Andan Gunawan > Andan's Quotes

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
― Epicurus

“Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.”
― Richard Dawkins

“Faith can be very very dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an innocent child is a grievous wrong.”
― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

“The majority of children born into the world tend to inherit the beliefs of their parents, and that to me is one of the most regrettable facts of them all.”
― Richard Dawkins

“Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that.”
― Richard Dawkins

“Isn't atheism just another religion?' No, it isn't. Atheism has no creeds, rituals, holy book, absolute moral code, origin myth, sacred spaces or shrines. It has no sin, divine judgment, forbidden words, prayer, worship, prophecy, group privileges, or anointed 'holy' leaders. Atheists don't believe in a transcendent world or supernatural afterlife. Most important, there is no orthodoxy in atheism.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“Mithra’s birth was witnessed by shepherds and by Magi who brought gifts to his sacred birth-cave of the Rock. Mithra performed the usual assortment of miracles: raising the dead, healing the sick, making the blind see and the lame walk, casting out devils.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“Perhaps the funniest example is that of the Rev. Milton Barfoot, who said to Dan’s brother, in apparently honest bafflement, “But, isn’t Dan afraid of hell?” No, Reverend, Dan doesn’t believe in hell anymore, that’s one of the things about being an atheist, you see.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“It is true that “atheism” is a negative word, but so is “nonfiction.” They are double negatives. Both words tell you that what you are getting is real, not pretend. Those of”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“Solving a real problem was much more meaningful than saving fictional souls from a fictional hell.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“religion that cannot survive looking at itself through the eyes of others does not deserve to survive.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“In any event, how can the temporal sufferings of Jesus compare to the sufferings of the entire human race? Did Jesus ever experience the pain of childbirth? The billions of women going through labor are much more life giving, much more nurturing of value than a few hours of self-imposed bleeding on a cross. The”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“The short life of Jesus can hardly compare with the suffering of brave heretics who have been persecuted for criticizing Christianity, or with the agony of the “witches” who were burned, drowned and hanged by bible believers (quoting Exodus 22:18: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”). Nor”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“The Christ in Paul’s writings is a different character from the Jesus of the Gospels.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“Luke says Jesus was born during a Roman census, and it is true that there was a census in 6 C.E.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“Whatever country you live in, any law based on “glory” instead of real harm is dangerous. The glory of the nation, or the glory of the monarchy, or the glory of the superior race, or the glory of the church have been the cause of horrible wars and legally sanctioned discrimination. Any laws based solely on these glories should be morally denounced. They cause unnecessary harm.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“Why is there no governmental oversight of how public money is spent by these organizations and churches? Probably because there is an assumption that if it is religious, it must be good.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“Before returning to heaven, Mithra celebrated a Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“Pagan mythical parallels can be found for almost every item in the New Testament: the Last Supper, Peter’s denial, Pilate’s wife’s dream, the crown of thorns, the vinegar and gall at the crucifixion, the mocking inscription over the cross, the Passion, the trial, Pilate’s washing of hands, the carrying of the cross, the talk between the two thieves hanging beside Jesus, and so on.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“The Gospel accounts cannot be considered historical, but even if they were, they tell us that the earliest biography of Jesus contains no resurrection!”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“The Gospel writers wanted to make of their hero nothing less than what was claimed of saviors of other religions: a king born of a virgin.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“You can’t have the freedom to believe if you do not have the freedom not to believe.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“Matthew is caught tinkering with the facts. His reliability as a historian is severely crippled.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“with hundreds of millions of good people believing that the illiterate Muhammad miraculously wrote the Koran.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“Bart Ehrman, in Misquoting Jesus, reminds us that there are more variants among the ancient documents than there are words in the New Testament.”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“What does the number of copies have to do with authenticity?”
― Dan Barker, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

“The atheists I know, virtually all of whom are happy and mentally healthy, might more properly be called anti-nihilists. We are mainly optimists who love our lives and find them to be full of meaning and purpose.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“People should be judged by their actions, not their beliefs. Actions speak louder than faith.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“Good heart is the best religion; its light is the most powerful light.”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“I have always felt that doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of God was the end of wisdom.”
― Clarence Darrow, The Story of My Life