Question - Quotes
The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?
The religious reply to the moral sceptic`s question, `Why should I behave in such-and-such a way?` is simply `Because God requires it of you.` But this is merely a polite way of saying, `Because you`ll be punished if you don`t. [...] But a threat is never a logical justification for acting one way rather than another. If there exists a deity with the punitive vengefulness of the Judaeo-Christian variety, then it might be prudent to obey it, and thus avoid the flames of hell; but the threat of punishment is not a principled reason for obedience.
Religion has never once in all of human history turned out to be the right answer to any question - why would you think it`s the right answer to anything we don`t currently understand?
Our beliefs affect our behavior towards others. And that makes our beliefs, not just a personal question, but an ethical one.
Not knowing the answer to a question is not a valid excuse for making up a fairytale to explain it.
If you genuinely loved God, wouldn`t you want to understand him as best you can? When faced with different ideas about God, wouldn`t you want to ask some questions, and look at the supporting evidence for the different views, and try to figure out which one is probably true? Doesn`t it seem insulting to God to treat that question as if it didn`t matter? There are profound differences between religions. They are not trivial. And the different religions cannot all be right. (Although, as atheists like to point out, they can all be wrong.)
Why does God need arguments, anyway? Why does God need people to make his arguments for him? Why can`t he just reveal his true self, clearly and unequivocally, and settle the question once and for all? If God existed, why wouldn`t it just be obvious?
If things go the believer`s way, it`s a sign of God`s grace and intervention; if they don`t, then God moves in mysterious ways, and maybe he has a lesson to teach that we don`t understand, and it`s not up to us to question his will. No matter what happens, it can be twisted to prove that the belief is right. That is a sure sign of a bad argument.
Most of us consider the internet to be like the air that we breathe and the water that we drink. It surrounds us. We use it. And we don` t question it. But this is not a natural landscape. Programmers and executives and editors and designers, they make this landscape. They are human beings and they all make choices.
If you have a tough question that you can`t answer, first tackle a simpler question that you can`t answer.
The most terrifying question of all may be just how much horror the human mind can stand and still maintain a wakeful, staring, unrelenting sanity.
Every person must decide, at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. (...) Life`s most persistent and urgent question is. "What are you doing for others?"
Wanting to believe something is not any reason at all to believe it. If anything, it`s a reason to question it.
It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.
Consuming information that conforms to our ideas of the world is easy and pleasurable; consuming information that challenges us to think in new ways or question our assumptions is frustrating and difficult.