Josephine's Notebook

Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them. In fact, men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth — often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable.

—Hypatia of Alexandria

Unitarian Universalism is the non-alcoholic beer of religions. Sure, they’ve taken out all the stuff that’ll get you stupid, but at that point, why even bother swallowing it?

—Dear Coke Talk

Unitarian Universalism is the non-alcoholic beer of religions. Sure, they’ve taken out all the stuff that’ll get you stupid, but at that point, why even bother swallowing it?

—Dear Coke Talk

There is nothing about saying, “I am queer,” that implies, “You are mistaken to be straight.” But there is something about saying, “I am an atheist,” that implies, “You are mistaken to believe in God.” Coming out as queer is a subjective statement about what is true for you personally. Coming out as atheist is an assertion about what you think is objectively true about the external world. When we come out as atheists, we’re not just saying what’s true for us. We’re saying what we think is true in the world. And by implication, we’re saying that people who disagree with us are wrong. Even if we’re not actively trying to persuade people out of religion — heck, even if we don’t care whether people believe in religion — we’re still saying that we think religion is wrong.

We need to cop to that.

—Greta Christina, Atheists in the Pride Parade: Some Thoughts on Churlishness and Integrity

But suppose that faith in a myth is destroyed and another mysticism be not set up in its place, what then? If a mother takes her child away from the fire, which it finds beautiful, and believes to be a nice toy, is it necessary for her to give it a kerosene lamp in its place? She destroys a pleasant delusion — a faith and a delightful hope and confidence — because she knows its danger and recognizes its false foundation. It is surely not necessary that she should give to the child another delusion equally dangerous and false. She gives it something she knows to be safe; something she understands will not burn; something which, though not so bright and attractive to the child at first, gives pleasure without pain, occupation without disaster. Is she cruel or only sensible?

—Helen Gardener in Men, Women, and Gods (1885) answering the question: “What do you propose to give in place of this comforting faith? It makes people so happy. You take away all this blessing and you give no other in its place.”

(Source: infidels.org)