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Benjamin Uminsky
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“Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.”
― God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
― God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
“All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher.”
― On the Nature of Things: De rerum natura
― On the Nature of Things: De rerum natura
“You are simply a dream... and I am tired of dreaming.”
― The White Hands and Other Weird Tales
― The White Hands and Other Weird Tales
“When speaking of initiation, I mean engaging in practices that establish an exchange between conscious reflection and the unconscious material, and developing a form of analogical language: the acquisition of a poetic literacy. I believe this literacy of the imagination arises from a creative dialogue with the unconscious and involves recurring motifs or symbols that transform with time and seduce the initiate. And of course as conscious thought is not independent of the world, similarly the unconscious draws its ancient forms from all things around us in the this secret dialogue. New forms arise out of chaos. As the alchemists proclaimed, there can be no generation without decay.”
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“Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn't care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil, or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely.
The only sense to make of tragedies like this is that terrible things can happen to perfectly innocent people. This understanding inspires compassion.
Religious faith, on the other hand, erodes compassion. Thoughts like, 'this might be all part of God’s plan,' or 'there are no accidents in life,' or 'everyone on some level gets what he or she deserves' - these ideas are not only stupid, they are extraordinarily callous. They are nothing more than a childish refusal to connect with the suffering of other human beings. It is time to grow up and let our hearts break at moments like this.”
―
The only sense to make of tragedies like this is that terrible things can happen to perfectly innocent people. This understanding inspires compassion.
Religious faith, on the other hand, erodes compassion. Thoughts like, 'this might be all part of God’s plan,' or 'there are no accidents in life,' or 'everyone on some level gets what he or she deserves' - these ideas are not only stupid, they are extraordinarily callous. They are nothing more than a childish refusal to connect with the suffering of other human beings. It is time to grow up and let our hearts break at moments like this.”
―
Literary Horror
— 2139 members
— last activity Jul 30, 2026 08:32PM
A group for fans of literary horror. We will be discussing all things horrible and literary but especially those horrible volumes that either aspire t ...more
Classic Horror Lovers
— 1524 members
— last activity Sep 12, 2025 07:27AM
Do you like your horror on the aged side? This group is for readers who love older/classic horror stories and books. Generally, horror published befor ...more
Innovative Horror
— 313 members
— last activity Oct 18, 2023 01:37AM
E.T.A. Hoffman, H.P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson and (arguably) Clive Barker all moved horror fiction forward in their time. Who's doing so today? I t ...more
The New Weird
— 303 members
— last activity Feb 08, 2022 04:57PM
I am not starting this group because I feel I know a lot about the New Weird. Quite the contrary. I'm starting the group because I don't know much, bu ...more
Friends of Snuggly Books
— 217 members
— last activity Jun 10, 2026 04:19AM
Snuggly Books publishes the best of experimental and Decadent fiction from the past, present, and perhaps even future...translations of classic works ...more
Benjamin’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Benjamin’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
4,504 books
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165 friends
1,129 books
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815 friends
8,499 books
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737 friends
2,934 books
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126 friends
1,401 books
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310 friends
1,048 books
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201 friends
3,426 books
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5,001 friends
63,426 books
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264 friends
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