Atheism for Kids

Found this video which explains Atheism to Kids.

Although I am against imposing one's beliefs ( theistic or atheistic) on children, I really liked the way its put, simple and funny.

Statistics

When Kris asked me whether I am an atheist or an agnostic or simply irreligious, I started reading wiki pages on these three terms. While reading the page on "irreligion", I found these statistics showing the percentages of atheists,agnostics,etc per country.

I was surprised to see that some of the countries have an astoundingly high percentage of non-believers.

For e.g.

Sweden: 46-85%
China - 59-71%
Albania - 60%
Czech Republic - 59%
Japan - 52%
Russia - 48%

I wonder why? what are the fundamental factors that makes you an "atheist" or a "theist" ?

As expected, almost at the end was India with a mere 7% :) and in Iran its illegal to be an atheist or an agnostic =)).

Interesting Quotes

"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion".

-- Robert M. Pirsig

"Faith; noun. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel."

-- Ambrose Bierce

"In every religion the priest insists on five things First: There is a God. Second: He has made known his will. Third: He has selected me to explain this message. Fourth: We will now take up a collection; and Fifth: Those who fail to subscribe will certainly be damned."

-- "Has Freethought a Constructive Side?", printed in The Truth Seeker, New York 1890

"If the book the Bible and my brain are both the work of the same Infinite God, whose fault is it that the book and my brain do not agree?"

-- "Some Reasons Why", 1881

"The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence."

-- [Abu'l-Ala-Al-Ma'arri (973-1057; Syrian poet)]

"Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby."

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

--Epicurus

"Faith is believing something you know isn't true."

--Mark Twain

"Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis."

-- Sigmund Freud, "Future of an Illusion". 1927

"I've no belief whatever in a deity outside of man; it seems to me to be perfectly clear that the bible's story gets it completely the wrong way round. It's not God creates man, it's Man who creates god. It's a human construct."

--David Starkey

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."

"If you don't think that logic is a good method for determining what to believe, make an attempt to convince me of that without using logic."

--Brett Lemoine

"When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live my own ideal, free to live for myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, free to judge and determine for myself . . . I was free! I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously faced all worlds."

--Robert G. Ingersoll

"We must repsect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children are smart."

--Henry Mencken

"You are never dedicated to do something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt."

-- Robert M. Pirsig, "Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

"Faith is to man what sand is to an ostrich!"

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

--Stephen Roberts

"The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned."

"It isn't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

--Mark Twain

"By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out."

--Richard Dawkins

"Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color."

--Don Hirschberg

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

--Steven Weinberg

"The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts."

--Bertrand Russell

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."

--George Bernard Shaw

"Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, 'atheist' is a term that should not ever exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a 'non astrologer' or a 'non-alchemist'. We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. An atheist is simply a person who believes that the 260 million Americans (87 percent of the population) claiming to 'never doubt the existence of God' should be obliged to present evidence for his existence-and, indeed, for his BENEVOLENCE, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day."

--Sam Harris, "Letter to a Christian Nation"

"The only difference between God and Adolph Hitler is that God is more proficient at genocide."

"Why do you write to me "God should punish the English"? I have no close connection to either one or the other. I see only with deep regret that God punishes so many of His children for their numerous stupidities, for which only He Himself can be held responsible; in my opinion, only His nonexistence could excuse Him."

-- Albert Einstein, in a letter to a friend

"No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means."

--George Bernard Shaw

"It isn't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

--Mark Twain

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."

--Friedrich Nietzsche

"It would be very nice if there were a God who created the world and was a benevolent providence, and if there were a moral order in the universe and an after-life; but it is a very striking fact that all this is exactly as we are bound to wish it to be."

--Sigmund Freud