loveabadgirlme
Bertrand Russell, “What I Believe,” 1925, reprinted in Why I Am Not a Christian (1957)
Bertrand Russell
On this date (May 18) in 1872, Bertrand Russell was born in England. “A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past, or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men,” Russell wrote. “Bertie” to friends, Russell, during his 97 years, did all he could to add to human knowledge and to inspire kindness. His second wife, Dora Black, called him “enchantingly ugly.” The New York attorney who won a suit to void Russell’s appointment to the philosophy department at the College of the City of New York in 1940 because of his liberal views, described Russell as “lecherous, libidinous, lustful, venerous, erotomaniac, aphrodisiac, irreverent, narrow-minded, untruthful and bereft of moral fiber.” “What I wish at bottom is to become a saint,” Russell once admitted, but he couldn’t help being pleased by the label “aphrodisiac.” The mathematician (who called his first encounter with Euclid “as dazzling as first love,” Autobiography), philosopher and social activist authored 75 books.
He launched headlong into a life of radicalism in his forties as a pacifist opposing World War I. He liked to recount his experience at prison, where he was sentenced for his pacifism: “I was much cheered on my arrival by the warden at the gate, who had to take particulars about me. He asked my religion, and I replied ‘agnostic.’ He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: ‘Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.’ This remark kept me cheerful for about a week.” (Autobiography) Russell spent his last years courageously working for nuclear disarmament. In “The Faith of a Rationalist,” broadcast by the BBC in 1953, Russell observed: “Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case.” One of his maxims: “Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.” Russell won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950. D. 1969.
(via nonplussedbyreligion)
Today is the National Day Of Prayer and the National Day Of Reason. Rep. Pete Stark, the only openly atheist member of Congress, issued a proclamation on the House floor in recognition of the latter.
The National Day of Reason celebrates the application of reason and the positive impact it has had on humanity. It is also an opportunity to reaffirm the Constitutional separation of religion and government. Our nation faces many problems—bringing our troops home from Afghanistan, creating jobs, educating our children, and protecting our safety net from irresponsible cuts. We will solve these issues through the application of reason. We must also protect women’s reproductive choices, the integrity of scientific research, and our public education system from those who would hide behind religious dogma to undermine them.via Joe.My.God.
Happy National Day of Reason!
— Hubert Harrison, “The Negro Conservative,” 1914, quoted inDoubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht, 2003
Hubert Harrison
On this date (April 27) in 1883, Hubert Henry Harrison was born in St. Croix, in the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands). After his mother’s death, Harrison left the West Indies for New York in 1900, where he earned a high school degree. From 1911 to 1914, he was active in the Socialist Party and, as perhaps its most prominent black member, he founded the Colored Socialist Club. Harrison was active in radical causes, as well as the fight for racial equality. He eventually left the Socialists due to the movement’s support of segregated local chapters in the South. He formed several black radical groups, the Liberty League in 1917 and the International Colored Unity League in 1924. Harrison’s intellectual influence was widely felt in the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, where he was known as the Black Socrates, as well as the father of Harlem radicalism.
Harrison stated that his own doubts about religion were prompted by a reading of Thomas Paine. After he stopped believing in the bible, he was briefly a deist, before finally becoming an agnostic. Though he found the ceremonies of Catholicism attractive, and believed strongly in the spiritual part of the human experience, he said in his 1911 essay “Paine’s Place,” “Entre nous, I doubt whether I will ever be anything but an honest Agnostic, because I prefer, as I once told you, to go to the grave with my eyes open” (quoted in Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht, 2003). “The Negro Conservative: Christianity Still Enslaves the Minds of Those Whose Bodies It Has Long Held Bound,” a 1914 article on atheism, discussed the paradox that African-Americans were largely religious despite the American church’s support for slavery and, later, institutionalized racism. According to Harrison, at the start of the Harlem Renaissance, in the early twenties, atheism, agnosticism and other forms of radicalism were becoming more common in black Harlem. D. 1927.
(via nonplussedbyreligion)
Emphasis mine (on the parts I found most interesting)
Seven Reasons Why I Don’t Believe In Hell
I find that people are utterly puzzled when I tell them I don’t believe in hell, and over the past few weeks it has become increasingly evident to me that I need to flesh out my position on this topic. So if you’ll indulge me for a few minutes, I’d like to lay out the information I learned which caused me to abandon my former belief in a fiery afterlife.
From Peter Boghossian’s lecture, “Jesus, the Easter Bunny, and other Delusions: Just Say No!” Watch the entire presentation at http://philosophynews.com
A little something extra, in honor of April Fool’s Day. :D
religiousragings:ihateallyourgods:
If god works in mysterious ways……
Full quote: From reddit - date unknown.
I am Neil deGrasse Tyson — AMA by neiltysonin IAmA
[–]neiltyson[S] 49 points 2 hours ago
Of course I’d find out what he had to say. But I’d be all questions: I’d see if he was deep, and more informed than the rampant science illiteracy contained in Biblical Genesis. I’d ask him where he was, and what it looked like there. I’d ask what’s the ambient temperature, and if he’s wearing clothes. If so, i’d then I’d ask why. I’d also comment on how crowded things must be if all (or most) of the 100-billion dead people were in heaven with him. I’d ask why he keeps trying to kill us all with disease, pestilence, and natural disasters. I’d ask why 99% of all species there ever were are now extinct — if God works in mysterious ways, that way is mysteriously genocidal. I’d ask why, in I Kings VII he gets the wrong value for Pi — would have been an excellent place to display knowledge of math ahead of the state of knowledge of the day. After all that I’m guessing he might just escape and occupy somebody else’s head.
Shit Christians say to Atheists.
Heard every single one of these…
Atheists in U.S. military seek official recognition: A small but growing movement complains of religious bias and seeks the same status as Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Capt. Ryan Jean wanted to perform well on the Army’s psychological evaluation. But he also wanted to answer the questions honestly. So when he was asked whether he believed his life had a lasting purpose, Jean, an atheist, saw no choice but to say no.
Those and other responses, Jean says, won him a trip to see the post chaplain, who berated him for his lack of faith.
Photo: Army Capt. Ryan Jean, an intelligence officer at Ft. Meade, Md., is an atheist who seeks official recognition for nonbelievers on par with that of Christians, Jews and Muslims. Credit: Algerina Perna / Baltimore Sun
As an Agnostic, married to an atheist servicemember who was questioned for putting “Atheist” on his dogtags, I can get behind this.
