Thoughts stemming from the back of a matchbox

Yesterday, I noticed this great quote on the back of an AIM series matchbox - 'A rational person is a nice contrast to the real world.'

That set me thinking about just how true that statement was. I think I'm going to buy a lot of AIM matchboxes just on that strength alone. It brought to mind all the irrational things I have seen, all the whimsical stuff done by people who in some way are in control of my destiny. Among all the whimsical and irrational things I have seen in my lifetime (makes me sounds like a bearded old relic - but never mind), the most bizarre and unjustifiable thing I have come across is religion. The whole concept of religion has intrigued me ever since, maybe, when I was in class 10.

I have had so many talk with so many people about this, and I have - to my belief - had an open mind about the subject, but I haven't been able to be convinced by anyone that religion has anything good to offer to humanity. Absolutely nothing.

I wrote about this here, and it provoked a vitriolic attack from an anonymous commentor, many of whose comments I have deleted. Actually that article pretty much sums up what I thought about religion.

I have tried to read books prescribed by at least four religions, and not one of them has been free of blatant contradictions and fallacies.

I thought of writing this post just to put down some quotes of some of those people who were a contrast to the real world, some, who were puzzled by the existence of religion, and after a while were plain disgusted by it.

"Religion is based . . . mainly on fear . . . fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. . . . My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race."

"I am myself a dissenter from all known religions, and I hope that every kind of religious belief will die out."
Bertrand Russel

"I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religion than it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism."
Albert Einstein

"I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say that one is an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or agnostic. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect that he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time."

"Creationists make it sound like a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night"
Isaac Asimov

"All thinking men are atheists."
Earnest Hemingway

"Religion is a byproduct of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?"
Arthur C. Clarke

"Lighthouses are more helpful then churches."
Benjamin Franklin

"I'm glad some people have that faith. I don't have that faith. If there is a God, a caring God, then we have to figure he's done an extraordinary job of making a very cruel world."
Dave Matthews

"My view is that if there is no evidence for it, then forget about it. An agnostic is somebody who doesn't believe in something until there is evidence for it, so I'm agnostic."
Carl Sagan

"Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense."
Voltaire

"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."

"At present there is not a single credible established religion in the world."
George Bernard Shaw

"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity."

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

"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."

"All religions have been made by men."
Napoleon Bonaparte

"If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be -- a Christian."
Mark Twain

The list of such quotes could go on. I have just picked up a few of my favorites from here.

It would seem that I am lookign specifically at quotes attacking Christianity, but in my mind all religions in the world deserve to be laughed at, for the absurdity it brings to our lives. I just haven't found quotes which interested me poking fun at other religions in articulate ways such as the ones above.

I visit this site at times to gloss over the inconsistencies in the Koran and Bible.

About the Hindu prescriptions for a good life. The Mahabharat, Ramayan, and other legends seem to me as amazing examples of male chauvinism in ancient India, where injustice was the norm rather than the exception. To go into that in detail would result in an epic in inself. They are fantastic reads though, especially the Mahabharat, if one looks at it as a thriller rather than a book with any spiritual value. This girl here has caught on the real spirit of the Mahabharat and is writing a great spoof on it. Follow the Mahabharat series link on the right sidebar of her page.

Some people would say it's best to keep quiet about such things, but I get so frustrated at the whole concept of religion, and the absurdness rampant among those who subscribe to it, that I just feel like shouting it out to everyone I see. Which is why a blog is a good thing. As Ashwini, sorry, @ashwini, said - a 'catharsis'.