« on: October 14, 2006, 10:36:23 AM »
There is, in fact, no reason to believe that any given natural phenomenon, however marvelous it may seem today, will remain forever inexplicable. Soon or late the laws governing the production of life itself will be discovered in the laboratory, and man may set up business as a creator on his own account.
The thing, indeed, is not only conceivable; it is even highly probable. When it comes to pass the theologians will be staggered, but I do not go so far as to predict that they will be undone. More than once in the past, seeing this miracle or that suddenly transformed into an ordinary marvel, responsive to lowly natural laws, they have edged out of disaster by abandoning it quietly and turning to another. Their art and mystery will be secure so long as the supply holds out, and that, no doubt, will be a long time.
Their effort to occupy all the areas not yet conquered by science -- in other words, their bold claim that what no one knows is their special province, that ignorance itself is a superior kind of knowledge, that their most fantastic guess must hold good until it is disproved -- all this is certainly absurd enough, but even more absurd is their frequent attempt, just mentioned, to find support for their dogmas in what they allege to be overt facts.
My conclusion is that there is no reason to believe any of the dogmas of traditional theology and, further, that there is no reason to wish that they were true. Man, in so far as he is not subject to natural forces, is free to work out his own destiny. The responsibility is his, and so is the opportunity.
Wandering in a vast forrest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: 'My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.' This stranger is a theologian.
A theologian is like a blind man in a dark room, searching for a black cat that isn't there--and finding it!
When a theologian talks of a 'higher truth', he is usually trying to conceal a lower falsehood.
Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there.
A theologian is like a blind man in a dark room, searching for a black cat that isn't there--and finding it!
Theism tells men that they are slaves of a God. Atheism assures men that they are the investigators and users of nature.
Theology is a thing of unreason altogether, an edifice of assumptions and dreams, a superstition without a substructure.
Theology is the science of the divine lie.
Out of all the lies, theology has been the most effective.
To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is theological lunacy.
Theology is but the ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system...[It] is a science that has for its objects only things incomprehensible.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2011, 06:18:50 PM by Unbeliever »
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"Some say God is living there [in space]. I was looking around very attentively, but I did not see anyone there. I did not detect either angels or gods....I don't believe in God. I believe in man - his strength, his possibilities, his reason."
Gherman Titov, Soviet cosmonaut, in The Seattle Daily Times, May 7, 1962
God Not FoundI looked for God in my family - I didn't find Him.
I looked for God in my culture - I didn't find Him.
I looked for God in science - I found I didn't need Him.
