#skeptic

That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#reason #science #skeptic #science

...there being a god, that god must be worshiped. Worship means raising the god above the individual, and liturgies often make the point that the individual is less than nothing compared to the deity. If this be done, then, when the god is invoked, the individual has so little worth that he or she may be sacrificed for the needs of the god.... And who speaks for the god? If all people do, then no one does, and there is no god. If the people accept a priesthood, or the equivalent, then those priests exercise whatever power that god's believers grant that god over them, and that elite may cause an individual to be worth less, to be exiled, or even to die or to be killed. Yet such powers do not come from a deity. In modern history and science, never has there been a verified occasion of a god appearing or demonstrating the powers ascribed throughout history to deities. Always, there is a prophet who speaks for the god. Why cannot the god speak? If a god is omnipotent, then the god can speak. If he cannot, then that god is not omnipotent. Often the prophets say that a god will only speak to the chosen, the worthy. Should a people accept a god who is either too powerless to speak, or too devious and skeptical to appear? Or a god who will only accept those who swallow a faith laid out by a prophet who merely claims that deity exists—without proof? Yet people have done so, and have granted enormous powers to those who speak for god. ↗

— L.E. Modesitt Jr.

#faith

I think you can be cynical about religion on occasion, and certainly skeptical about the degree to which some people use religion to manipulate other people. ↗

— Peter Jennings

#certainly #cynical #degree #i #i think

Working together during the past three years, we have confounded the skeptics and the cynics. We've shown that here in Virginia, Democrats and Republicans can come together, put politics aside, and make tough decisions when times demand it. ↗

— Mark Warner

#come #confounded #cynics #decisions #demand

I think that my career speaks for itself and shows the type of player I am. I have never had a teammate who didn't enjoy playing with me. There are always going to be skeptics, but chemistry will definitely not be an issue. ↗

— Chris Webber

#am #career #chemistry #definitely #enjoy

God is always trying to give blessings to us, but our minds are usually too full to receive them. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#blessings #clouded-thoughts #confusion #delusions #doubt

Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after death? No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no. One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out "Don't you believe in anything?" Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be. ↗

— Isaac Asimov

#faith #skepticism #ufo #death

Scientists are always skeptics. ↗

— Donald Norman

#scientists #skeptics

Do not let yourself be tainted with a barren skepticism. ↗

— Louis Pasteur

#skepticism #tainted #yourself

Skepticism, riddling the faith of yesterday, prepared the way for the faith of tomorrow. ↗

— Romain Rolland

#prepared #skepticism #tomorrow #way #yesterday