Happy Atheist Forum

So, I'm a quote whore and I browse hundreds of them when I'm bored. Today I came across two about atheism that caught my eye:

"Maybe the atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman."  ~Author Unknown

"By night, an atheist half believes in God."  ~Edward Young, Night Thoughts


I thought the first was kind of funny, but I don't get the second.... it's probably obvious but I have to ask, what does it mean?

Quote from: "susangail""By night, an atheist half believes in God."  ~Edward Young, Night Thoughts
.... it's probably obvious but I have to ask, what does it mean?

I Googled around and found an explanation at positiveatheism.org (http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/scar_u.htm)

Quotein a colorful expression of one of the more popular slanders against atheists, portraying us as secretly believeing, "deep down inside," that the god-claim of the Christians is true, that their horrific ogre-god is really real (and really an ogre!), thus aggravating the stigma against us by portraying all atheists as essentially dishonest -- "deep down inside"

I think the same thing about a lot of religious people.  I think that there are many who fake a belief in God because of social pressures.  Going to church and all the social aspects are so integrated into many people's lives that I think they fear losing all the social benefits if they express disbelief.

I found a video on Youtube you might like.
[youtube:3r9mjvj1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3LHxNaAU-g[/youtube:3r9mjvj1]

Much appreciated!  

Quote from: "susangail"So, I'm a quote whore and I browse hundreds of them when I'm bored. Today I came across two about atheism that caught my eye:

"Maybe the atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman."  ~Author Unknown

"By night, an atheist half believes in God."  ~Edward Young, Night Thoughts


I thought the first was kind of funny, but I don't get the second.... it's probably obvious but I have to ask, what does it mean?

Darkness, the dark of night, has always held a fear for primitive man.

In the Darkness there was the unknown. What were the stars in the night? And what those flaming arrows that streak across the colorless sky? Why did the moon nightly change her glory? What, oh what, was Darkness itself?

Early Man knew of the sun; enjoyed its warming light and found comfort. Enjoyed and worshiped its first gods there.

But, in the cool night and colder Darkness, mystery lurked and legends arose. Each culture created ghosts and ghouls and all those many other things which go bump in the night.

The fear of the dark, and things in the dark (including that final darkness of death), help create all the myriad god(s), believed or half-believed by Man since he began to think about it.

This apologist's view of fear-induced faith is no different than those who wrongly proclaim there are "No atheists in foxholes".

"Atheism means never getting to say I told you so."

Quote from: "Smallville"Darkness, the dark of night, has always held a fear for primitive man.

In the Darkness there was the unknown. What were the stars in the night? And what those flaming arrows that streak across the colorless sky? Why did the moon nightly change her glory? What, oh what, was Darkness itself?

Early Man knew of the sun; enjoyed its warming light and found comfort. Enjoyed and worshiped its first gods there.

But, in the cool night and colder Darkness, mystery lurked and legends arose. Each culture created ghosts and ghouls and all those many other things which go bump in the night.

The fear of the dark, and things in the dark (including that final darkness of death), help create all the myriad god(s), believed or half-believed by Man since he began to think about it.

This apologist's view of fear-induced faith is no different than those who wrongly proclaim there are "No atheists in foxholes".

I thought it was something along those lines but I wanted to make sure. Sayings like that are just assumptions, like all atheists fear the mysterious. Thanks for the explanation.

Quote from: "Loffler""Atheism means never getting to say I told you so."

Great quote.

Quote from: "afreethinker30"

Quote from: "Loffler""Atheism means never getting to say I told you so."

Great quote.

What are you talking about?! That quote, however true, is the only thing about atheism that sucks!  :rant:

Quote from: "afreethinker30"I found a video on Youtube you might like.
[youtube:34a6vd4y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3LHxNaAU-g[/youtube:34a6vd4y]

I finally got around to viewing this and I must say it's a great compilation of really good quotes. Thank you! It makes me sad though, George Carlin passed away    RIP.

