RichardSRussell (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} richardsrussell) wrote,@ 2008-03-06 00:26:00 |
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What They Say about Faith
When I entitle a posting “Faith Sucks”, you can pretty much tell where I’m coming from on the subject.
So, before we go any further, let’s see what some other people think:
Faith: 1. unquestioning belief
— Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary (unabridged)
Faith: A kind of intellectual lobotomy.
— anonymous
9/11 was the ultimate faith-based initiative.
— anonymous
The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.
— Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758
The Spanish Inquisition: The Original Faith-Based Initiative
— bumper sticker
There's a Reason Why Atheists Don't Fly Planes into Buildings
— bumper sticker
If faith is so great, why do Christians wait for the "walk" light?
— Richard S. Russell
Faith: A kind of betting or speculation [as in] "I bet that my Redeemer liveth."
— Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English author
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the impossible.
— H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) US journalist, editor, critic
Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge of things without parallel.
— Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) American author, The Devil’s Dictionary
Faith is the quality that enables you to eat blackberry jam on a picnic without looking to see whether the seeds move.
— anonymous
The compulsive quest for certainty is not the expression of genuine faith but is rooted in the need to conquer the unbearable doubt.
— Erich Fromm
Without faith we might relapse into scientific or rational thinking, which leads by a slippery slope toward constitutional democracy.
— Robert Anton Wilson
It's not supposed to make sense! It's faith! Don't ya know what faith is? Faith is when you believe somethin' that nobody in their right mind would believe!
— Archie Bunker, responding to Meathead on All in the Family
As a source of objective morality, the Bible is one of the worst books we have. It might have been the very worst, in fact — if we didn't also happen to have the Koran.
— Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith
Faith: a firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of faith. ...we only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence.
— Bertrand Russell
We were convinced that the people need and require this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.
— Adolf Hitler, 1933 October 24, speech in Berlin
... faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ... Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
— Hebrews 11:1, 3, Saint Paul's opinion
Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith ...we need believing people.
— Adolf Hitler, 1933 April 26, speech made during negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordant
Faith is belief in something despite the absence of any evidence for it, and frequently despite evidence to the contrary. Given this, faith aut to be the decision-making tool of last resort. And indeed it is for most people most of the time; but (surprise!) it is the 1 most favored by the priesthood. If there were any evidence at all to support a conclusion, if there were any more reliable decision-making technique available, the priests would use it.
— Richard S. Russell, The Freethought Exchange (1996)
Tomoro: How We Decide, Part 1
When I entitle a posting “Faith Sucks”, you can pretty much tell where I’m coming from on the subject.
So, before we go any further, let’s see what some other people think:
Faith: 1. unquestioning belief
— Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary (unabridged)
Faith: A kind of intellectual lobotomy.
— anonymous
9/11 was the ultimate faith-based initiative.
— anonymous
The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.
— Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758
The Spanish Inquisition: The Original Faith-Based Initiative
— bumper sticker
There's a Reason Why Atheists Don't Fly Planes into Buildings
— bumper sticker
If faith is so great, why do Christians wait for the "walk" light?
— Richard S. Russell
Faith: A kind of betting or speculation [as in] "I bet that my Redeemer liveth."
— Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English author
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the impossible.
— H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) US journalist, editor, critic
Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge of things without parallel.
— Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) American author, The Devil’s Dictionary
Faith is the quality that enables you to eat blackberry jam on a picnic without looking to see whether the seeds move.
— anonymous
The compulsive quest for certainty is not the expression of genuine faith but is rooted in the need to conquer the unbearable doubt.
— Erich Fromm
Without faith we might relapse into scientific or rational thinking, which leads by a slippery slope toward constitutional democracy.
— Robert Anton Wilson
It's not supposed to make sense! It's faith! Don't ya know what faith is? Faith is when you believe somethin' that nobody in their right mind would believe!
— Archie Bunker, responding to Meathead on All in the Family
As a source of objective morality, the Bible is one of the worst books we have. It might have been the very worst, in fact — if we didn't also happen to have the Koran.
— Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith
Faith: a firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of faith. ...we only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence.
— Bertrand Russell
We were convinced that the people need and require this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.
— Adolf Hitler, 1933 October 24, speech in Berlin
... faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ... Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
— Hebrews 11:1, 3, Saint Paul's opinion
Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith ...we need believing people.
— Adolf Hitler, 1933 April 26, speech made during negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordant
Faith is belief in something despite the absence of any evidence for it, and frequently despite evidence to the contrary. Given this, faith aut to be the decision-making tool of last resort. And indeed it is for most people most of the time; but (surprise!) it is the 1 most favored by the priesthood. If there were any evidence at all to support a conclusion, if there were any more reliable decision-making technique available, the priests would use it.
— Richard S. Russell, The Freethought Exchange (1996)
Tomoro: How We Decide, Part 1
