#gnosticism

It is often said, mainly by the 'no-contests', that although there is no positive evidence for the existence of God, nor is there evidence against his existence. So it is best to keep an open mind and be agnostic. At first sight that seems an unassailable position, at least in the weak sense of Pascal's wager. But on second thoughts it seems a cop-out, because the same could be said of Father Christmas and tooth fairies. There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies? ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#evidence #respect

In any modern society encouraging your child to cut himself is an unthinkable act, but only with religious belief becomes part of the culture, and demands respect. ↗

— Sean S. Kamali

#agnosticism #agnostics #anti-theism #atheism #atheist

When the stakes are this high- when calling God by the right name can make the difference between eternal happiness and eternal suffering, it is impossible to respect the beliefs of others who don't believe as you do. ↗

— Sam Harris

#atheism #belief #ethics #humanism #religion

You don’t have to be brave or a saint, a martyr, or even very smart to be an atheist. All you have to be able to say is “I don’t know”. ↗

— Penn Jillette

#atheism #atheist

I went with agnosticism for a long, long time because I just hated to say I was an atheist - being an atheist seemed so rigid. But the more I became comfortable with the word, and the more I read, it started to stick. ↗

— Julia Sweeney

#atheist #became #because #being #comfortable

The faith of religion is belief on insufficient evidence. ↗

— Sam Harris

#atheism #belief #ethics #humanism #religion

Faith does not offer a strong link between our beliefs and actual states of the world. ↗

— Sam Harris

#atheism #belief #ethics #humanism #religion

I am an agnostic on most matters of faith, but on the subject of maps I have always been a true believer. It is on the map, therefore it is, and I am. ↗

— Tony Horwitz

#belief #faith #maps #faith

The problem I want to talk to you about tonight is the problem of belief. What does it mean to believe? We use this word all the time, and I think behind it lurk some really extraordinary taboos and confusions. What I want to argue tonight is that how we talk about belief- how we fail to criticize or criticize the beliefs of others, has more importance to us personally, more consequence to us personally and to civilization than perhaps anything else that is in our power to influence. ↗

— Sam Harris

#atheism #belief #ethics #humanism #religion

I believe there's a God but I'm not too sure of his relevance. ↗

— Trent Reznor

#religion #religion