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HOH is a proudly
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Quotes of Interest Here are snippets of words from a variety of sources: born-again Christians, humanists, libertarians, objectivists, existentialists, and many others. They are presented to provoke discussion, introduce new viewpoints, and just plain MAKE YOU THINK...
"Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers. When we enquire by what means this wonder is effected, we shall find, that, as FORCE is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to suppport them but opinion. It is therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular." David Hume1711-1776 "I told the President last week in the Oval Office... I said, 'Sir, there are 80 million of us evangelicals in this country and we've come to look upon you not only as our President, but as a man of God.' He said, 'Jerry, I'll do my best. You put great pressure on me. I'll do my best not to disappoint you.'" Jerry Falwell "The number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the state." (James Madison fourth President of the U.S., known as 'The Father of the Constitution') "The philosophical collapse of the GOP came with the 2000 campaign.... Neoconservatives moved to fill the philosophical vacuum created by the supply-siders. The neocons openly support big government and consider FDR to have been a great president. They are the intellectuals who came up with the 'faith-based initiative' and like to frame the political debate as one between people who want religion in the political square and the secularists who don't.... And now the neocons are calling for American Empire." (Ed Crane, president of The Cato Institute). "A poor man is ever at a disadvantage in matters of public concern. When he rises to speak, or writes a letter to his superiors, they ask: 'Who is this fellow that offers advice?' And when it is known that he is without coin they spit thir hands at him, and use his letter in the cooks' fires. But if it be a man of wealth who would speak, or write, or denounce, even though he have the brain of a yearling dromedary, or a spine as crooked and unseemly, the whole city listents to his worlds and declares them wise." (Li Hung Change, in his Memoirs).
Overextending
the Criminal Law (Erik Luna)
"Under
the version of history which all French schools teach, the rigorously
secular character of the state is a a hard-won victory against the dark
forces of obscurantism, anti-semistism and authoritarian Catholicism which
perviously held sway.... For those defending the existing model, the fear
is ... France slideing towards communautarisme, a dreaded state of
affairs in which ethnic or religous groups could freely segregate
themselves and for 'states within a state' with their own rules and
values."
I am a Humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishment after I am dead." (Kurt Vonnegut, author and honorary AHA president) "Humanists recognize that it is only when people feel free to think for themselves, using reason as their guide, that they are best capable of developing values that succeed in satisfying human needs and serving human interests (the late Isaac Asimov, writer and past AHA president) "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
Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and
health. The Muslim god appears to value the opposit. The personalities of
each god are evident in the cultures, civilization and dispositions of the
peoples that serve them. Muhammad's central message was submission; Jesus'
central message was love." ( Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the
National Association of Evangelicals)
"Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society." -- Anita Brookner (b. 1938), British novelist, art historian. "If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life." --- Albert Camus (1913-1960) "The aim of art, the aim of a life can only be to increase the sum of freedom and responsibility to be found in every man and in the world. It cannot, under any circumstances, be to reduce or suppress that freedom, even temporarily. No great work has ever been based on hatred and contempt. On the contrary, there is not a single true work of art that has not in the end added to the inner freedom of each person who has known and loved it." -- Albert Camus
A
Definition of Reason . . .
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