Quote from: "susangail"

Quote from: "afreethinker30"I found a video on Youtube you might like.
[youtube:2sxma4pi]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3LHxNaAU-g[/youtube:2sxma4pi]

I finally got around to viewing this and I must say it's a great compilation of really good quotes. Thank you! It makes me sad though,
George Carlin passed away    RIP.

Not good first Bill Hicks now George.I'm not sure of Hicks religious or no religious beliefs but he was damn funny.And no one was off the radar when it came to him.

“You believe the world's 12 thousand years old? "That's right." Okay I got one word to ask you, a one word question, ready? "Uh huh." Dinosaurs. You know the world's 12 thousand years old and dinosaurs existed, they existed in that time, you'd think it would have been mentioned in the f&^%ing Bible at some point. "And lo Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus...with a splinter in his paw. And O the disciples did run a shriekin': 'What a big f*&^ing lizard, Lord!' But Jesus was unafraid and he took the splinter from the brontosaurus's paw and the big lizard became his friend.”  Bill Hicks

Not about Atheism but rather funny I think.

Quote from: "afreethinker30"“You believe the world's 12 thousand years old? "That's right." Okay I got one word to ask you, a one word question, ready? "Uh huh." Dinosaurs. You know the world's 12 thousand years old and dinosaurs existed, they existed in that time, you'd think it would have been mentioned in the f&^%ing Bible at some point. "And lo Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus...with a splinter in his paw. And O the disciples did run a shriekin': 'What a big f*&^ing lizard, Lord!' But Jesus was unafraid and he took the splinter from the brontosaurus's paw and the big lizard became his friend.”  Bill Hicks

Not about Atheism but rather funny I think.

Ha ha sweet!

What's so sad is some Christians deny that dinosaurs ever existed (but an invisible deity, oh yeah!)

Quote from: "susangail"

Quote from: "afreethinker30"“You believe the world's 12 thousand years old? "That's right." Okay I got one word to ask you, a one word question, ready? "Uh huh." Dinosaurs. You know the world's 12 thousand years old and dinosaurs existed, they existed in that time, you'd think it would have been mentioned in the f&^%ing Bible at some point. "And lo Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus...with a splinter in his paw. And O the disciples did run a shriekin': 'What a big f*&^ing lizard, Lord!' But Jesus was unafraid and he took the splinter from the brontosaurus's paw and the big lizard became his friend.”  Bill Hicks

Not about Atheism but rather funny I think.

Ha ha sweet!

What's so sad is some Christians deny that dinosaurs ever existed (but an invisible deity, oh yeah!)

I know but the way I think about it,if those people weren't around then we wouldn't have hours of entertainment.

Quote from: "afreethinker30"I know but the way I think about it,if those people weren't around then we wouldn't have hours of entertainment. :pop:

might as well add one.

"We are all atheists about most of the gods society has believed in. Some of us just go one god further" --Richard Dawkins

I also like Richard Dawkin's response when confronted with Pascal's Wager: "You're telling me the only reason you're good is because of the great surveillance camera in the sky? "


hehe.

Quote from: "nikkixsugar""We are all atheists about most of the gods society has believed in. Some of us just go one god further" --Richard Dawkins

I love this one! I've heard it like:
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." -Stephen Roberts

Quote from: "nikkixsugar"I also like Richard Dawkin's response when confronted with Pascal's Wager: "You're telling me the only reason you're good is because of the great surveillance camera in the sky? "

I hate it when people pull Pascal's Wager. Never heard that response, love it!

Quote from: "susangail"

Quote from: "nikkixsugar""We are all atheists about most of the gods society has believed in. Some of us just go one god further" --Richard Dawkins

I love this one! I've heard it like:
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." -Stephen Roberts

The problem there is that they often dismiss the other gods because the one they don't dismiss tells them to. So if they understood why they dismissed the other gods, it would have sent the wrong message about why we dismiss their.

Quote from: "Asmodean"The problem there is that they often dismiss the other gods because the one they don't dismiss tells them to. So if they understood why they dismissed the other gods, it would have sent the wrong message about why we dismiss their.

Hmm... never thought of it that way... true true.