Religious believers of the world, you are free to continue to debate the simple, narrow question that divides you from atheists, but you have no right, in so doing, to treat the Humanists of the world with contempt. You owe them a deep debt of gratitude, for not only have they shed much light on a naturally dark world but they have very probably helped civilize your own specific religion.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit. Vulgarians at the Gate (2001)
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If you have abandoned one faith, do not abandon all faith. There is always an alternative to the faith we lose. Or is it the same faith under another mask?
Graham Greene (1904-1991) English novelist [Henry Graham Greene] The Comedians [Dr. Magiot] (1966)
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The most dangerous heresy of our time, it bears repeating, is the belief that belief in itself is a good thing, regardless of its content; for faith that is attached to an unworthy or inadequate object makes people less than they are, not more.
Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) Anglo-American columnist, journalist, author
“Strictly Personal” column (8 Apr 1955)
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GEORGE: There is presumably a calendar date — a moment — when the onus of proof passed from the atheist to the believer, when, quite suddenly, secretly, the noes had it.
Tom Stoppard (b. 1937) Czech-English playwright and screenwriter Jumpers, Act 1 (1972)
The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality of happiness, and by no means a necessity of life.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic Androcles and the Lion, Preface (1912)
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