If, it was natural to reason, God punishes men with eternal torment, it is surely lawful for men to use doses of it in a good cause.

The theist and the scientist are rival interpreters of nature, the one retreats as the other advances.

Any body of men who believe in hell will persecute whenever they have the power.

Today we know not only that there is a terrible amount of disorder in the heavens - great catastrophes or conflagrations occur frequently - but evolution gives us a perfectly natural explanation of such order as there is. No distinguished astronomer now traces "the finger of God" in the heavens; and astronomers ought to know best.

Creeds made in Dark Ages are like drawings made in dark rooms

I took a sheet of paper, divided it into debt and credit columns on the arguments for and against God and immortality. On Christmas Eve I wrote 'bankrupt' at the foot. And it was on Christmas morning 1895, after I had celebrated three Masses, while the bells of the parish church were ringing out the Christmas message of peace, that, with great pain, I found myself far out from the familiar land--homeless, aimlessly drifting. But the bells were right after all; from that hour on I have been wholly free from the nightmare of doubt that had lain on me for ten years.

The making of an Atheist implies a mental stimulation and training which brings into play the primary factors of social progress.