20 quotes from U.S. historical figures about religion

1. "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man"- Thomas Jefferson

2. "The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs." -Thomas Jefferson

3. "It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three are one, and one is three; and yet the one is not three, and the three are not one- Thomas Jefferson

4. "And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors."- Thomas Jefferson

5. "There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites."- Thomas Jefferson

6. "Lighthouses are more useful than churches."- Ben Franklin

7. "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."- Ben Franklin

8. "I looked around for God's judgments, but saw no signs of them."- Ben Franklin

9. "In the affairs of the world, men are saved not by faith, but by the lack of it."- Ben Franklin

10. "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it"- John Adams

11. "The New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the Old; if so, it must follow the fate of its foundation.'- Thomas Paine

12. "Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst."- Thomas Paine

13. "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."- Thomas Paine

14. "Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies."- Thomas Paine

15. "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."- Thomas Paine

16. "It is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told in the New Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised thereon, against which I contend. The story, taking it as it is told, is blasphemously obscene.”- Thomas Paine

17. "Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."- George Washington

18. "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession."- Abraham Lincoln

19. "It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to unsurpastion on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded agst. by an entire abstinence of the Gov't from interfence in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect agst. trespasses on its legal rights by others."- James Madison

20. "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."- James Madison

(Here are some sources and further reading. America

So?????

I'm an atheist, yet I don't make a habit of throwing up crap in believer's faces. You and Lady Jazzer on the other hand are bigoted assholes who seem to relish trashing other peoples faiths. Posts like yours above only speak volumes to your mean-spirited nature.

Intolerance?
Like LGBT, I don't practice anymore, but don't need to drag other people's faiths down. There are good and bad sides of any religion.

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote: Posts like yours above only speak volumes to your mean-spirited nature.

Yeah Raees how mean of you to make such comments about religion. I beleive in the 1st amendment and I am an athiest as well, but those comments are really out there.

Wait a minute, those are not your comments at all. In fact it looks like you were quoting other people all together. How dare Jefferson, Franklin and Paine say such things. They better stay away from this board or I will have some strong words to say against their intolerant speech.

Carry on. tongue:

Kind of gives you an idea of how Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine would be treated by the conservatives if they posted on this board, doesn't it?

Raees wrote: Kind of gives you an idea of how Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine would be treated by the conservatives if they posted on this board, doesn't it?

No... Ben was a bit more eloquent and intelligent than you.

Chew on this for a while...

One of Franklin's famous characteristics was his respect, tolerance and promotion of all churches. Referring to his experience in Philadelphia, he wrote in his autobiography, "new Places of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary Contribution, my Mite for such purpose, whatever might be the Sect, was never refused."[96] “He helped create a new type of nation that would draw strength from its religious pluralism.”[104] The first generation of Puritans had been intolerant of dissent, but by the early 18th century, when Franklin grew up in the Puritan church, tolerance of different churches was the norm, and Massachusetts was known, in John Adams' words, as “’the most mild and equitable establishment of religion that was known in the world.’”[105] The evangelical revivalists who were active mid-century, such as Franklin’s friend and preacher, George Whitefield, were the greatest advocates of religious freedom, “claiming liberty of conscience to be an ‘inalienable right of every rational creature.’”[106] Whitefield’s supporters in Philadelphia, including Franklin, erected “a large, new hall, that...could provide a pulpit to anyone of any belief.”[107] Franklin’s rejection of dogma and doctrine and his stress on the God of ethics and morality and civic virtue, made him the “prophet of tolerance.”[108] While he was living in London in 1774, he was present at the birth of British Unitarianism, attending the inaugural session of the Essex Street Chapel, at which Theophilus Lindsey drew together the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in England; this was somewhat politically risky, and pushed religious tolerance to new boundaries, as a denial of the doctrine of the Trinity was illegal until the 1813 Act.[109]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_F ... al_beliefs

And I'm not stepping on your freedom of speech, I'm talking about your personal nature. Even asshole are allowed to say anything they want... and others are allowed to judge how big an asshole you are.

He was a great liberal. Thanks for posting.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0601-01.htm

Raees wrote: Kind of gives you an idea of how Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine would be treated by the conservatives if they posted on this board, doesn't it?

https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRTElRUa9COX1Ffx_62lUxEC1tsEJDXY6K4Hr6VLK-XVldRqLzk

Here's a lamp TLGT. Lighten up.

Blazer Bob wrote:

Raees wrote: Kind of gives you an idea of how Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine would be treated by the conservatives if they posted on this board, doesn't it?

https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRTElRUa9COX1Ffx_62lUxEC1tsEJDXY6K4Hr6VLK-XVldRqLzk

Are you meaning that they would be treated like something rare and precious? Or treated like they're stone-d?