Quotes
...tem that ever shone on man," James Madison: "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." Jeremy Konopka on alt.atheism: "In the brain of every religious person there is a god shaped vacuum." Hans Konzelmann: "The church lives on the fact that modern research about Jesus is not known amongst the public." John S. Spong: "I am not sure Christianity would have survived for 2000 years had it not been institutionalized. I am not sure if it will survive the next 100 years because it is institutionalized." Elton Trueblood: "The world is equally shocked at hearing Christianity criticized and seeing it practiced." Peter Meiderlin: (1626): "In essentials: unity; in non-essentials: liberty; in all things: charity " Communication: "The most important thing in communication is to hear what is not being said." Peter Drucker. Creeds: Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899): "Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so. This creed is somewhat short, but is long enough for this life; long enough for this world. If there is another world, when we get there we can make another creed. But this creed certainly will do for this life." Anon (Wiccan Rede; a traditional creed of the Wiccan Neopagan faith): "Do what you wish, as long as it harms none, including yourself" Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ; reported in the Christian Scriptures, Mark 12:30-31): "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Church and State: Pope Pius IX (1792-1878): "The church ought to be separated from the state, and the state from the church." US Treaty of Tripoli, 1797-JUN-10. Ratified unanimously in the Senate and signed by John Adams into law. Often incorrectly attributed to George Washington: "..the government of the United States of America is in no sense founded on the Christian Religion...." Thomas Jefferson: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just." Thomas Jefferson, on 1814-FEB-10: "Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." Dr. James Dobson, letter to "Focus on the Family" supporters, 1996-JUL on the need to restrict freedom of religion: "Tragically, the words written by Supreme Court Justices .... said, 'At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.'" Click below to visit one of our sponsors: Civil Rights: Anon: Slogan at the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 1993: "Human Rights: Know Them, Demand Them, Defend Them" Heinrich Heine, German poet: "That was only the beginning - where one burns books, one will finally also burn people." Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "In the current struggle, there is one positive course of action. There is no alternative, for the alternative would connote a rear march..." Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "In this Revolution, no plans have been written for retreat. Those who will not get into step will find that the parade has passed them by...." Pastor Martin Niemoller, writing in 1945 on his release from a World War II Nazi concentration camp: First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak out for me. 2,3 Barbara & Christopher Purdom, Coordinators, Interfaith Working Group; written in a letter to the Indianapolis Star on the topic of same-sex marriages: "Moral offense to a si...