FREETHOUGHT

Gospel:  Signifies good news.  The good news that the gospel of the Christians came to announce to them that their God is a God of wrath, that he has predestined the far greater number of them to hell-fire, that their happiness depends on their pious imbecility. their holy credulity, their sacred ravings, on the evil they do to one another through hatred of one for another,. . . . and on their antipathy for and persecution of all who do not agree with them or resemble them.        - "Gospel" Devil:  The black sheep of the heavenly hosts, and the main prop of the Church. . . . Without the devil God would cut but a sorry figure at best.  The love of God is frequently but the fear of the devil.            -"Devil"                                                            -Voltaire

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of.  My own mind is my own church. What is it the New Testament teaches us?  To believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.                                             -Thomas Paine                                           The Age of Reason

The fact of having been born is a bad augury for immortality. That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject. Religions do not disappear when they are discredited; it is requisite that they should be replaced. In spite of centuries wasted in preaching God's omnipotence, his omnipotence is contradicted by every Christian judgment and every Christian prayer.                                              -George Santayana                                              The Life of Reason

The first time the Deity came down to earth, he brought life and death; when he came the second time, he brought hell. The Bible is full of interest.  It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies. Man is a religous animal. He is the only religous animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion--several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight.                                          -Samuel L. Clemens                                             a.k.a. Mark Twain