"All national institutions of churches appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind"

[^_^ 5,021]

Thomas Jefferson:

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the Common Law."

"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

"We discover in the gospels a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstition, fanaticism and fabrication."

John Adams:

"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole cartloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity."

"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it."

Benjamin Franklin:

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."

"Some books against Deism fell into my hands. . . It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist."

Thomas Paine:

"The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense."

"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. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

"The Bible is such a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which part to believe or whether any."

"Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity."

"All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for imposters to preach and fools to believe."

"Yet this is trash that the Church imposes upon the world as the Word of God; this is the collection of lies and contradictions called the Holy Bible! This is the rubbish called Revealed Religion!"

"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half of the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind."

Ethan Allen, Revolutionary War Hero:

"I have generally been denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never disputed, being conscious I am no Christian, except mere infant baptism makes me one; and as to being a Deist, I know not strictly speaking, whether I am one or not."

As for our first president George Washington, he was very private about his beliefs, but Jefferson wrote in 1800 that "Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself" and historian Barry Schwartz writes that "George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian... He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/03/1175970/-Another-Doozy-from-Doocy-the-Douche-y

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Dead people are permanently banned from posting here.

[Darnell 8,479]

One's belief in something keeps them away from VJ? Huh?

I thought it was the mentis corpus clause, instead.

[Pooky 3,834]

Dead people are permanently banned from posting here.

But they can still vote in Chicago.

[james&olya 1,121]

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

But they can still vote in Chicago.

[james&olya 1,121]

Our motto in the democratic party for election day, "Vote early and often!"

Edited January 5, 2013 by james&olya