Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proven innocent.
If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science, it is opinion.
Of all the strange 'crimes' that human beings have legislated out
of nothing, 'blasphemy' is the most amazing - with 'obscenity' and
"indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place.
There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no
evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret
about it?
One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.
Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves.
Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.
A zygote is a gamete's way of producing more gametes. This may be
the purpose of the universe.
History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any
rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to
the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a
religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable
pleasure from fiddling with it.
What are the facts? Again and again and again - what are the _facts_?
Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars
fortell", avoid opinion, care not for what the neighbors think, never
mind the unguessable "verdict of history" - what are the facts, and to
how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future, facts
are your single clue. Get the facts!
God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent - it says so right
here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three
of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain
for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.
The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility.
And vice versa.
Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil.
The most preposterous notion that H.sapiens has ever dreamed up is that
the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the
saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and
becomes petulant if He does not receive their flattery. Yet this absurd
fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses
of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.
The second most preposterous notion is that copulation is inherently
sinful.
A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an 'intellectual' - find
out how he feels about astrology.
One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a
null word.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
"God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends."
This may not be true, but it sounds good - and is no sillier than
any other theology.
To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to
unlearn old falsehoods.
Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash.
To be "matter of fact" about the world is to blunder into fantasy -
and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful.
The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science
requires reasoning, whole those other subjects merely require scholarship.
in degree.
The profession of shaman has many advantages. It offers high status
with a safe livelihood free of work in the dreary, sweaty sense. In most
societies it offers legal privileges and immunities not granted to other
men. But it is hard to see how a man who has been given a mandate from
On High to spread tidings of joy to all mankind can be seriously inter-
ested in taking up a collection to pay his salary; it causes one to
suspect that the shaman is on the moral level of any other con man.
But it's lovely work if you can stomach it.
Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best
he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not
make messes in the house.
Minimize your therbligs until it becomes automatic, this doubles your
effective lifetime - and thereby gives you time to enjoy butterflies and
kittens and rainbows.
Yield to temptation; it may not pass your way again.
Natural laws have no pity.
Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other 'sins'
are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful - just stupid.)
Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's
beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseum, keep her from
drowning them at birth.
Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by
legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid.
But stupidity is the only universal capital crime, the sentence is death,
there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and with-
out pity.
Everybody lies about sex.
This sad little lizard told me that he was a brontosaurus on his
mother's side. I did not laugh, people who boast of ancestry often have
little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds happi-
ness in a world in which happiness is always in short supply.
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