It may be true that scientism and evolutionism (not science and evolution) are among the causes of atheism and materialism. It is at least equally true that biblical literalism, from its earlier flat-earth and geocentric forms to its recent young-earth and flood-geology forms, is one of the major causes of atheism and materialism. Many scientists and intellectuals have simply taken the literalists at their word and rejected biblical materials as being superseded or contradicted by modern science. Without having in hand a clear and persuasive alternative, they have concluded that it is nobler to be damned by the literalists than to dismiss the best testimony of research and reason. Intellectual honesty and integrity demand it. Conrad Hyers, The Meaning of Creation: Genesis and Modern Science
I want an avowed atheist in the White House. When time comes to push that button, I want whoever’s making the decision to understand that once it’s pushed, it’s over. Finito. They’re not gonna have lunch with Jesus. Won’t be deflowering 72 virgins on the great shag carpet of eternity, or reincarnated as a cow. I want someone making that decision who believes life on this Earth isn’t just a dress rehearsal for something better – but the only shot we get. Quentin R Bufogle
Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. Therefore atheism did never perturb states; for it makes men wary of themselves, as looking no further: and we see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augustus Cæsar) were civil times. But superstition hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new primum mobile, that ravisheth all the spheres of government. The master of superstition is the people; and in all superstition wise men follow fools; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order. Francis Bacon
We shall unleash the Nihilists and Atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will be from that moment without compass, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view, a manifestation which will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time. Albert Pike
I don’t know that atheists should be considered patriots, nor should they be considered citizens. This is one nation under God. George H W Bush, disputed quotation, cited Robert Sherman
Please observe how the entire atheist movement has been crushed by the hand of Nostradamus. Nostradamus – The USA Prophecies website
An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support. John Buchan
An atheist-laugh’s a poor exchange
For Deity offended! Robert Burns
Shelley was born 200 years ago, and all over the world he will be celebrated in two very different ways. Those who honour him as a ‘great lyric poet’ will put him on a pedestal and pay him homage. At University College, Oxford, where Shelley was briefly educated, they are planning a great feast. No one will be allowed to mention that Shelley was expelled from the college after only two terms for writing the first atheist pamphlet ever published in English.
... At Oxford he wrote his pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism. Paul Foot, article July/August 1992, ‘Poetry of Protest’
Who felt threatened by atheism? And what sanctions were available to get the deviants back into line? Geoffrey Lloyd, historian
I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time. Friedrich Nietzsche
If there is a God, atheism must seem less of an insult than religion. Edmond de Goncourt
Atheism is a non-prophet organization. George Carlin
If there were a God I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence. Bertrand Russell
As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. Bertrand Russell, Am I an Atheist or an Agnostic?
A thorough reading and understanding of the Bible is the surest path to atheism. Donald Morgan
Many people have pretended to atheism or have been reckoned atheists by the world, but it is justly questioned whether any man seriously adopted such a principle. Encyclopaedia Britannica 1771
An atheist is I think impossible. London Magazine 1774
There are no atheists in the foxholes. William Thomas Cummings 1903-45
Atheism has given to the human race the intellectual monarchs of the world. When the great Darwin discovered the law of the origins of species, he was called an Atheist because he disproved the special creation of Man. When the Chemist went into his laboratory and discovered the indestructibility of matter, he was called an Atheist because he proved the impossibility of a Creator. When the Astronomer pointed his telescope to the sky and explored the regions of unlimited space, he was called an Atheist because he found no God within the confines of space, no heaven within the region of his explorations. When the Geologist determined the age of the earth through its rock and soil and formations, he was called an Atheist because he, too, destroyed a belief in the special six-day creation, and exposed the falsity of the biblical cosmogony. When the Historian went back to ancient and prehistoric times, and discovered civilizations of high ethical and moral culture, of intellectual achievements that are still an amazement to us, he was called an Atheist because he exposed the myth of Adam, uncovered the mistakes of Moses, and branded with the epithet of fraud the commands of Jehovah. When the Physician sought to alleviate the pain and suffering of Man, he was called an Atheist because he refused to accept disease as a special visitation of a vengeful God. Joseph Lewis
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. Stephen Roberts
Surely you don’t believe in the gods. What’s your argument? Where’s your proof? Aristophanes
In fact ‘atheism’ is a term that should not even exist. No-one ever needs to identify himself as a ‘non-astrologer’ or a ‘non-alchemist’. We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation
America is now a nation of 300 million souls ... 240 million of these souls believe that Jesus is going to return and orchestrate the end of human history with his magic powers. Sam Harris, lecture AAI 2007
Atheism would seem to be the only sensible position. ibid.
Our use of the term atheism is a mistake and it‘s a mistake of some consequence ... It is a word we fundamentally do not need ... Attaching a label to something carries real liabilities especially when the thing you are naming isn’t a thing at all ... It is not a philosophy ... It is not a worldview ... We are collaborating in this misunderstanding ... We are consenting to be thought of as a marginal interest group ... We should not call ourselves atheists. We should not call ourselves secularists. ibid.
Religion has more than its fair share of bad ideas. ibid.
Religion ... is the only form of thinking in which bad ideas are held in perpetual immunity from criticism. ibid.
We should simply advocate intellectual honesty and reason. ibid.
These differences are actually a matter between life and death. ibid.
Atheism is too blunt an instrument. ibid.
Religion is the most device and dangerous ideology that we have ever produced. What’s more, it’s the only ideology that is systematically protected from criticism both from within and without. It remains taboo. Sam Harris, Believing the Unbelievable, Aspen Ideas Festival 2007
Our ability to cause ourselves harm is now spreading with twentieth-century efficiency. ibid.
Religion: they can’t all be true. ibid.
People who believe these stories show an uncanny reluctance to look for non-miraculous causes. ibid.
Religion gives people bad reasons to be good. ibid.
Religion promulgates and renders sacrosanct attitudes towards women. ibid.
The basic claim that we get our morality from religion is clearly false. ibid.
The guarantor of our morality is in our brains. ibid.
Atheism is a term we do not need. ibid.
79% of Americans think that Jesus is going to come down out of the clouds and rectify all of our problems with his magic powers. ibid.