The Sheriff and one of his burly deputies pulled the Defendant out of the burning mansion and dragged the old lady roughly down the circular drive, past the ruined fountain all the way out to the road that led back to Greenville. The men dumped her face first on the crumbling asphalt, the rough surface bit into her flesh, cutting her cheek and forehead. Read on…
“We are always making God our accomplice so that we may legalize our own inequities. Every successful massacre is consecrated by a Te Deum, and the clergy have never been wanting in benedictions for any victorious enormity.”
“A lively, disinterested, persistent liking for truth is extraordinarily rare. Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not to be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism or doubt.”
— Henri Frédéric Amiel Read on…
Banish the hubris,
Toss away the choice words
Spoken by rotten, broken tongues.
Silence the chorus of appalled shock. Read on…
Yes, that’s what is says. Apple pie with pork gravy. Let’s look at those two things to make sure we understand them.
Apple pie: An apple pie is a fruit pie (or tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples.
Read on…
“Religions are conclusions for which the facts of nature supply no major premises.”
“Camels and Christians receive their burdens kneeling.”
“Christian, n. One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.” Read on…
Laid upon the altar
open pages of the Book
echo hollowness.
Send me to my cellared mind
to explore. Read on…
This third value espoused by the 2003 Humanist Manifesto is perhaps more complex than the first two, and requires what I see as a divorcement between the concept of ethics and the concept of morals. In its entirety, this third item reads: Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. Read on…
“The position of the atheist is a clear and reasonable one. I know nothing about God and therefore I do not believe in Him or it. What you tell me about your God is self-contradictory and is therefore incredible. I do not deny “God,” which is an unknown tongue to me. I do deny your God, who is an impossibility. I am without God.”
— Annie Wood Besant Read on…
The threads into the future
I catch with my fingertips,
And tracing them a little way,
I think I come to grips Read on…
The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way they could get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today. – Lawrence Krauss Read on…