Some Well-Known Persons and Their Comments On Religion

They came with a Bible and their religion—stole our land, crushed our spirit—and now they tell us we should be thankful to the “Lord” for being saved. ***Chief Pontiac (18^th century Indian uprising leader)

The first clergyman was the first sly rogue who encountered the first fool. *** Voltaire

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.***Joan Morley

Far more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion. ***C.P. Snow

They must find it difficult, those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than the truth as authority. ***Gerald Massey (Egyptologist)

Finding that no religion is based on facts and cannot therefore be true, I began to reflect what must be the condition of mankind trained from infancy to believe in error. ***Robert Owen

Faith means not wanting to know what is true. *** Friedrich Nietzsche

Only a fool says in his heart: There is no god.  The wise says it to the world. ***Anonymous

It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me; it’s the parts that I do understand. ***Mark Twain

The god of the Bible is a moral monstrosity. ***Henry Ward Beecher (American clergyman)

Primitive people are necessarily ignorant people, and ignorance breeds fear and fear breeds gods…ignorance and fear are the first parents of being a really moral people than those whose conduct is controlled by their religion…Every church is an instrument of bondage. ***Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner (English authoress)

The birth, death, descension, resurrection and ascension of all the savior-gods, not excepting Jesus, are versions of the sun myth. ***William Montgomery Brown (American Episcopal Devine)

Believing is easier than thinking.  Hence so many more believers than thinkers. ***Bruce Calvert (American editor and publisher)

It is wrong, always, everywhere, and for everyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. ***W.K. Clifford

As men’s prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect. ***Ralph Waldo Emerson (American poet and author)

No man has sat down calmly unbiased to reason out his religion, and not ended by rejecting it. ***Henry Fielding (English dramatist)

The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.***Benjamin Franklin

Christianity is a system of folly and superstition which disgraces human nature. ***William Freud (English educator)

There is no wild beast so ferocious as Christians who differ concerning their faith. ***William Lecky (historian)

The divorce between church and state ought to be absolute…so absolute that no church property anywhere…should be exempt from equal taxation; for if you exempt the property of any church organization, to that extent you impost a tax upon the whole community. ***James Garfield (20^th US president)

The pioneers and missionaries of religion have been the real cause of more trouble and war than all other classes of mankind. ***Edgar Allen Poe

Jesus had his good points.  So had Jesse James. ***Edwin P. Reese (Editorial writer)

War has been used by religious leaders and followers alike as a way of justifying their own greed, power, and stupidity. ***Senator Wayne Morse

Theocracy is the worst of all governments.  If we must have a tyrant, a robber baron is better than an inquisitor. ***C.S. Lewis

There is nothing more negative than the result of the critical study of the life of Jesus. ***Albert Schweitzer

It is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason. ***Mary Wollstonecraft

Missionaries are perfect nuisances and leave every place worse than they found it. ***Charles Dickens

I believe in a wall of separation between church and state so high that no one can climb over it. ***Sam Ervin

Leave the matter of religion to the family alter, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions.  Keep the church and state forever separated. ***Ulysses S. Grant

As long as the “true believer” is taught that he is in any way superior to the non-believer, he is well on his way to becoming a qualified bigot. ***Eric Hoffer

Religion and its practices have consistently been one of women’s fiercest enemies.  The fact that many women do not realize this shows how thorough the brainwashing and intimidation have been. ***Arnold Toynbee

The Bible and the church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women’s emancipation. ***Elizabeth Cady Stanton

For who is to tell you the truth?…No one.  You must search it out yourself!  The department of war will not tell you.  Certainly the church isn’t going to tell you the truth.  Search in all obscure places…not the established high towers and cathedrals for the answers. ***William Allen White (Editor)

I was born a heretic.  I always distrust people who know so much about what God wants them to do to their fellows. ***Susan B. Anthony

What excellent fools religion makes of men! ***Ben Jonson

The motive of fear is the be-all and end-all of religion. ***H.L. Menckin

When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life. ***Sigmund Freud

Religion is all bunk. ***Thomas Edison

To free a man from error is to give, not take away. ***Arnold Schopenhauer

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ***Voltaire

If I had my way, the world would hear a pretty stern command—Exit Christ. ***Thomas Carlyle

When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free. ***Charles Evans Hughes (American jurist)

As long as there is poverty, there will be gods. ***Will Durant (historian)

In all countries, religion or superstition is closely related with crime. ***Havelock Ellis

Why doesn’t everybody leave everybody else alone? ***Jimmy Durante

By: Jon Nelson