We know enough at this moment to say that the God of Abraham is not only unworthy of the immensity of creation, he is unworthy even of man. Sam Harris
Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything – anything – be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in. Sam Harris, The End of Faith
It is merely an accident of history that it is considered normal in our society to believe that the Creator of the universe can hear your thoughts while it is demonstrative of mental illness to believe that he is communicating with you by having the rain tap in Morse code on your bedroom window. ibid.
I am very angry inside me always whenever I hear someone make claims for God. If there is a God it seems to me so obvious and so absolutely clear that if he does exist he is capricious and mean and wilful. Stephen Fry, in conversation with Christopher Hitchens
When a child has bone cancer, how can you say there is a living God? ibid.
But to say that he is loving, to say that he is benevolent, to say that he cares for us, or to say that having made us – something we never asked of him creation – that we should spend our time on our knees in front of him is outrageous. ibid.
If there were ever a God, he has lost all possible taste. ibid.
Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. It is not necessary to invoke God. Professor Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design, 2010
Asking if God exists is a valid question for science. Stephen Hawking, Curiosity: Did God Create the Universe? Discovery 2011
What role is there for God? ibid.
Each new discovery further removed the need for a God. ibid.
Ultimately, did God create the universe in the first place? ibid.
Did God create the Quantum laws that allowed the Big Bang to occur? ibid.
There is no possibility of a Creator because there was no time for a Creator to have existed. ibid.
I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No-one created the universe and no-one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful. Stephen Hawking
An expanding universe does not preclude a creator but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, documentary 1991
O Son, why sit we here each other viewing
Idely, while Satan our great Author thrives
In other worlds? John Milton, Paradise Lost X 235-236, God to Jesus
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me? ibid. X 743–5
One of them, God, Power and Evil, rejects the traditional doctrine of Omnipotence. It even specifically criticises this doctrine as held by John Calvin – of course the founding theologian of the Presbyterian tradition. Another book of mine denies God can interrupt the world’s normal causal processes. Which means there can be no miracles as traditionally understood. And no infallibly inspired scriptures. But no-one was fired for publishing these books. Professor David Ray Griffin, interview Guns & Butter 7th January 2009
But why did mankind start believing in God at all? Professor Robert Winston, The Story of God, BBC 2005
According to the Bible, Abraham was the first person to believe in one God. Historically speaking, mankind has preferred to believe in many gods. But for three billion people in the world today – Jews, Christians and Muslims alike – monotheism, the belief in one God, is the cornerstone of their faith. And Abraham is the spiritual father they all have in common. ibid.
It seems to me that all monotheistic religions have their dark side. When you think about all the terrible things that have been done in his name you might well wonder whether one God is one God too many. ibid.
God is dead! Heaven is empty – Weep, children, you no longer have a father. Gerard de Nerval, French poet, Les Chimeres, 1854
I remain an utter disbeliever in almost all that you consider the most sacred truths. I will pass over as utterly contemptible the oft-repeated accusation that sceptics shut out evidence because they will not be governed by the morality of Christianity ... I am thankful I can see much to admire in all religions. To the mass of mankind religion of some kind is a necessity. But whether there be a God and whatever be His nature; whether we have an immortal soul or not, or whatever may be our state after death, I can have no fear of having to suffer for the study of nature and the search for truth, or believe that those will be better off in a future state who have lived in the belief of doctrines inculcated from childhood, and which are to them rather a matter of blind faith than intelligent conviction. Alfred Russel Wallace, letter to brother-in-law 1861
You don’t believe in organized religion, yet a major theme in so many of your works seems to be a quest for God. Arthur C Clarke
It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him. Arthur C Clarke
Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying. Arthur C Clarke
It is a mistake to suppose that God is only, or even chiefly, concerned with religion. William Temple
Many people believe that they are attracted to God, or by Nature, when they are only repelled by man. William Ralph Inge
Christianity along with all other theist belief systems is the fraud of the age. It serves to detach the species from the natural world, and likewise each other. It supports blind submission to authority. It reduces human responsibility to the effect that God controls everything, and in turn, awful crimes can be justified in the name of divine pursuit. And most importantly, it empowers those who know the truth to use the myth to manipulate and control societies. The religious myth is the most powerful device ever created and serves as the psychological soil upon which other myths can flourish. Peter Joseph, Zeitgeist, 2007
Perhaps we have to confront the fact that we’re hardwired for religion too. That no amount of rationality or science or modernity is ever going to relieve us of it. This is what we are – most of us … The problem I think for atheists is that there are so many very clever sane responsible people like the Archbishop of Canterbury who believe in a sky-God. And who think that gathering in a large beautiful barn on a Sunday and sending up your thoughts is actually going to influence future events. It does seem a remarkable set of beliefs to me. Ian McEwan, interview Professor Richard Dawkins
You make up an imaginary friend. ibid. Bill Maher, Religulous
New Rule: You don’t have to teach both sides of a debate if one side is a load of crap. President Bush recently suggested that public schools should teach intelligent design alongside the theory of evolution, because after all, evolution is ‘just a theory’. Then the president renewed his vow to, ‘drive the terrorists straight over the edge of the earth’.
Here’s what I don’t get: President Bush is a brilliant scientist. He’s the man who proved you could mix two parts booze with one part cocaine and still fly a jet fighter. And yet he just can’t seem to accept that we descended from apes. It seems pathetic to be so insecure about your biological superiority to a group of feces-flinging, rouge-buttocked monkeys that you have to make up fairy tales like, ‘We came from Adam and Eve,’ and then cover stories for Adam and Eve, like intelligent design! Yeah, leaving the earth in the hands of two naked teenagers, that’s a real intelligent design.
I’m sorry, folks, but it may very well be that life is just a series of random events, and that there is no master plan – but enough about Iraq.
There aren’t necessarily two sides to every issue. If there were, the Republicans would have an opposition party. And an opposition party would point out that even though there’s a debate in schools and government about this, there is no debate among scientists. Evolution is supported by the entire scientific community. Intelligent design is supported by the guys on line to see The Dukes of Hazzard.
And the reason there is no real debate is that intelligent design isn’t real science. It’s the equivalent of saying that the Thermos keeps hot things hot and cold things cold because it’s a god. It’s so willfully ignorant you might as well worship the US mail. ‘It came again! Praise Jesus!’
Stupidity isn’t a form of knowing things. Thunder is high-pressure air meeting low-pressure air – it’s not God bowling. ‘Babies come from storks’ is not a competing school of thought in medical school.