform myself of many facets of a topic.

4 - I shall hold arguments from popularity as irrelevant. How many people believe a 'thing' does not necessitate 'truth'.

5 - I shall dismiss arguments from ignorance. Because we do not know the true cause does not infer that a supernatural or pseudo-scientific explanation is the correct one.

6 - I believe extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

7 - My systematic doubt is not a negative, it is an asset, along with continuous inquiry, for I value the truth.

8 - 'We don't know' is a perfectly acceptable answer instead of a made-up one. I accept that there are limits to our knowledge at this time.

9 - I shall exhibit a joy and wonder in learning about the world while trying to keep at bay emotion driven thinking.

10 - I will question, question, question, question, question, question, question...

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These MISBELIEFS constantly underlie bad arguments in public debate.

-Complicated explanations are suspect
-The world is simple, and there must be a simple explanation for everything.
-Certainty is strength, doubt is weakness
-Admitting alternatives is undermining one's own belief.
-Changing one's mind means one has wasted the time spent holding the prior opinion.
-Your opinion matters as much as anyone else's
-When a person has studied a topic, he has no more real knowledge than you do, just a hidden agenda.
-The herd should be followed
-The contemplative lemming gets trampled
-Popular beliefs must be true.
-No bad idea can survive.
-There are evil people and institutions, and surely one of them is more responsible than you are.
-You are not the problem
-An ugly image means a bad mirror.
-You're special
-Bad people get punished.
-You, however, will be forgiven.
http://klausler.com/cargo.html
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If you're doing business with a religious son-of-a-bitch, get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit. Not with the good lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal.
~ William Burroughs